Story Archives 2007

System Bitch

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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by Ecsta Scene

In the first edition of her zine called System Bitch , poverty scholar, welfare QUEEN and mother, Ecsta Scene has published a collection of what she calls witness statements. Authored by a variety of different people, these witness statements are first hand accounts of peoples interactions with systems in todays modern world.

System Bitch is unlimited in the scope of systems its authors confront, including but not limited to jail, child abuse, work, love, religion and politics. Ecsta Scene has put together a truly insightful collection of work, which begs for further evaluation.

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Citizens, Civilians Over Corruption: <br> Savagely Removed Occupant (S.R.O)

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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by Marlon Crump

Marlon Crump is a poverty scholar, digital resistor and extremely talented author whose debut book, Citizen, Civilians Over Corruption: Savagely Removed Occupant (S.R.O.) appears as a fictionalized account of a future where poverty and injustice run rampant in the wake of police corruption

The story, however, was inspired by Crump's own experience with police, who illegally stormed his S.R.O. and arrested him for a crime he did not commit. Using his unique first-hand experience with police brutality, Crump, through this thoroughly interesting story, sheds light on the barriers that exist between race, poverty, and law enforcement. A truly enjoyable, informative and educational, novel, Citizen, Civilians Over Corruption: Savagely Removed Occupant is a shinning first novel.

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Reflections of Unknown Artists

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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by Dharma

Dharma, welfareQUEEN, poet, musician, artist and graphic designer, has created a visual and literary montage of poetry, art and essay focused on the struggle, survival and resistance of a African Queen living and trying to thrive in the Bay Area in 2006, with her book; Reflections of Unknown Artists

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Ask Joe, Holding up the Sky

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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Ok,who's mukin'with my column?

cannot review my own work-too close.
But do have new ideas based on work in AJ

blah,blah,Sky.

by Joseph Bolden

Poverty scholar, digital resistor, founding member of POOR Magazine and SRO tenant, Joseph Bolden provides his readers with a funny, insightful collection of his POOR Magazine columns. Bolden shares the dreams, thoughts and desires of a very low-income man living in a 21st century media-informed universe. He explores relationships, gender differences, technology and much more, disclosing his brutally honest opinions, views and experiences.

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Great Women of Historical System Resistance and Prolific Persistance

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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by Marlon Crump

Few can compare, few can bear, many can stare or glare. Only some can farewell, with welfare, a stairwell ringing a cathedral bell, a jail cell depicted as hell, monumental moms that foretell a wishing well of wonders, where dreams fell, bodies pale, or spirits that bail by those that fell:

A colony and collage, not a mirage of females with no tall tales, that can march a street with no signs of defeat to accomplish a feat of system resistance and pounding persistance. These are the outcries of irritable sighs, with only the relief of shrunken dollars in the mail:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Elvira Pollard who's son so unjustifiably cut down from his life, before he fully grew after graduating school, by the blue who knew he could've never slew, was executed like a wild in the zoo. She cried as they tied and lied, and a spirit from her son's soul encompassed, then comforted and told her "I may be felled by the pistol but my spirit will be your missile:

A mighty mom, hands down, with a powerful sound should she frown upon trespass on her ground, the magnetic pound from her heart is the symphony of solidarity and not just sympathy for dignity but peace and prosperity, make and shake the guilty sizzle. The pupils of her eyes conclude her soul more pure that crystal:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Marylon Boyd a woman of professionable powers of profound motion to laundromat the legions of lawless conducts, until the blue once again knew, her son never slew, taking him away without a clue of what to do. An everlasting candle was lit. The soul of her son inducted for her to be conducted and reluctant, with of the law being the vast vengeance:

A technical error of underhanded tactics, shall not lead this great woman to madness, despite her sadness. The eyes, ears, and energetic entity of humilty to proceed, is a strive indeed. You blues are equipped with artillery, but she fires and will call the shots. You blues's lawyers of lies and leisures, fuels her fury around your blemishes, only she's the astringent and instrument of your sentence:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Wendi Lefti hardworking of strenous strive from the system, a mother of raising her young, an even more strenous task. Then one day she furiously had to ask, why a demonic dimension sent a pair from the steps of utter despair to tear away from her stairway of the heaven that was her husband; one deep, dark, and dreary day?:

A man, a father, a husband, and a local legend barricaded then erradicated by forces from overzealousness of jealousness. The falsehoods of pestilence was the typical reply, making many of us cry. "Why must you all lie? Is this everyday, inducting us into the fray, into this "American Way?"

