Story Archives 2008

by Tony Robles

"A man is his job and you are f****d at yours!"

--Shelley Levine from the movie GlenGarry Glen Ross

I was sitting at my desk once again contemplating my worth and my value as a person, as a man, as someone who possesses a spirit. My biggest fear is that I will lose my spirit while sitting behind my desk, that somehow the desk will become a coffin that will encase my spirit and ingest my soul into little drawers to be trapped in an eternal communion with rubber bands, paper clips, glue stick and the ever-trusted bottle of white out.

My job is with a non-profit organization in the city as an employment counselor. I find this position to be both funny and ironic since I have been fired from most every job I have held in my life. My first job was a paperboy with the San Francisco Examiner in 1976. I had a fairly big route, about 56 papers. Like many kids, I wanted expensive tennis shoes and I saved my earnings for a pair of red pumas that I had seen in a storefront window.

The job went well for a short time but I got a good number of complaints from people who didn't get their paper. There wasn't a name for A.D.D. at the time and I believe I had it. My boss was a grumpy old-timer who supposedly knew my grandfather in the old days. He dyed his hair the color of black shoe polish. I felt like an idiot when he brought the complaints to my attention. The complaints kept adding up and I eventually had to give up the route. I did manage to buy the 60 dollar pair of Puma's which my father described as a "damn waste of money" and that we could have gotten steak, rice, eggs, chow mein, milk and a roll of Italian salami with that money. He demanded that I return them to get my money back. I told him I couldn't return them because I had been wearing them for a week. He shot me a disgusted look that made me feel like eating my shoes.

Over the years I worked as a dishwasher, security guard, radio DJ and office clerk. Somehow I could never follow the rules. Somehow, the rules were superfluous and the enforcers of the rules, in my estimation, did not have the imagination to conceive of a situation free of rules, a space in which creativity could be appreciated and one could truly be his or herself without feeling guilty. The people who followed and insisted upon the rules were rewarded with promotions and bigger salaries. I was often let go or quit to find another job with rules.

So now I sit at a desk at 7th and Market Streets with a computer and business cards with my name and position printed in a fancy font: Tony Robles Employment Counselor.

People walk in and ask for help in getting jobs. Most are looking for manual labor, janitorial, or maintenance positions. Some have been in and out of prison. Many do not have much education. Many do not feel that they deserve anything but these positions. It is from my desk that I see these leaders.

Eric M. walked into my office 2 months ago. He'd heard that we helped people get jobs so we sat and talked. He indicated that he wanted to get a job as a janitor. We sat down and talked. He was formerly incarcerated, homeless and trying to get his life together. He told me he had worked in Bayview Hunter's point in a mentorship program for young entrepreneurs. He had helped write a grant and create an in-class curriculum for the program.

We talked about his skills and his experience. He wrote down each job he had held and what he accomplished. I watched him write, there was something special there. Maybe it was the care he put into the words. His writing was like brush strokes that said more than any resume could. He said he'd return the next day to work on his resume. The following day came but Eric M. did not show up.

A month later he came back and said he didn't mean to disappear; that he'd been looking for housing and that things had been rough. We sat down and went over his resume. It looked good. We looked on craigslist and saw an opening for a community organizer position at ACORN San Francisco. We called and secured an interview for Eric.

2 days later Eric M. walked into the office and said 3 words: "I got it". We hugged and his eyes held all the light I needed for the day, or any day. I felt good for him. I was in the presence of a leader. We walked to the elevator where we bid each other goodbye.

Eric M. ain't no janitor. He's a strong young black man, a leader. A leader among many leaders who are told they are janitors and menial laborers.

Eric got on the elevator going down but he was really going up. I walked back to my desk, a guy who'd been fired from most every job he's had, soul intact, at least for the moment.

2008 Tony Robles

by Joseph Bolden/jsph_bldn@yahoo.com

Me,the answer Man?No Way.

This is sort of a column in that I’m giving an explanation.

From time immemorial at least recently there has been both Answer
Men and Women writing from pulpit,platforms,radio, television,on video and digital video disks on every question under the sun,over the rainbow about the human condition.

