Story Archives 2007

by Linda S. and Mike Malecek

The crowded meeting room of the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees is hot and muggy. The many members of the community that have shown up create a background of noise that calms me down. Over the murmur of voices I hear children crying, and the ring of an old fashioned telephone from outside the room. I can still remember back to that day, when I got the call that saved me.

"Hello", I said.

�Hi, is Linda there?� a soft voice replied.

�Yes, speaking,� I said.

�Hi Linda. This is Jane from the Family Resource Center. I�m just calling to let you know that your name is next on our waitlist of applicants and I wanted to offer you immediate acceptance into our program,� said the caller excitedly.

I couldn�t even respond. The air left my lungs from the astonishment and excitement; I finally got in. My shoulders dropped in relaxation and relief, as if a two-ton barbell had been lifted off of them. Life had been hard enough being a single mother of a 2-year-old boy. I had to find places where he would be looked after while I worked to support us. I wanted to attend my local community college so I could work my way out of poverty by getting a degree, but the lack of childcare resulted in me dropping out. Being a single mother with no affordable childcare is overwhelming. At times it seems like there is no way out and that the abyss we are stuck in grows deeper by the day.

I�m wrenched back into the meeting room by the pounding of a gavel. The meeting is about to begin. I know what I have to do. I have to tell my story. As a lonesome tear runs down the side of my face, glistening in the fluorescent lighting, I realize what we are fighting for; and why giving up is not an option.

Family Resource Centers are usually created by other low-income parents who understand the dire need for affordable or free childcare, for low-and-no-income families trying to seek an education . Many poor single mothers and fathers find themselves struggling to survive because of the lack of affordable childcare available to them in this society. This lack of childcare also makes education inaccessible to poor families. This situation is just keeping the poor poor. If there were more affordable childcare and more funding for the existing family resource centers then parents would be able to support themselves and pursue higher education in colleges across the nation.

In California the situation is becoming critical. Many family resource centers are under attack and are not being adequately supported. This includes some being under funded with a few being at risk for closure or already closed. Currently, the infant and young Child Care center at Laney College in Oakland is already closed. It was closed two weeks before Spring 2006 graduation.

I have always had a fear of talking in front of people. Yet, it is my turn to speak, and I know that it is needed. The board members call me up and I give them my history as a previously homeless mother and a now low-income single mother. I tell them my dreams and my hopes after I get my degree. I have one year left at my college and now that the family resource center that provides me with childcare is closed, I don�t know what to do. I have come so far, and I refuse to be stopped here. As a low-income single parent I do what I can to help the fight to keep these places open. I talk. I tell people my story and how I could not have done what I have without the support of these organizations. The people I talk to listen to my story and I pray that they take it to heart in their decisions.

I step down from the podium and take my place in the sea of people. The sweat glistens on their foreheads from the summer night�s heat. The board calls up the next individual, and the process continues. I am not the only person who is in this predicament, but just one of the many. I feel my son�s soft hair against my neck as he bounces up and down on my lap. Looking down at him, I only can hope better for him in the future.

There is a massive action and press conference demanding that the Laney College Infant and Toddler Center be re-opened at 12:00 noon on Wednesday August 23rd in front of Laney COllege at 1220 Fallon Street. To get involved in the collaborative effort of POOR Magazine,LIFETIME, California Tomorrow, Parent Voices and Bananas Inc to save the Family Resource Centers at Community colleges state-wide call POOR at (415) 863-6306.

by Anna Kirsch/POOR Magazine Media & Poverty Studies Intern

"We are here today to activate that voice that our young people already have, to activate their dreams, and to activate their own power to make those dreams happen," the young Latina woman's soft voice came through the microphone with conviction and confidence. Raquel Jimenez, Program Director for Youth Together, who is also a mother, was speaking to a group of about fifty educators, parents, students, and the new superintendent of the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) under a clear blue sky and strong afternoon sun with the winds whispering in the leaves above her head in John F. Kennedy Park, Saturday August 5th.

It was the perfect day for what organizers had dubbed, Cook out and Speak Up, a multigenerational event and opportunity for community members to gather to meet and voice their concerns to the new superintendent of WCCUSD, Dr. Bruce Harter. Jointly organized by the community based research institute, Justice Matters, and a youth justice organization, Youth Together, the goal of the event was to create an open conversation between the community and Dr. Harter to jointly find solutions to the learning crisis occurring in the WCCUSD.

After speaking with over forty teachers and ninety families in the local community, Justice Matters learned that there were serious problems occurring in the education of local youths. "One of the biggest problems is the high school exit exam and the movement to privatize education," Jimenez says. "We're not asking for lower standards we're asking for better quality teaching and for schools that engage...and provide a meaningful education for students such as defined by them," she added.

As I sat there in the audience surrounded by concerned and supportive family members wearing stickers demanding "REAL SCHOOLS NOW," listening to the presentations, stories, and scholarship offered up by students and community leaders, my mind wandered back to my own high school days in Norfolk, Virginia. I had attended a multicultural diverse public high school and luckily had finished before the horrendous No Child Left Behind Act had taken effect.

I, therefore, wasn't the product of standardized test taking and ridged, unexciting curriculums. My schedule had been filled with orchestra, art, and foreign language classes and to this day I can't even fathom my development as a person without these important electives. I felt saddened by the stories of these students stuck in a system unconcerned with their development as people and a strong desire to stand and fight with these students came over me. Testing isn't what education should be about.

Diane Ponce, a community leader and mother of three, obviously shares this desire. She became concerned and involved with the WCCUSD when her youngest child, Angel Diez, a third grader at Downer Elementary, started losing interest in learning.

"My little one brought it to my attention when he said to me 'mommy we do the same thing everyday and if we don't we get in trouble,'" Ponce told me while shading the bright sun from her concerned, almond-shaped eyes. After doing her own research and classroom observation Ponce learned that that the rigorous academic curriculum her children were forced to undergo solely for the benefit of passing exams wasn't benefiting them at all.