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Kathleen Espinosa an angelic mom, who's offspring peacefully sat in his own inhabitable peace of mind, rebuilding his very life in kind, astonishly and monstrously taken out of the blue, by the blue. Nothing faced the blue that was dramatic, yet fired upon him ultimately tragic, but the magic from her fallen son's soul will be the static, that will fuel her energy to make the Satanic squad panic:

A dimensional line was breached from her life, a cognizable deficit sliced into her head, as she mourns daily of her son pronounced dead. However, his spirit announces to her and his loved ones, everyday as she goes to bed, by taking her into his arms, then so soundly said "I may have bled when I fled because I dread their hot lead, but on the Day of Judgement, they will be held accountable in God's Attic":

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman,Mirna Ayall a prominent, dominant female figure, immediately inducted by the Blue that so savegely slew her precious seed, as he inhabitated himself in the musical instruments through his ears, tragically ended with her tears. Unlawful restraint upon her son, that coldly ended as he merely tried to have fun was fried into the sun, by the rays of light of the Blue that had no right to unlawfully flex their meaningless might, who never instigated a fight:

Can anyone hear her plight, as she's no longer able to hold him tight now that he's taken a heavenly flight? An unstable constabulary results in his obituary, but to be proposed in an average dictionary, the definitions, with no distinction of strength, commitment, motivation, humility towards stability. The focus in the justice of her savegely taken son is a fight that will never leave her sight:

"From the Blue that slew..."

That great woman, Mesha Monge-Irrizary an eternal champion, heroine of heroines, robbed of her seed who desperatedly sought need and refuge from the deficits of his mind, ultimately was slewn by the Blue that knew, his life has always been true. While many would spend eternity towards crying out in agony for their baby,or seeking drapery of a maybe, but this isn't no ordinary lady:

Her son is now dead and deceased, she was re-born to increase a lifelong lease towards peace, even to the wielders of her son's decease. A foundation built from her fails in comparison of the height of her sight, beamed down onto her from the spirit of her son's light, that forever enchances her might as she tirelessly fight the civil right, plagued by those who only view the world as white as Lady Liberty:

Not an average Internet Service is networked, unlike this incomperable woman of a rare voice messaging system, towards any victim of a kingdom that abhors freedom and equality. The quanitiy spoken from her ultra-sound vocals speaks vast volumes, channeling indestructible positive and electrical energy, opposed to a country allegedly of "Tis of Thee:"

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Ingrid De Leon began a prolific struggle from slaverable elements and components, in spite of her deepest darkest moments, from desert plains, crying in vain, from predators viewing her as prey to claim. From sunrise to sunset, she refused to be a stage set by a slavemaster's select towards humilty defect. Only food for her dine, was an impenetrable will and the Promised Land, focused by her mind:

The iron-like limbs of her legs never failed her joints, even as she fell spiritually depleted and defeated, thus born was her powerfully persisted points. A voice slowly, then loudly instructed the continuance of her journey, a voice from the Heavenly Father above, extending his Hand of Love. "Get up, Get up, and go!" True inspiration of a woman, a mom, a fighter and a survivor that defeated roadblocks physically, then mentally by crossing a borderline:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Vivian Hain and her daughter, Jasmine Hain a generation of indomitable struggle, multiplying their very lives by four as they soar against time from the crime by society that proposed economical anxiety, imposing deprivatory of perilous political territory. The vast power of a mom and daughter's struggle thoroughly unmatched, as they are admirably attached inspite of systematic attacks:

Near light years later, they re-emerged into breaking down the walls of poverty perceptions that often invites political deceptions to discourage human affections, as this mother and daughter team crossed countlessly callous intersections.

While the arrogance of ugly aroma stenched from the "high class" hiding behind city governmental facilities, so blinded by the lustful leisures of their deceptivably humble abode; none of them ever came within striking distance of experiencing the blocks of this mom and daughter, as they traveled a ruthless road, that few could lo and behold nearly crawling on their backs:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, JewnBug an atomical voice to date that combats an oppressionable era of terror that intends to eradicate those that create. Born of a kinetical energy of spiritual light to inspire the height of a kite that knows no hand, but her own that only blows in her direction that seeks affections, in producing every single mom's protections. A voice in every categorical aspect of a struggling mom's predicament, overcoming all odds is her sentiment as evil constantly claims of no limit:

Two jewels from her eyes can equal a stream of a two, as she wearily wanders daily battling darkened souls deemed unsavory, that dare to glare and sneer, not cheer this courageous lady. A sparkling and rising star that forever stays in orbit, a cosmic energy with a field of asteroids that sustains all her voids of love, in the gleaming radiant rays of her own son, who shall someday beams down on all mothers globally that strive in their drive to be loved, not just intimate:

"Of a Land that Knew..."