Through out our short his/her-story persons have stepped up,volunteered or because of the sheer intellect and or sensitivity became
or designated ANSWER MEN OR WOMEN.

Even in varying degrees was an answer man for a time.

A complete accident it happened because of the
ASK JOE, HE DON’T KNOW COLUMNS.

Many people see the Ask Joe leaving out He Don’t Know part.

Though for long time I didn’t know where, when, or how to answer my readers many readers did write in.

First I did stuff on investing funds, healthy eating,and lots on romance, sex [mostly sex] and the changing morals of post 1980’s,90’s and early 21 st centuries interpersonal exchanges.

Then it hit me square in my head,I didn’t much about money,relationships were nearly as bad though I had dated somewhat.

The whole cell phone while dating really ticked me off on how
women especially used them then as now for easing out of a date instead off simply saying to the guy "Excuse me, powder/ladies room, back in a sec."

Of course the guy waits and waits until he gets it."

This way the guy isn’t embarrassed in public which women will do

(1) for their own protection.

(2)so the guy won’t Even think of Ever dating her again.

There are many more examples but those who've experienced them know of what I speak.

It works sometimes too well when arbitrarily a woman finds she’s made an error wanting a do over date.

It takes a brave, confident, male with a secure ego to except a date from any women who done a dine n’ dash on them.

The point is when I though about it I knew in my head not to me anyone’s answer man so my next column is Tell Joe because
Logic told me that my readers have more expertise than
I on various topics so they can tell me and the least I can do in comment on what’s written doing the best I can.

Now theirs Ask/Tell Joe column which will be utterly confusing to me since I’m no answer man.

To think I basically wanted to make this a private date site
that’s before going on lots of date sites and meeting a few people on line and in real life.

The answer man thing isn’t for me I just write what’s in my head and let it go at that and people write back or want a date (women only)I’m a happy camper.

For those wanting to write in private and not be part of Poor Magazine/PNN just write jsph_bldn@yahoo.com
and I’ll be able to write back.

It may take time because of lots of email I must delete from old date sites to popup adds and other stuff filling up my email space.

That’s it folks, and my column is done for this week,bye.

by anna/pnn

In the year 2001, when Alison Washington, a single mother of two, moved into her new apartment in Northridge Homes, a housing cooperative located in Bayview Hunter’s Point, she was pointing her compass towards success. A year later she went into business for herself, opening a home based learning center in the downstairs of her apartment. The following year, after the passing of her mother, she transformed her grief into support by starting her own faith based family support service ministry S.O.U.R.C.E., Sisters of Unity Reaching Community Entities, which offered community support services such as toys, backpacks, clothing drives, hot feeding programs, and a local food share program which was operated out of St. James Missionary Baptist Church.

For the next three years Alison cultivated her organization into an essential community resource center, anticipating achieving her Non-profit status forming allies with other Bayview organizations as well as winning sponsorships from larger Bay Area organizations. Alison’s course towards success seemed uninterrupted until, in the fall of 2007, she found herself and her family illegally evicted and homeless - along with being told we have no investment moneies to be returned to us. Where did it go? Is her question!

In 2006 Alison’s home was broken into, with nearly everything stolen and leaving her and her children with close to nothing. Pooling together her resources, Alison managed to resume her life, until 2007, when her home was invaded a second time. Again, they were completely violated . Alison fought to regain the life she had before the break-ins, this time using her meager income to install a home security system, and purchased a dog. The damage was done, however, and Alison began to fall behind in her rent.

After finding herself three months behind in rent Alison was served with an eviction notice and sought help from RADCO Eviction Defense, a rental assistance agency. RADCO agreed to pay Alison’s back rent as well as provide her with a monthly stipend, which would guarantee Alison’s rent in the future. When Alison and RADCO attempted to contact (and pay) her landlord, Office Manager Penny Hall and Assistant Yolanda Newton, they received no response. It wasn’t until the day before Alison’s eviction that Hall and Newton responded to them and rejected Alison’s back rent payments, stating that the eviction would continue. The following day, the Sheriffs arrived at Alison’s house, also trying to advocate for their family, but there was no success. By then, she was given 20 minutes to pack her belongings before being forced out of her home and shuttled a hotel, the first of 15 that Alison has lived in for the next two months after that day.