"I felt that the teachers weren't teaching my children; they were programming them," Ponce, who voiced these concerns and more to Dr. Harter, told me. "I'm here today to show that people do care about education and I believe that today's event can bring us together and from one hand we can make one mighty fist and we will succeed," she stated adamantly.

Many parents, like Ponce, and students stood up and took the
microphone out of the administration's hands and into their own, sharing similar experiences and stories with Dr. Harter, who stood in the back of the audience listening attentively. One such student was Nadya Sanchez, a bright, outspoken and engaging senior at Leadership Public and member of Youth Together. She shared her scholarship and firsthand experiences in the classroom and discussed the problems with violence and the need to learn life skills in school.

"I want them (the superintendent and school board) to bring new things to the schools like more electives and to help us by bringing more events to stop the violence and racial tension," Sanchez said. "Right now we have two hour long classes that are only based on testing. I want to concentrate more on critical thinking and not only about topics that are going to be on the test," she told me after giving an informative and effective presentation on the Cycle of Violence in local communities.

While the smell of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers wafted through the air and the balloons and banners rustled in the trees, the audience looked on eagerly and attentively as Dr. Harter approached the microphone after being summoned for his response by Lisa Gray-Garcia, the Communications Director for Justice Matters (and editor of POOR Magazine). "Come up and tell the community what you see yourself doing to make change happen within our concerns," Gray-Garcia boldly stated through the mic.

With his casual attire, wire rimmed glasses and silver gray hair glistening in the sun, Dr. Harter stepped to the front of the group from his safe haven under the trees. With the curious eyes of many scrutinizing him, he began his response by thanking the organizers and community members. He continued by confidently speaking about change and commitments.

"As a parent myself, I understand that parents want their children to be ready to take the next step in life, they want them to have not only academic skills but also social skills, " he stated as many audience members nodded their heads vigorously in agreement.

He reassured parents that he's committed to the arts and a broad deep curriculum although he did note, "testing is a part of life." He continued by addressing the importance of reassuring students and giving them the confidence they need to succeed. "We have to tell them over and over, you can do it and that we are not going to give up on them ever," he added.

The biggest cheer let out by the audience came when Dr. Harter announced his pledge to be an antiracist leader in the community. "I started teaching in the inner-city of Detroit after the 1967 race riots. I've been involved in these kinds of causes and this kind of work for the last 35 years," he later told me individually when I asked about his qualifications.

Perhaps the most important moment of the day came when Dr. Harter was asked by Emma, a mother from Cesar Chavez Elementary, to sign a written pledge promising to meet with Justice Matters, Youth Together, and the community every three months for the rest of the year. Without hesitation, Dr. Harter agreed, checked the “Si” box and signed in permanent black marker for every one to see. Of course these are the types of promises this community has heard before, too many times to count now.

"This is just the beginning of the conversation," program director for Justice Matters, Olivia Araiza, said, "we still have a lot of collaboration to do." While carrying boxes of materials used for the event back to her car she spoke to me about the importance of the next step.

"Of course everything is great now and we are happy, but when he starts making serious decisions that's when we'll truly know what's going on with this administration," she said, her thin arms lugging a box full of literature about today's event. "He needs to come to the table with values and be willing to change agendas," Araiza said.

If Dr. Harter truly remembers the commitments that he made today to the local community and the insight he gained from listening to the people then maybe change will occur where its needed the most in the WCCUSD.

"I only made commitments that I feel in my heart are a part of who I am so it won't take any conscious effort to live up to the things I said I would do today because it's who I am and what I most deeply believe in," Dr. Harter said confidently when I asked him how he planned on staying true to his many promises.

I only hope, like so many of the parents, educators, and students that he's not only committed to the beliefs in his own heart but also to taking action and working aggressively for change in a community and country that so desperately needs it right now.

The new superintendent Dr. Bruce Harter can be contacted through email and phone. Bruce.harter@gw.wccusd.k12.ca.us and at (510) 231-1101. Let him know your concerns and ideas. To get involved in the ongoing work of Justice Matters in Richmond and San Pablo and the rest of West Contra Costa County you can call them at (415) 618-0993.

by Adriana Diaz/POOR Magazine Media and Poverty Studies Intern

A new fashion has been made when a small set of sticky hand prints become permanently stamped on my new avocado green gaucho pants. “Ms. Adri… Ms. Adri,” a blue mouth lollipop eating Huckleberry mumbles, “did you know that Barry Bonds is one home run away from beating Babe Ruth?” This four year old going on 30 is one of the amazing young children at F.A.M.I.L.Y, a multigenerational program that teaches children ages 2-11 years old.

It is Tuesday, a day I look forward too. I am sitting in a “cris cross apple sauce” position, as the children will put it, at 1095 Market St., where my non-profit, grass roots,arts and social justice inspired internship at POOR Magazine is held. I am thinking about how blessed I am to come across such an important and eye opening organization.

I was so grateful to learn that POOR Magazine and Artistikal Revolutionary Teaching (A.R.T) was working towards something so powerful. POOR and A.R.T collaborated together to form F.A.M.I.L.Y.(Family Access to Multi-cultural Intergenerational Learning with our Youth). “Both POOR and A.R.T believe in honoring our ancestors, family involvement, providing quality education, interdependency models, and childcare support to families who are struggling with poverty,” said Jewnbug, one of the Co-mama facilitators for F.A.M.I.LY.