That great woman, Mama Dee a wanderer of limitless dimensions of poverty, a mother of a jewel that gleams in the eyes of her very seed,(Tiny "A.K.A" Lisa Gray Garcia), thus cometh a rarest team of an uncommon breed. A lifetime of oppression too great, where few could relate. A savage society that imposed it's guides with lines to re-create and characteristically cremate:

It's attempts proved useless and pathetic, as this great women proceeded to take the initiative and re-create a universe that still longlasts a decade of dynamic arts and crafts. An empire to one day global the poverty immobile, to transform the lost into a noticeable noble. Gone this year, leaving many with a tear, but the symbolic structure of her adventures of poverty cultures the right from system vultures that eternally, artificially inseminate then eliminate:

As heiress to the throne, that great woman Tiny ( Lisa Gray-Garcia) is daily re-born to be that triumphant horn to be sounded in a direction, for many of her ever-growing pupils of poverty that exemplifies soulful solidairity for all eternity. Though deceptions and misconceptions prowl around her true voice of journalism, her phenomenal and astronomical wisdom, acts of heroism gives sight to the blind:

The word "Poor" may shut many doors, for being labled as rotten to the core, but this great woman gave capitalization of "POOR" into the realization surrounding the criminalization and incarceration of it society's major transubstantive errors, amidst this so-called "War on Terror" era. Inspite of uncoming poverty plagues, the dawning of a new age that "POOR" has set a stage with no actors or actresses, emerging from no houses, with just mattresses.

No color lines drawn, no system resistance gone, no interest of a manicuric lawn, because grassroots still continue to grow whether from dusk or dawn. Just a pen, an eye, a voice, a knowledge, being of sound and body, from this great woman's open mind:

"Where the women that still grew"

In the coming of age, the great women still empower their might of their constant fight to battle wolves in suits that continue to bite. A Princess L. that conqured violent hands in her past. A Dharma that relentlessly struggles to succeed a difficult task. A Janie Mae Dickens whose eyes are always widened to the dream owls of poverty struggle, never revealing a wicked mask. A Laurie that refuses submission as a single mom amidst poverty as being viewed upon as a systematic, statistical rash. A Rania , an Amanda , an Anna, Joanna , or a Jackie that work tirelessly around POOR, taking on any turbulent task:

A great woman, Bessie Burger, a beauty of ancient historical resistance of astonishing longevity with the never-ending will to defy "Care Not Cash."

That great woman, my very own mother, Victoria Crump has wrestled demons and shadows, before I her oldest seed (your's truly, Marlon Crump) knew the agony and trauma of hitting the mat. In a lifelong struggle from humble habitats, plagued with poverty and rats, she strived to drive the dimensions of near-extinctions of our very lives, from a monstrous burglar, a system plagued poverty emerger, or trauma encourager, in the form of dressed-up smiles:

The flow of her energy into my very own well-being to be a lifeforce battling a callous society of no remorse, increase my stubborn will to yield to their obstacle course. I lost another great woman, her mother, my grandmother (Elizabeth Crump) due to medical neglect where I still feel the effect. Gone, is my ownself physically to be upon them, but my spirit, my voice, my heart, my very own life speak mass volumes of characteristic quantities of life. Our love, vice versa, can overflow even the River of the Nile.

"Man can flaunt and boast their masculinity, as woman struggle with their stability and self-sufficiency. Man can be aggressive, as woman are daily progressive. Man can shame, defame, and maim, while woman hold their head high from failure to blame, regardless who knows their name, or chases them like hunting game."

Marlon Crump, 12/19/2006.

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The Age: May - Sept. Thing.

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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May,September Romance/Lust or Both.

Yes,Know Old guy young Girl/Woman prob.
What to do as both men,women become goodies
lusting for each other?

Funny!Men hide their libido's,women hide
theirs,though our reasons differ.

by Joesph Bolden

Its weird how times change up on folks.

The rules of youth and age is breaking down ever so slowly as Viagra turns old guys,a few younger into former or newly mintedC..K*stars

That young women are just as ready to test so called geezers for stamina and staying power.

Yes,the taboo of old guy and young women was always broken if men with money and power could get away with it.

Fromhttp://forums.
plentyoffish.com

Here's a forum/dating see what women are saying about the situation circa 2006.

The whole thing is just stupid.

And what about guys that date much younger girls...

what'name/label' can they be called?

Lucky bastards.

Do cougars know they are cougars?

Nope...their too busy getting shagged.

Of course they know they are cougars. WHo you kidding?

And they love it as well....

It's not an offense for a woman to enjoy young love again is it?

Women,Guys,remember what she says,and see where logic and satire will lead to on these online threads.

Besides,that boy toy come with all natural...

No pills,no waiting period,no walking around like he was just kicked in the nuts later,

bent over trying to hide it cause the pill hasn't worn off yet......

That says it all.
I also believe that age does not matter.

I am not sure about the 'Cougars' going to the bar to prey on the young.

It seems a little like some drunken fool out to get laid and boost her self-esteem.

However,if she is dating a younger man...is she still called a cougar?

I hate the term "cougar"...it's so degrading (at least I think it is).....

once I heard someone call me a "cougar" and I just about ripped his head off....

cause to me a "cougar" is an older lady who goes out and picks up a young one and takes them home and "F*cks him"

....anyway, I told him I had to desire to take him home with me and *uck him....so I wasn't a cougar.....

So according to the definition....28 is the magical age for me....28 and up and I'm safe.....I can do that......

I absolutely detest the word cougar...

to me it implies an older desperate woman out preying on younger men,and quite frankly it is the other way around...

that word has never gone over well with me.

I have had guys say it and then try to pass it off as a compliment...

riiight, thought you scored one there did ya?

Not tonight little laddie

I'm sure they know they're cougars, but then -

You're only as old as the man that you feel.
getyou

Women seldom say what the truly believe.

For years theyv'e been telling the world that they are the protecters of youth and innocense

the problem is that if it's a guy he's a pervert but if its a woman she's a couger.

Women will always preport to being the moral indicater of the times but with all the teachers getting busted for screwing

around with kids it's finally comeing to pass that the world is seeing womwn for what they really are.

It's not so nice is it!

But if i'ts ok for them then mabey we should ask them to start shareing their youngsters with the rest of us after all were equal aren't we?

Lets drop the age of consent to twelve hey how about it moms sound good to you?

We can all go out and enjoy some fresh young meat your daughters prety hot showing all that skin tastey hey mmmmmmmm!
fun n games

Guys, here's the thing.

It seems women don't want to be called cougar even when they act on it, so a simple solution is:

DON'T SAY, ANNOUNCE OR OTHER WISE INDICATE THEY ARE COUGARS JUST ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE(S)

AND KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT,TELL NO FRIENDS GIRLS OR BOYS,

YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE YOUNGBLOOD

WITH A BIG MOUTH-NO NOOKIE FROM HER BUT

THERE ARE ALWAYS A COUGAR OR TWO WAITING TO GET AT HIM.

Also a day is cumming when 70 - 80 year old guys will actually be biologically
younger than their chronological age and young thangs of 60 to 90 will make girls and
young women in their late teens and early

20's and 40's feel very insecure about who's hot and whom is getting laid or laying their men.

I don't use blue pills Goddess and God for small blessings but if a mature,
sexy, sensuous, cougar (I'll not call her that ever!)

Or young woman chose me as her first test drive.

She has the keys I'll let her drive.

Sacred or lacivious moments are savored by me and what's between two stays.

Any woman,women, wymyn, wimin, or wimmin have any comments lay it on me

http://forums.
plentyoffish.com

I credit them and the online voices that unknowingly helped me with
my humble colunm.

At

(Tell Joe@ poormagazine.org)

jsph_bldn@yahoo.com at my email or even

snail mail @ P.O. BOX 1230 #204 94102 S.F. Ca.

May everyone live long,loving,interesting and exciting lives.

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Dating And Such

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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Women have the upper hand.

They only want equality...
when its suits them.

Women/Men have rules both need not
be mutually exclusive.

by Joseph Bolden

Dating And Such
Hi folks, lets get to it.

Dating for guys has always been a difficult chore that most of us must go through.

For the regular woman liking kind of men sadly we know that no matter how much we strive and try it seems women are never satisfied.

Either we’re ugly, too pretty,not rugged enough, too rugged,clingy,afraid, fearless,too short, tall, big,small,poor-homeless or rich playboy-men.

Its all seems stacked against us no matter what we do.