I had the privilege of being there on the first day. It is a place of learning for children, adults, and elders throughout the Bay Area. It has a unique yet powerful method for teaching. F.A.M.I.L.Y’s primary goal involves a “multi-generational model of eldership, ancestor worship, family involvement and respect” (F.A.M.I.L.Y Project Manifesto). In one room, low and no income, and homeless adults are taking courses towards awareness at POOR’s Media Education Institute classes (i.e.: Journalism, Publishing, Radio, Multimedia Production) and can receive access to free childcare/schooling for their children in the room next door.

The multi-generational learning model is a manifestation of the village. Dr. Wade Nobles, a full-tenured professor in the Black Studies Department with a PhD in social psychology at San Francisco State University said, “Everyone in the village is responsible for guiding, for directing, and for making sure that the next generation advances to the next higher level, the person of good character.”

F.A.M.I.L.Y’s other role is working with the parents. F.A.M.I.L.Y wants to make this form of teaching accessible for everyone, so it bases its tuition equally on a “REAL sliding scale”. For working poor parents, childcare would be free while those who can afford it can contribute to those who can’t. The Family Learning Project survives through internships, volunteers, donations, and a CO-OP with parents.

Being an adult intern for the F.A.M.I.L.Y Project, Jewnbug and Tiny, both Co-Mama facilitators, open the doors for me to express my teaching skills through various facets of art. The program runs every Tuesday during the summer from 4-8:30pm. There are three forms to this educational process that work toward creating this curriculum: social justice, art-based, and multi-media. “Children learn in an atmosphere where older children take on the responsibility of taking care of the younger children while all participate in the same lesson,” said Jewnbug. Education for our children is a key ingredient to see that steps are being taken toward eradicating struggles of ignorance, racism, discrimination, and segregation.

I had the opportunity to talk to Linda Montoya, a single mama trying to survive and thrive on welfare, who trusts in F.A.M.I.L.Y and believes in its goal. “My son Kimo and I have no family members…grandparents, aunts, and uncles or any support systems; so for Kimo it is important for him to socialize and explore his talents within a group of people that are caring,” said Linda Montoya. She also went on to express her gratitude and sense of relief that there is a place she feels safe enough to leave her child for a few hours while she goes out and spends that time finding a job to support her family.

"The launch of F.A.M.I.L.Y. is the manifestation of a dream, a dream borne from the core values of POOR Magazine," Co-mama Tiny explains to me, "POOR’s indigenous organizing model is a post-modern, neo-urban re-creation of the village as a direct response/solution/resistance to the effects of abusive systems like Child Protective Services(CPS), the Criminal Un-JUSTice, system and the Welfare system.Poor folks like me and my mama, end up at the mercy of these systems many times because we don’t have a village, i.e., support networks, family and community elders to watch over us and our kids, offer love and support, helping hands and resources."

Co-mama Tiny went on to explain that in collaborating with Artistikal Revolutionary Teaching, POOR was able to expand its teaching and learning model of social justice, arts, multi-culturalism,eldership and interdependence to children as young as two who learn along with and from, their 9, 10 and eleven year old "elders" as well as with and from their in-class parent and co-parent teachers, which is another resistance to state-sponsored school system models which are inherently based on separation and the fostering of independence.
"The grouping of people according to their ages is in and of itself another form of separation, just like a frontera / border,” Tiny added.

Tiny concluded looking into the distance," F.A.M.I.L.Y. is just the beginning of a larger dream inspired by my Mama Dee, the creation of Homefulness, a sweat equity co-housing project for homeless and formerly houseless families that includes a site for Jewnbug's larger vision of A.R.T and our collective ideas of the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Project, i.e., a school (for ages 2-102,) as well as a permanent site for POOR Magazine, and a performance and poetry space for the whole community, in other words a real long-term solution to homelessness and poverty.

The screams of laughter coming from the voices of little ones jumping around, banging on conga drums snaps me back out of the surreal and into reality. I am staring back into the almond roasted eyes of Huckleberry, who is still working on his lollipop and contemplating his next baseball trivia question he will throw at me. Huckleberry is just one of many students who inspire my quest to teach and my continuation to learn.

For More information on how to support HOMEFULNESS; the Equity Campaign go on-line to www.poormagazine.org or call POOR at (415) 863-6306

by Leroy Moore/Illin'n chillin

Although I’m very ecstatic that Foxy Brown regained her hearing, I’m once again disappointed on the lost opportunity for the Hip-Hop industry to gain needed education around disability and the growing population of deaf/disabled artists. I was saddened when I heard last year, 2005, that Foxy Brown had lost her hearing. Trying to make it positive, I thought this would be the time that hip-hop would be forced to look at deafness and deaf artists in the industry. For the most part I was once again wrong. Throughout Foxy Brown’s deafness, I only saw news about her coming out and saying that she had lost her hearing and then the news just focused on her surgery to regain her hearing.

At least today, artists like Foxy Brown can voice their incidents, from a disabling event to court cases. I remember the media around Teddy Pendergrass, TP, and the car accident that left him physically disabled in 1982. His voice was missing and the media at that time had written him off as a Black, sexy stallion in the music industry and in the Black community. It took TP years to find a publisher to publish his book, Truly Blessed. Today I see some progress in the media when it comes to musicians’ trails of disability, but very seldom does the media go beyond the individual disability to the general environment of the music industry for newly disabled musicians.

Hip-hop has had many opportunities to go beyond the experience of artists on slot of disability to focus on the industry’s attitudes, physical landscape and inclusiveness. From MF Grimm, who is an old timer in hip-hop and who is a wheelchair user to many underground disabled hip-hop artists, the hip-hop movement is missing a great opportunity to be educated and to open their doors a lot wider. From my research and interviews, Deaf hip-hop is growing all over the US & UK. However, the mainstream media around Foxy Brown’s deafness didn’t expand to mention Hip-Hop Anansi, the first hip-hop play with a deaf and hearing cast, or The Helix Boyz, a deaf hip-hop group, or post production of "Lost For Words", a proposed movie about an internet love affair centering around the hearing-disabled hip-hop scene in New York by Kori Schneider. All of these received some press but not the amount they deserved.

It’s not up to Foxy Brown or any other artist to carry the mantel of their recent disability, especially in the early stages. It is up to our media and this hip-hop generation to go deeper into stories of an individual musician and their community past and present to put it in a broader context.

Now that Foxy Brown is back working on her new CD, I wonder, will she mention her experience of loosing her hearing in her songs, like MF Grimm has done in his recent Cds? Although Foxy Brown can hear now, the opportunity for the hip-hop industry is still at their doorstep. The question is will the hip-hop industry, its media and us ever open the door all the way to not only the disabled hip-hop artists, but also to do some Spring cleaning in the industry of attitudes around the marketability of disabled artists and other dirty laundry that makes it overwhelmingly inaccessible beyond the underground?

Like I said in the beginning, I am so very happy that Foxy Brown can hear now, however I would like to mention some incredible deaf artists who are living with their deafness every day and continue to do their art. Check it out:

Deaf Hip-Hop/Poetry

- The Helix Boyz, their new CD is called The H. www.soundclick.com/helixboyz

- Wawa Snipe, a Deaf Rapper who acted in the play, Hip-Hop Anansi.

- Ayisha Knight, a Deaf poet and photographer with her CD, Until. She is most proud of being the first Deaf person to appear on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. www.ayishaknight.com

- L.Y.F.E, a Deaf hip-hop artist with solo CD: Southern Comfort. www.soundclick.com/lyfe

- Hip-Hop Anansi play, for more information about this play go to www.imaginationstage.org

AND A LOT MOORE…………..

by Adriana Diaz/PNN Community Scholar

I could feel the hot piercing sun beaming down, transforming my olive complexion to a golden brown. The ever so powerful words, “SI SE PUEDE,” Yes We Can, rolled off the tongues of demonstrators. The day was May 1st, Un Dia Sin Immigrantes, A Day without Immigrants. I was marching with thousands of peaceful supporters to downtown San Francisco’s city hall to support undocumented immigrant’s rights.

The hot sun and lack of water brought me back to a day I never want to relive.

It was my last year of college and I was sitting in my room starring blankly at the computer screen trying to concentrate. I had to write my final paper for my Theories of Media class on Cultivation Theory. All of a sudden the phone rang and the alarming sound shocked me. I felt as if I was back in high school sitting in 4th period, daydreaming, while the bell rings snapping me back to reality.

My best friend, Josie who I worked with at our neighborhood summer camp, called. Her words were coming out so fast I could barley grasp what she was saying. Josie was hysterical. “The Romero family was deported yesterday to Mexico….,” she said.

At that moment my heart left my chest and I dropped the phone. I remember again starring blankly but this time I was looking at my Janet Jackson poster I got from her 98’ Velvet Rope Tour. I wished that this was a nightmare and I would soon awake.

The Romero’s are beautiful, faith based, and hard working people. Jose was a cook at an Italian Restaurant in North Beach while Marisol worked two jobs 12hour days as a nanny and house keeper. Both shared with me their same frustrations: under paid, overworked, and unappreciated.

Jose and Marisol left their four amazing children (Christina, Miguel, Dominique, and Letty) at San Francisco’s youth summer drop-in program and in the care of my hands while they went off to work. I grew extremely attached to them and their story especially the eldest, Christina. I admired her courage to initiate the responsibility of her siblings during the hours her parents worked. A drive and passion to succeed in life pumped through the veins of this fourteen year old.

All four children are US citizens and both parents crossed over undocumented. Their savings they managed to conjure up was working towards getting their citizenship. I remember helping Marisol with her paper work and translating everything for her and Jose.

“Hello…hello, Adri you still there?” I could hear a muffled voice from a distance. I looked down and saw the phone. Tears strung down my cheeks I could feel the blood rush to my face and I could not grasp a single breathe I began to cry uncontrollably and feeling my stomach turning I had to throw up. It was not a dream and Josie was still on the phone. The news about the Romero family was true. I felt as if I let them down. I had to go back to school and leave them in San Francisco to struggle and now they were gone.

I am relieved when discovering my parched tongue is refreshed with a cool glass of water. . I am reminded why I am here in this nation wide event surrounded by thousands of Immigrant’s Right Supporters.

“The Mexican immigrants are providing a fairly adequate supply of labor…While they are not easily assimilated; this is of no very great importance as long as most of them return to their native land. In the case of the Mexican, he is less desirable as a citizen than as a laborer,” said the U.S Congress Senate in 1911. Although a great deal of time has passed, many would say that people do not think like that anymore. And I would have to question that statement; you see that is why I stand in front of city hall today. It is because “last December 2005, the Republican-controlled U.S House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 4437) making it a felony to be an undocumented worker” (www.getactive.com/ United Farm Workers e-activism campaign) as well as aiding or employing undocumented workers.

For a long time I hated the system. But as the year progressed I transferred that negative energy of hate to anger, with anger grew a passion for equality. As I look around at the many women, men, and children who come here in front of City Hall to protest I see a fierce fire in their eyes that will not burn out and with that I am hopeful.

by Anna Kirsch/Poverty and Media Activism Intern

"What do we want?"

"Education"

"When do we want it?"

"Now"

The voices of welfare mothers and their children boomed into the sky
above the Oakland Federal Building on Tuesday morning. Ten years after
the implementation of welfare these mothers, struggling to survive and
get an education, gathered to speak out to dispel all myths of welfare
reform

As I gazed at the colorful signs reading, "You Get an F" and "Welfare
Deform," my mind wandered to the past Saturday and the two young girls
who were adamantly coloring these posters. The sisters with matching
long brown hair, curious round eyes and bright lime green sandals
concentrated on their coloring while their mother Vivian Hain spoke
openly about her experiences on welfare. Above the chatter of
children's voices and the sounds of crashing wooden block toys, Hain
described her battle to come up and out of poverty through education.