The concept of "The Wingman" for males is one or more male chums to scope out (stealthly) look for the most sexually available if not attractive women in bar/clubs, strip joints, sports bars, and or casino’s.

Women have their versions though slightly complex in that their wing-w Womencan be a group of 2 to 4 deep and they needn’t be present to help their sister’s.

Moble or cell phones are handy in that it can hold many more friends unbeknownst to unwary men on dates.

Don’t get me wrong doctor’s, lawyers, E.M.T. [Emergency Medical Technicians], police, and all life saving personal need to respond when dire problems loom.

But for regular ladies… no all its capable of is shutting down whatever chance we weary men have while on dates.

Yes, women say they are liberated, have no need of males in most of their lives (some not even in bed).

Guys, those lesbian ladies, men bashers, or those with psychological quirks are off radar so we let them be until they get their own acts together and not to become rescuers to those who constantly cause themselves to be in turmoil.

Women have automatic screen-outs that is what they don’t want but they’ve are rude about it wanting so called "cream-of-crop guys."

Yet women who date online say they don’t want online trolls men always online looking to find… THEM.

They themselves don’t see themselves as online trolls but men online are is a oxymoron logic.

Like invisible wing ladies it like wing men only theirs are on cell phones, sending signals from across the bar or pair, tripple, or quadrupled creating a Phalanx or group making it difficult or near Impossible to chat. (offend one or if one takes offence at the slightest misstep or error they take their friend away).

I was thinking of the old San Francisco Armory Building at 14th and Mission Streets [finally a place where one can go if they had a job either as writer, producer/director or actor/actress in erotic film.]

Yeah, though I’ll never get to be in one of the many anonymous swinging phallus in those short commercial adds let alone full length films its good to know where one is.
The place of brick and stone not phallus's

I’ve seen a few of the men in those films (straight only) mind you and a few of the brother men are not the biggest or best guys they look average.

As for housing the S.F. Armory its been abandoned for years and wasn’t being used for anything and now folks are squawking about a sex-fetish house of Kink.com.(?)

I say Mr. Peter Acworth is more the honest businessman than so called moralists who have problems with his online erotica business. The Armory was on the market and Mr. Worth say’s why not."

Just as with women and their constant changing dating rules there’s comes a point where lots of guys are thinking if not saying That guy on the radio talks about vagina-mony,
not marrying the cow getting milk for free and that being equal means women can if they choose buy food, ask men out for dates, and pay alimony.

Until men abandon most of the antiquated notions of women, women will use them against men. Men do change women for all their freedom’s still want men to do for them and then say "We’re not satisfied."

I believe women aren’t because if they went all out for complete freedom men need not see to their needs, wants dupes, or be suckers huge boobs or P-date, marriage taxes.

Guys do wise up it just that our learning curve is slower but we do keep evolving. As those ever change rules of femdom men must evolve, change our own as women do constantly but in our case make it worth our while not their.

Remember "Its My Turn" for women song well now the pendulum has swung back let’s really equalize everything.

At (Tell Joe@ poormagazine.org)

jsph_bldn@yahoo.com at my email or even

snail mail @ P.O. BOX 1230 #204 94102 S.F. Ca.

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Dumping the Disabled

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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All over the world people with disabilities are being dumped on the streets in record numbers.

by Leroy F. Moore Jr.

Ronald Reagan closed mental institutions back in the 1980s with no transitional plan putting a huge population of people on our streets across this country. Today some institutions, politicians, police and individuals are carrying out Reagan's policies of dumping people with disabilities in this country and around the world onto our streets.

"Chinese Gangs Dumping Disabled Children in Hong Kong, Lawmakers Says,"

"Disabled Woman Dumped at Inaccessible Shelter"

"Northwoods police Dumped a Homeless Man on the Street Corner in St. Louis"

"Paraplegic Allegedly 'Dumped' on Skid Row"

These latest news headlines tell us that dumping people with disabilities is not new and continues to be practiced by people from all walks of life, from political officers to Japanese gang members to hospital workers.

Although President Bush talked about domestic issues in his state of the Union Address and Californians voted for Prop 1c, Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006; the above headlines continue to fill up newspapers and homeless people with disabilities continue to get abused by institutions and individuals.

In the 1990s Californians witnessed a campaign for force treatment policy toward people with mental health disabilities. And this type of treatment still exists today. For example, a paraplegic homeless man was recently dumped on the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van. This is not the first time this hospital has dumped people who are homeless onto the streets. According to the LA Times Newspaper this practice occurred in 2005 by the same hospital. A disabled San Francisco journalist, Laure McElroy just wrote an article for the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper about how an African American woman was forced to leave the Potrero Health Clinic with no adequate reason while suffering severe health problems due to a high risk pregnancy. So what happen to the word, public, in public health?

When I was a teenager I saw New York police officers placing elderly and homeless people with mental health disabilities on Greyhound buses with a one way ticket across this country. And when I moved to San Francisco, I witnessed former Mayor Frank Jordan's Matrix Program that cited people who were homeless on petty charges and had vans that circled downtown San Francisco letting people back onto our streets because of a lack of space in nearby shelters.

Mayor after Mayor in cities across the country from New York to California have taken office with get tough on the homeless policies. This type of legislative thinking goes against solutions from local and national homeless advocates. For example The National Coalition on Homelessness has many campaigns and legislations proposals like The Bringing America Home Act (H.R. 4347) and the Health Care Access Resolution.

Michael Reinke, acting director of the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues and the Director of the National Coalition on Homelessness told me that hate crimes are increasing against people who are homeless due to many factors including institutional policies and actions that are abusive and create roadblocks to services, shelter and medical needs. This environment of hate, crime and violence is furthur fueled by the increase in the number of people with disabilities becoming homeless after being kicked out of hospitals and unable to access shelters.

During the Christmas holidays last year two Independent Living Centers held rallies at California's shelters bringing attention to a lack of accessibility in homeless shelters across the state. Also the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness has kicked off a campaign around improving homeless shelters.

Although it was stated in the LA Times article that the practice of dumping patients is not new, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and many other hospitals have a record of investigating themselves. I have seen the police investigate themselves in cases of police brutality and nine times out of ten it goes nowhere. I hope the city attorney of Los Angeles, Rocky Delgadillo continues with his case against several medical facilities on this issue! In the mean time, please get involved by getting in touch with the below homeless advocacy agencies.

(1) www.nationalhomeless.org for a copy of Hate Crime Bill

(2) Jessica Lehman at the Community Resources for Independent Living (510) 881-5743

(3) Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, Jennifer Fr (415)

(4) Los Angeles Homeless Service Coalition (310) 474-0222

(5) Los Angeles City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo (213) 978-8100

(6) Disabled People Outside, Danny McMullan (510) 688-2342 or danmcmullan@comcast.net

(7) Western Regional Advocacy Project 415-621-2533

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Oakland Housing Authority to Spend $400,000 On Evictions

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
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Original Body

A recent memorandum details the Oakland Housing Authority's future plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to evict public housing tenants over the next two years.

by Lynda Carson

Oakland, CA -- With so many people being homeless in Oakland and the Bay Area, it's hard to imagine that
any non profit Housing Authority would have enough
funding in reserve to spend a fortune on evictions.

In Oakland however, that’s just the case and on a recent January 16, the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) memorandum detailed just how the authority plans to splurge a minimum of $400,000 to evict many of it's public housing tenants during the next 2 years.

For that kind of money the OHA could house alot of people, or use the funding to fix and repair many of their public housing units all across the City of
Oakland.

It was only as recent as January 9, 2007, the OHA sent out a press release claiming how impoverished it was, and how it will receive $2.9 million less than it was entitled to for it's public housing program, during FY 2007. Services and particularly property improvements will seriously be reduced, the press release cried out in anguish.

But a mere 7 days later, the OHA sends out a memo
declaring that they plan to spend $400,000 during the
next 2 years, to evict some of the very same people
that will be residing in the very same locations that
will lack the funding needed to maintain their housing
units properly.

It's clear that the funding priorities of the OHA
paint a bleak future for its public housing tenants
during the next 2 years, and something is wrong with
this picture.

The OHA has a choice. It can use the $400,000 to
repair it's public housing units, or it can force
hundreds of families out of their public housing units
by wasting good money that could have been used to
maintain the housing of Oakland's poor, elderly and
disabled community.

Making matters worse, the OHA has just spent a huge fortune on trying to evict 35 families accused of
being squatters at it's Lockwood Gardens public
housing units, despite the fact that the OHA had
accepted rent payments from these same families for
months before this accusation.

As it turned out, the courts have repeatedly refused
to allow the OHA to evict, and the latest ruling (a
few days ago) has once again shot down an appeal by
the OHA, to evict all those families residing at
Lockwood Gardens.

Despite the latest defeat in the court of appeal and
the ruling against the OHA, on February 13, an OHA
spokesperson (Ms. Hogan) stated that the OHA plans to
pursue a course to evict the Lockwood Garden's
families all over again.