She spoke on Saturday morning at a parent information meeting organized
by Low-Income Families' Empowerment through Education (LIFETIME) to
inform parents about the upcoming changes to the welfare deform system
(as it's known to any of those who have experienced it). Wearing a
bright red tee shirt reading "Don't Target Our Children," Hain told the
attentive crowd about how her life fell apart when she broke her leg
working at Wal-Mart.

"I didn't know what to do, so I got on welfare and I became homeless
for three and a half years," she stated honestly and unapologetically.

Hain, like many mothers trying to survive on welfare and get an
education, has long days. Starting around 6:30 a.m. everyday, she
juggles getting her three daughters to school, feeding them, going to
class and studying to get her B.A. in multimedia at Berkley City
College. She does all this while clothing, feeding and caring for her
three kids and herself on a welfare check of just $723.00.

Hain is just one of many mothers who might be denied an education come
October 1st when changes to the welfare to work system take a hold at
the state level. These changes, which focus on work and not education,
could prove disastrous for many low and no income families.

The maze that is welfare deform just got messier and even more
confusing. Now the federal government will be defining what is counted
as work at the state level and apparently education isn't important
enough to make the cut. After just twelve months of education, welfare
parent-students will be unable to attend school full-time and still
receive funding.

"We know that education and training are the best ways to get off
welfare, but education is not valued," Anita Rees, LIFETIME's associate
director and former welfare mother, told the audience. "You all have the skills in life, but now you just need the piece of paper to prove you have these skills." Now it seems getting that piece of paper is going to become even more difficult for these already stressed parents.

"These new work requirements are going to screw everybody. Most
low-income people have more barriers, like financial aid, childcare and
housing that impede them from getting an education and who can get an
associate's degree in one year with no assistance anyway?" Hain said.

Good question. The honest truth is that it's pretty much impossible for
anyone, even with the best circumstances, to get any sort of
meaningful education in one year. It should not come as a surprise that
the average number of years needed to complete a community college
program ranges from 3.2 to 3.5 for parents shouldering significant work
and family obligations.

“The problem now is that states will be penalized if welfare cases
aren't reduced. So case reduction, not poverty reduction becomes the goal,” Hain said, echoing the message of Rees. "There is a bigger influx of people in poverty as a result of this and people are just slipping through the cracks," she stated, shaking her head.

Diamond Williams, another full time student and mother trying to make
it on welfare, faces the same dilemma as Hain. Williams, who lives in West Oakland, majors in Africana studies and education at San Francisco
State University and hopes someday to get her PhD to teach college.
There's a chance she'll have to drop out of school in October because
she's already completed her allotted 12 months of education.

"They want you working at McDonald's or Wal-Mart for the rest of your
life and this is putting the American people in a bad situation,"
Williams adamantly stated. "What I heard today makes me want to take
action. I want to be knowledgeable about my rights."

Williams' day starts at 6:30 a.m. when she wakes up to pump breast milk
for her six month old and doesn't end until 10:30 p.m. after two or
three hours of studying. She's active in school and has been on the Dean's list several times. Williams, Hain and these other student-parents don't really fit the description of lazy welfare moms. An all too common misconception the public and politicians readily believe in.

The truth is that welfare mothers "work more than anybody else. They
work before, after and during their time on welfare," Rees, who speaks
from experience, stated. "Now we need to raise public awareness to let
people know that this (welfare) isn't working and that the people in
charge have failed us," she added.

As Hain stated, it's time to let the government know that "they need to
value education first because it's a pathway to a career, not a job;
because we want careers, we want medical benefits, we want a retirement
fund, and we want a better future for our children."

For more information about the changes happening to the welfare system
and support for welfare families, see LIFETIME's homepage:
www.geds-to-phds.org. For more work on issues of poverty and racism by
the low and no-income youth who experience it first-hand go on-line to
www.poormagazine.org.

by Angela Pena/Prensa Pobre (POOR Magazine)

Como periodista, madre imigrante y luchadora, me interesa dar informaci�n a comunidades de color sobre servicios. Me involucre con la Asesoria Legal cuando me encontraba en una reuni�n con la Colectiva de Mujeres donde nos reunimos todas las semanas las compa�eras que trabajamos limpiando casas para hacer un mejor asesoramiento de nuestro trabajo. En ese momento nos dan la noticia que abran oportunidades para personas que quieran trabajar como asesores legales.

Mientras escuchaba la noticia pens� que esta es una gran oportunidad para mi. Al siguiente d�a recib� una llamada en la cual me preguntan si quiero participar en este trabajo. Mi respuesta es que si y contesto, "Me gusta mucho ayudar a las personas". Se me informa que este es un trabajo voluntario, pero esto no me preocupa en ese momento, y acepte. As� fue mi inicio a la asesoria legal.

"Me agrada mucho, dar informar a las personas de sus derechos legales".Toda persona que vive y trabaja en los Estados Unidos tiene que informarse de los derechos que tiene como trabajador. En especial los jornaleros y trabajadoras domesticas que viven abusos y ataques anti-inmigrante d�a a d�a. Empezando por los pagos por hora en California que son de $7.50 pero en la Ciudad de San Francisco es de $9.14 y en todo Los Estados Unidos es de $5.15. Este es el pago m�nimo por hora no importando el status legal.

La Asesoria legal de la Raza Centro Legal es un servicio que se encuentra en la comunidad. Durante una entrevista con La Dra. Hillary Ronen, asesora y fundadora de este programa, nos informo que los objetivos de ayudar a los jornaleros son de "�aumentar el poder individual para organizar, con los compa�eros para luchar por cambios sociales que beneficien a las personas sin recursos y de color". La Asesoria Legal facilita el uso de recursos y espacio para que los trabajadores se junten para poder compartir sus situaciones y resolver las violaciones de sus derechos como trabajadores.