Since the courts have repeatedly denied the OHA from
conducting mass evictions at Lockwood Gardens, Ms.
Hogan's public comments are nothing less than pure
harassment on the part of the OHA, as a brutal means
to frighten the lawful tenants into giving up their
rights to remain in their housing.

The recent January 16th OHA memo and eviction scheme,
shows that the OHA plans to funnel wheel barrows full
of money to five different law firms during the next 2
years, if the eviction scheme is approved.

The firms include, Edrington, Schirmer and Murphy,
Beckman and Marquez LLP, the Law Office of Charles
Ramsey, Law Offices of Arnold W. Evje II and Cindy
Lee, and the Law Office of Judondi Bolden.

The January 16th OHA memo does not state where the
$400,000 will be coming from to evict all those public
housing tenants, nor if they will have to raise the
rents on the poor tenants in order to pay off these
blood suckers who profit on the forced relocation of
Oakland's renters.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@yahoo.com

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If you are from the reservation whatever you say means nothing!

09/24/2021 - 10:54 by Anonymous (not verified)
Original Author
root
Original Body

A family from the Yurok Indian Nation fight for justice in the death of their son and recieve only discrimination and racism.

by Rania Ahmed/Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern/PNN

"Discrimination and racism towards this Indian reservation has gone on since the white settlers came in the 1850s," said Susan Botts, a resident on the Yurok Indian Reservation. The Yurok Tribe was an affluent society for several generations until the white settlers and gold miners abruptly arrived hundreds of years ago. Since its near-destruction the tribe has been confined to a one-mile radius along either side of the Klamath River and up it 44 miles.

"Poverty rates here are right around 80 percent," said Botts, "and between 70 and 80 percent of the residents don't have phone service or electricity." There has also been a steady increase in prejudice against Native Americans and a blatant disregard of their rights. Botts explained that racism towards Native Americans in Crescent City and other towns surrounding the reservation is open and pervasive.

This made me remember my history classes as a young student, in which we were taught about the great rise of the United States of America. It was all very confusing and frustrating for me; I could not make any sense of it. How could these people from Europe come on their ships and take all of this land? This land belonged to the Native Americans who lived here for thousands of years before these colonizers set foot on it.

The colonizers were always portrayed as revolutionaries and people fighting to liberate themselves from the British. It was not until I was in college that I learned about the California massacre of the Native Americans and the genocide of a powerful people. I was disgusted by this harsh reality that broke down the pretty picture of the revolution that my previous history teachers had painted. Today, the descendents of these original inhabitants of America are living under incredibly unjust circumstances and are subject to extreme racism on their own soil.

Indian scalps were still purchased into the early 1900's. KKK marches occurred in Klamath within the past thirty years and people from Klamath are commonly referred to in derogatory names.

"I think it would be safe to say that whether you're looking at law enforcement, the courts or the county government, there is pervasive anti-Native American sentiment in all aspects of the local government of Crescent City," said Botts.

She can attest to the discrepancies Native Americans face today. On June 3rd of 2005, Botts' life was drastically changed and she would have to experience the inequality of the justice system.

Botts, her husband, and their three sons and daughter set out for a picnic at Jedediah National State Park. Her daughter's boyfriend, who is from Crescent City, also came along. Troubled by the young man's questionable record (he happened to be on probation at the time for assaulting a boy), Botts and her husband were hesitant to take him on the trip until their daughter threatened to stay with the young man in Crescent City if he did not accompany them.

Once they arrived at the beach, the young man went behind the bushes and smoked cannabis; a direct violation of his probation, remembers Botts. Shortly after, he and Botts' fourteen-year-old son entered the river and they rode the rapids twice. The young man emerged from the river and Botts' son remained in the river stuck in an eddy fence (where the water flowing upstream meets the water flowing downstream) about forty to fifty feet from shore. Botts and her husband noticed their son struggling to get out of the river.

"He called out, 'Help me! You've got to help me!,' recalls Botts. Instinctively, they jumped into the river to rescue their son. Botts' husband reached him first and pushed him off of the eddy fence toward Botts. Botts' husband became trapped on the eddy fence himself. Botts pushed and shoved her son toward shore. Botts and her husband are both emergency medical technicians and river guides. Botts and her son finally reached shallow water and were about ten feet away from shore in thigh-deep water where there were no rapids. Suddenly, the young man walked into the river. Botts was relieved for a moment as she saw the young approach her son.

"It was my presumption that he would walk our son to shore," said Botts. But rather than take the boy toward the shore, the young man pulled and towed her son further into the river. The young man dragged her son about 30 feet further into the river. Botts recounts seeing the young man grab her son by the armpits as he tightly held on to her wrist.

"He left huge bruises on my wrist where he was trying to hold on," said Botts. After bringing him further into the river, the young man pushed Botts' son towards her husband and paddled back out of the river. Botts and her husband came back to shore and asked a couple arriving at the beach to go for help. The family located their son below the rapid, on the bottom of the river. Botts' husband and daughter tried to swim out to get him, but could not reach him.

While Botts' husband stayed with their son, Botts and her children went to seek help. The young man went also. They begged the young man to try to reach their son, and he refused. He just sat on a rock watching them. Botts drove to look for help and came across a Park Ranger who eventually helped her husband pull their son's body from out of the river. Botts and her husband accused their daughter's boyfriend of deliberately drowning their son.

"We kept waiting for the Sheriff's department to contact us and they didn't and they didn't and they didn't," said Botts. Despite her and her husband's
statements to the police (and the Park Ranger) after the death of their son, the police regarded his death as an accident. Botts was never contacted by the
authorities after the death of her son. She also found out that her husband's statements to the Park Ranger were never recorded nor was there an attempt to gather witness reports.

Botts contacted the California Department of Justice to file a complaint. At this point, Botts was able to present witness statements she gathered on her own. The people at the CDOJ told her that she had to ask the Del Norte County Sheriff's department to investigate. Botts and her husband went to the Sheriff's department to give their statements in order for the investigation to begin. Unknown to both Botts and her husband, they found that the county
drug task force head was assigned to take the case.

"We went in and we gave him our statements. He didn't appear to write anything down. When we went back in, he had, I guess, forgot what we told him and had gone back to what was in the report, never mind what we were telling him," said Botts. The detective directly questioned Botts and her husband's accusations. He clearly did not believe that the young man being accused was at fault.

"It was shocking that we were somehow supposed to explain this young man's conduct when there was no explanation for it," said Botts. Two weeks after the death of her son, the young man accused left the state of California. Botts informed the detective that the young man left the state and he responded by suggesting that maybe his mother was trying to protect him.

"To me that seems negligent, it seems irresponsible it seems to be an obstruction of justice," said Botts. When Botts received the investigative report, the specific details of the incident were omitted. The final report said that her son's death was caused by accidental drowning and that the young man was only trying to help.

Botts went back to the CDOJ where they suggested she go to the district attorney. She filed complaints at the DA's office but never received a letter, a call
nor did she receive any sort of acknowledgements of her complaints. Botts also filed complaints with the County Grand Jury, as instructed by the DOJ, and
received no acknowledgement or response. Finally she sent a third complaint certified mail which was returned after 14 days because it was refused at
delivery. Botts later found out that the accused young man's mother works at the DA's office.

Botts and her husband continue in this legal limbo. Achieving absolutely no progress in her son's case, Botts filed several complaints to the Sheriff's Department. The only response she was given was in a letter from the Sheriff saying that everything pertaining to the case was conducted properly and within standards and that the young man was not a contributing factor to her son's death. The Sheriff ruled out the young man's involvement despite the fact
that Botts and her husband repeatedly accused him of purposely drowning their son in the statements they gave the Sheriff. Botts contacted the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. The FBI told her that the Sheriff could not possibly have lied about her case and asked Botts' husband if they were in the habit of complaining about law enforcement.

Botts has sent letters explaining her case to elected officials who have done nothing but offer letters of condolence. Because Sheriffs have full jurisdictional
discretion, the elected representatives cannot do anything to help Botts' case.

"What we have is a singular Sheriff who is obstructing justice and doing so willfully. Whether he's doing it out of racial bias or whether he is doing so to
protect the son of a local government official, I will never know," said Botts. "We're very frustrated, we're very outraged and we do think it has to do with
prejudice," said Botts. Botts has not been able to find any attorney willing to take a civil rights or wrongful death case. When they look at the biased police reports they conclude that the young man was only doing what he could to help.

"If you are from the reservation, whatever you say means nothing," said Botts. "You're instantly regarded as incredible and you don't deserve justice."

Learn more about this tragic incident at
http://www.realcrimes.com/Botts/dagbotts.htm

To sign a petition demanding more police action on this unjust incident, go to
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/investigate-the-death-of-dag-botts.html

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