Este tema me impacta en lo personal ya que he pas�por una situacion de abus� de parte de una empleadora. Cuando me present� ha trabajar en esta casa la empleadora me hizo trabajar muy r�pido, y limpiar los lugares mas sucios por termino de una hora. Cuando lo principal estaba limpio, me dijo que yo hab�a quebrado la refrigeradora y que mi trabajo no le habia gustado y me saco de la casa. Todo esto fue una excusa para no pagarme. No pude demandarla por que esta empleadora estaba en el processo de mudarse de casa y no sab�amos su nueva direcci�n, y hab�a dado un nombre sin apellido a la oficina. Esto me sucedi� en un 10 Mayo del a�o 2006, fue mi regalo del d�a de la Madre.

Al preguntarle a la Dra. Sobre las personas que est�n seleccionadas para recibir estos recursos ella me responde en tono de alcance que la ayuda es para "personas que no le caen bien ha George Bush. Todas las personas est�n seleccionadas pero sobre todo las personas que quieren luchar por un lugar mas justo". Esta instituci�n es gratuita para las personas que lo necesiten o hayan tenido alg�n problema en sus trabajos. En si la
Asesoria Legal da la oportunidad a trabajadores de aprender sus derechos para ejercer su poder y defenderse de patrones que abusan.

Nuestros derechos como trabajadores son atacados por empleadores, y por el mismo gobierno. Esta asesoria legal esta ubicada 474 Valencia y 16st.

Estos servicios se dan cada martes de las 5:30pm a las 7:30pm. En el cuarto 295. Esta atendida por gente como yo que somos voluntarios, que est�mos bajo la supervisi�n de abogados de California. Esta instituci�n se encarga de casos como:

* Recuperar sueldos por v�as favorables de mutuo acuerdo.

* Sueldos no pagados (Recuperaci�n de estos por v�as legales).

* Multas a los empleadores por no hacer sus pagos en sus determinadas fechas.

En el futuro el programa quisiera extender sus servicios al apoyar una ley que creara un fondo de compensaci�n para trabajadoras domesticas que se lesionan mientras trabajan en casas privadas. La visi�n de la asesoria legal y La Raza Centro Legal sigue expandi�ndose. Para el a�o 2008 el programa quiere desarrollar m�todos fijos de involucrar a clientes en forma de piqueteo, de campa�as para conseguir reformas verdaderas y justas. Por supuesto los trabajadores tomar�an posiciones de liderazgo en este proceso.

Para concluir, La Dra. Hillary al igual que esta escritora quiere mandar un mensaje a los empleadores. "Que los patrones abusivos deben de tener mucho miedo por que la comunidad jornalera esta organizada para luchar en contra de cualquier abuso de cualquier empleador.

Para recibir estos servicios consulte directamente a la Doctora Hilary Ronen al tel�fono (415) 553-3415.

Article in English:

As a journalist, immigrant mother and resistor, I am always interested in providing information about services that serve communities of color, which is why I got involved with an innovative legal advocacy program for immigrant workers. I heard about this program at the Colectiva de Mujeres where I meet every week with co-worker women who clean houses for a living, like me.

I am glad to inform people about their legal rights. Everyone who lives in the United States should be informed about their workers rights. It is especially important for Day Laborers and domestic workers who live with the day to day anti-immigrant attacks and abuses. Beginning with California, the hourly pay is $7.50, in San Francisco its $9.14 and in the entire US is $5.15. These are the different minimum wages that should be paid regardless of legal status.

The Legal Advisory program at La Raza Centro Legal is a community-based service. Doctor Hillary Ronen, who is a legal advisor and founder of the program, tells us that the objective of helping day laborers �is to augment the individual power to organize with co-workers to fight for social change that will benefit low income people and people of color�. The program facilitates the use of resources to workers so that they can get together to share their situations and resolve these worker rights violations.

Personally I have also been exploited by an employer. When I arrived to work to this house this employer made me work quickly by cleaning the dirtiest places in the entire house in under one hour. When that the main areas where cleaned, she told me that I had broken the refrigerator and that she had not liked the work I had done and proceeded to kick me out of the house. All of this was an excuse to not pay me. I was unable to place a full complaint because she was in the process of moving, she did not give us her new address and did not give the working agency a last name. This happened to me in May of 2006, on a mothers day: this was my gift.

When asking the Dr. about the people that she advocates for she responds, half-joking, that the help is for �people that George Bush doesn�t like. Everyone is selected especially those who want to fight for a just world�. This institution is free of charge for those who have encountered problems at work. Overall, the legal advisory program gives the opportunity to workers to learn their legal rights to exercise their power to defend themselves from abusive bosses.

Our rights as workers are constantly attacked by employers and by the government. Regardless of all the attacks there exists a light at the end of the tunnel that manifests it self at this legal advisory located on Valencia and 16th.

The services are provided by volunteers, like myself, who are under the supervision of Californian lawyers. This institution deals with legal cases involving: the recovery of salaries through mutual agreements, the recovery of salaries via legal means, and serves fines to employers for not paying their employees at a timely manner.

In the future the program would like to extend its services to support a law that would create a fund to compensate domestic workers who get hurt while working for private homes. The vision of the program and of La Raza Centro Legal continues to grow. By 2008 the program would like to develop concrete methods to get clients involved with actions such as picket lines and campaigns with real reform for justice. Of course, these efforts would be spearheaded by the workers themselves in leadership positions.

In conclusion Dr. Hillary states, �All the abusive employers should be very afraid because the day laborer community is organizing to fight against all kinds of abuse of any employer�

To find out more about this program contact Dr. Hilary Ronen at 415.553.3415.

Angela Pena is journalist and student with Voices of Immigrant Resistance. Voices of Immigrant Resistance is a bi-lingual media organizing project of POOR Magazine

by Joseph Bolden

Family Crisis Pt. 1


Between weather induced ills, sudden demise of a former employer, and family crisis overseas…

My brain didn’t run on all it neurons.

All

this while finally finding a place to work maybe having if not a career at least steady income incase returning to school became an option again.


How events unfolded, unraveled, and reconnected again in a few weeks time.

My brother in Chicago calls Mama, she calls me.

Its about a well liked and loved aunt in the hospital with serious health issues.

My first words {I" don’t want to go, my life is here ,I’m working, volunteering and…"}



Doesn’t matter family is family and after talking to G.A,[General Assistance] worker and work assignment manager but not in the correct order I’m off to the city of my birth, New York."

It seems my brother while in New York had observed heard disturbing utterances from other family members that didn’t sound like worry from them but greed!




My Aunt (I’ll call Rhoda) had worked in a New York’s City Hospital many years and though she at one time lived near or on the property had saved, placed, in a bank, and other places sums of money that had gathered hefty interest over the decades.

My family, that being mama, young brother, and myself had moved to Oakland, California before the 1970’s began.

Before that Mama had married Aunt Rhoda’s brother.

There were family visits, and when older I believe may have visited but don’t remember much.

Family problems, soon Mama, instead of moving across the street, around the corner moved us all to California.

Years pass and we did go back two times.

So, ticket are bought, a plane flew with no mishaps and for two weeks we go to a residential hospital nearing the end of extensive remodeling.

Aunt Rhoda, in a wheelchair with tubes in her veins.

If it wasn’t for the old black horn rimmed glasses I wouldn’t have not recognized her.

Mostly black with streaks of gray hair, I remember her as slim just starting to gain weight.


She wanted to know if she needed a lawyer?
Solomon, my brother, mama, and I agreed she needed one to after financial and legal representation.

After what mama and my brother told me about our families problems it dawns why mama left to rebuild her life and ours in California.


She wasn’t staying to be executor of Aunt Rhoda’s Estate and myself being the oldest son and struggling with Welfare, Work fare, and G. A. over the years didn’t think I’m

qualified to be executor, or run the finances of my Aunt , I want her to
be out of her wheelchair, at home retired running her own financial affairs.

My mother and I in quiet car loving Long Island where roads were dirt and grass turning

dangerous wet or dry because the two narrow two lane roads weren’t brightly lit at night which causes more danger to pedestrians. End of

Crisis of Part I.

by Janak Ramachandran

A debate is currently raging in India regarding ‘caste-based’ reservations or quotas. Certain castes have historically been unable to receive the needed education to advance into higher paying professions and so, the government has proposed a system of affirmative action to remedy the situation. The debate has an obvious analog in the United States in the issue of affirmative action for women, African Americans, Latinos, and others of color who have historically been unable to receive the same university education as their white counterparts.

I decided to investigate the Indian issue to determine what commonalities it might have with the US debate; and whether the arguments have a cross-cultural ability to inform each country’s struggle with the issue. One argument, from Bay Area Indians for Equality (a local organization), responds to the Indian government proposal to reserve places in India’s universities for the less privileged castes. Protesting with signs that read “Respect merit, not caste” and other similar pleas for equal treatment, they voiced their opposition to the affirmative action proposal. At a similar protest in the US, we might have seen “Respect merit, not race.” I found myself agreeing with the basic premise of the slogan and so, I planned to research why the other side of the debate insisted on these caste-based reservations or what we might consider quotas here in the US. What I found was groundwork for the quota system was laid in the Indian constitution to address the inequality created by centuries of caste-based oppression. In actuality, those who claimed a ‘higher’ caste status had actively deprived those they perceived as ‘lower’ caste from obtaining education and jobs that paid well. In effect, the so-called higher castes had, for centuries, ‘reserved’ that privilege for themselves at the expense of the poorer castes—castes made poor by caste-based favoritism and not as a result of merit. So the slogan “Respect merit, not caste” now seemed to me a disingenuous call for equality by those who now benefit from a system previously created to oppress others.

In the United States and other western societies, a similar claim can be substantiated whereby slavery, Jim Crow, ghettoization, and the assassination of leaders who make a difference (e.g. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, etc.) has created a legacy of depriving education and opportunity to those in the ‘lower’ classes. Those who have gathered more money at others’ expense can buy more education and more opportunity; the opportunity to display merit is a privilege given to ‘higher’ classes as a result of generations of oppressing others whether they be seen as lower caste, lower class, or inferior race.

When faced with this worldwide historical record, I wondered how those opposed to reservations and quotas might respond. A protester with Bay Area Indians for Equality provided the following comment: “What the country (India) needs is a lot more engineers, a lot more doctors—reservations aren’t solving that.” He pressed for the idea that government should focus on improving elementary education for all children. Though not a response to the historical record of oppression, the stated goal of equal treatment seemed laudable. Perhaps, I thought, a society bent on progress could allow the ill-gotten gains of the privileged to remain in place—rather than seeking social justice through the reapportionment of unmerited wealth—while currently setting in motion a system of equal opportunity for rich and poor alike. Further reading and reflection revealed that, though the privileged opposed to affirmative action quotas (both in the US and around the world) endorsed equal education for all children, they were unwilling with tax dollars and otherwise to actually fund all children’s schools equally. Those who now had wealth and privilege largely created by generations of oppression wanted to spend that money disproportionately on their children’s schools—more for Beverly Hills, less for inner city LA…more for Palo Alto, less for East Palo Alto…more for the Marina and Pacific Heights, less for Bayview and Hunter’s Point and so on. So the privileged, through the government disbursement of tax revenue and services, still seem to favor depriving one group to benefit another, namely themselves. With the combination of the circumstance of this present reality with the historical record of oppression, the disingenuous “Respect merit, not caste (or race)” had seemingly turned into “Now that half the game has been played in our unmerited favor, we, the privileged, are neither interested nor willing to right the wrong through affirmative action or even level the playing field via equal treatment into the future for all.”

But, another possible objection of those opposed to affirmative action programs, I thought, might be the seeming injustice and adverse societal impact of depriving the more educated, regardless of how they historically obtained their status, of completing that education and winning the higher paying jobs. So I decided to inspect the Indian government proposal to see if the affirmative action the government was planning would disproportionately favor the so-called lower castes at the expense of the privileged castes. In concept (that is, without reference to the historical record of oppression or the present reality of inequality), it seemed reasonable that the government not reserve more for the historically oppressed castes than the percentage of the population they represented, even though historical justice might allow for disproportionately depriving the privileged of access to education and opportunity. It turns out the proposal provides for an increase in the number of seats reserved in Indian universities for the underprivileged castes from its current 22.5% to 49.5%. The population of the combined castes includes working class people, farmers, and aboriginal groups as well as those previously labeled untouchables (because the work traditionally performed by them involved sanitation and the like and was thus considered ‘polluting’). So-called untouchables refer to themselves as Dalits (meaning “depressed”). In total, these various castes comprise nearly 80% of the population. So 49.5% of the seats in universities would be reserved for 80% of the population. In effect, this also indicates that prior to this proposal, 77.5% of university spots were reserved for the approximate 20% that are already the most privileged and that now, 50.5% would still be reserved for this 20% privileged group.

Despite this disproportionate favoritism shown to the privileged concerning educational opportunity, opponents of affirmative action might still counter that, regardless of the individual and class-wide injustice, society benefits from those best qualified performing these jobs and being rewarded with the higher pay that cements their elite status, unmerited as it might be. In other words, the question becomes, “Who should be allowed to become a doctor, an engineer, or a business executive?” Not only does this question and its supporting argument fail to grapple effectively with the moral issue of historically and currently oppressing the ability of people to equally benefit from education and opportunity, it assumes that the narrow hurdle of academic excellence in a system rigged in favor of the privileged is the proper criterion with which to answer the question. The test and grade results that are a function of a privileged education are inadequate in measuring a potential doctor’s, engineer’s, or business executive’s attentiveness to bigger picture implications, ethics concerning the treatment of others and the environment, compassion in dealing with those who suffer and are oppressed, and pursuit of excellence by which an individual assumes responsibility for an ongoing learning and understanding of how his or her job is well done. I would argue that we would all rather be treated by a doctor who displayed these characteristics while earning a C average in medical school than the doctor who graduated at the top of the class in the hopes of making money. But these characteristics are not measured by school grades or standardized tests and are essentially eschewed by academic institutions as meritorious subjects to develop as part of a curriculum.

So who should be allowed to become a doctor, an engineer, or a business executive? In the final analysis, the question devolves to something even more basic: “Who should be allowed to join the ranks of the privileged?” In the background of any conversation regarding equality for all is a contradiction of capitalism revealed. Even the most conservative capitalist economists will acknowledge that, contrary to political rhetoric, everyone can’t be a millionaire; the system would crumble in an endlessly devaluing inflationary upward spiral. It is one of the principal reasons that the economic powers that be attempt to actuate fiscal and monetary policy that strives to keep some portion of the population out of work. The bottom line: in order for some people to be rich or even middle class, a much larger number of poor must be created and maintained. If these poor and working class groups are allowed to legitimately compete, they would be able to win back through the channels of capitalism, even as a rigged system, some education, opportunity, and economic benefit for their families and communities. As a result, the privileged would have less and so, a little more competition for a rigged system that has served them so well frightens them.

Looking hundreds and thousands of years into our human past, we see a legacy of enslaving and oppressing a large portion of humanity for the benefit of a relative few. Often the only criterion for this systemic abuse is that someone doesn’t look or act the same way as those who sought the power. In the case of India, the caste system has functioned for thousands of years from its inception to assign certain types of work to certain groups. Quickly, those with more privileged jobs became the more privileged classes. But the basis used by the original conquering Aryans of long ago to divide people into different occupations is lost in the word caste, which is a Portuguese translation. Tracing the etymology of the word back thousands of years reveals its original meaning: skin color.

by Joseph Bolden

Crisis, G. A. And Truth Pt. 2
My one regret is that not once did I ever get to eat a Knish or drink an Orange Julius [light breaded baked potato of Jewish creation]. The other also New York City treat [Orang Julius: made with oranges, protein power with strawberries, an egg or honey mixed in].
Not once did I in during the whole time did I ever get a taste or even a whiff of them.
It made me so homesick and made that I vow to be a better at cooking so I can make my own treats by scratch whenever I wanted not dependant on vendor or store bought items.

Ok, a few days have passed, skipped out of town before labor day travel crunch.

That is signed up for G. A. again before taking a bart train for a family get together.
Blood bled news, sweet 16 parties, a famous, wacky, Conservationist Australian guy killed by a stingray, and the ‘Prez on television giving his low down on our eminent destruction of our way of life if certain factions in the Middle East have their way.


It sounds like scare tactics. Linking Lenin With Hitler shows the guy is mixing worker rights and communism with Hitler’s Mein Kampf [A blue print of Xenophobic Jewish Extermination].


When his revolution topples Russia’s ruling class but went into another tangent ending with Joseph, Stalin, a deadly, suspicious, smart, and cunning, leader who before, during, and after the second world war turns his country into a fearful land of death for decades before he dies in 1953.


It was creepy the way he says World War III as if that’s his job to "Bring It On." Anyway I enjoyed a safe space with one of my relatives sleeping most of the two days away until I had to take my butt back to the city.
And with that it’s the end of Crisis, G. A.

Gotta go folks and… I don’t know what to do next.