Alison’s mistake wasn’t falling behind on her rent, however. Instead it was choosing to live in Bayview Hunter’s Point, an area that has been targeted as a high crime community, not to forget very expensive. She also tried to remain in her home thinking changes would come about for the better, but it didn't. They lived in an unsafe/unhealthy unit with many repair work orders, which were never fixed. Leaking windows from the rain resulted into sleeping with mold in the room, wet carpet dripping down through the kitchen ceiling onto the floor. Also broken doors off hinges. These work orders were never completed but we constantly received "Sorry we missed you notices from Maintenance, when they knew on Mondays, there was no one going to be home."

The displacement of poor communities of color does not occur only after housing is built, but is a slow deliberate process that begins years before development. This process, which has systematically wiped out black communities such as the Fillmore, West Oakland, and now New Orleans, occurs in areas where market values are high and land is scare.

“We call it ethnic cleansing, to push people out and not give them anything and no say,” say Willy Radcliff, publisher of the San Francisco Bayview newspaper, “The whole city is pushing people out so rich developers can come in and have wealthy people move in. They squeeze the poor and push them out. It’s happening all over the country.”

There are certain elements involved that are responsible for the assassination of gentrified communities. One of these elements is keeping communities poor, specifically by keeping jobs out of the community while rents increase. In Bayview Hunter’s Point the unemployment rate is at 30% and the city has offered a limited amount of direct services in this area, forcing residents to leave the city in order to survive.

“The jobs have never been up here,” says Radcliff, “There’s a conspiracy to keep jobs out of here so they can get the land. They keep jobs away from black people and if you don’t have a job you can’t live in San Francisco.”

Take the hotly debated T-line for example. Initially the project promised jobs to Bayview residents and was touted as a way to promote employment in the area. When ground broke, however, no neighborhood faces were seen working on the line. Instead, in an area that is primarily black, the majority of the construction workers were white.

Jobs weren’t the only sacrifice Bayview residents made for the line. In exchange for the T-line Bayview residents gave up the 15-bus line, which ran every 15 minutes in and out of the Bayview. The T-line runs chaotically and some residents have experienced waits up to three hours, leaving them stranded without a dependable way to get to work or school.

“I think cutting off the service to that area is a way to strangle the existing community,” says Laure McElroy, a former Bayview resident, “Once they get the people out of there they want then service will get better.”

Violence also plays a crucial role in the displacement of communities, where developers have residents trapped on all fronts. Violence feeds violence and whole communities are killing each other off in desperate and ill-fated attempts to negotiate the poverty in their area. For those families who do manage to survive the violence in the Bayview, moving out of the area is the only option to stay alive. Mass media plays a role in advertising sensationalized numbers about the killings and shootings in the Bayview, ensuring that, while families move out seeking sanctuary elsewhere, no one else moves in until the district is thoroughly “cleaned up”.

Alison and her family was a direct victim of this type of violence when her 22-year-old son was shot at late one night. There was no clear reason why, only that her son and his friend were not dealing drugs. After the shooting and eviction, the family was supported through Victim Services, which has bent over backwards to help Alison in her search for housing.

Alison’s eviction has taken its toll on her and her family, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Alison has been in and out of the hospital due to stress related illnesses and her 10-year-old daughter has undergone trauma that has caused her to miss quite a bit of school. The transitional housing shelter system has been very accommodating by placing her daughter, son, dog, and herself in doors with a one-bedroom apartment.

“I’m reliving these incidents every single day as I press forward and support others through their times of grief and discomfort, even in my homelessness,” she says, her voice cracking under the weight of her story, “When is it going to come to the time of living like a normal family again? As a mom, going back to work, to school, and happy.” We stumble upon challenges daily, and everyone deserves a chance get back up. As I, a “Woman of Faith” have and will always continue to travel with the “Armour of God” my hope is to encourage you all that there is hope at the end of all storms!” So many families have lost their strength to go on.”

Alison’s search for housing has been much like her shelter experience. Alison, who refuses to separate her family, is constantly being faced with housing offers that are not adequate for a three-person family, and who's willing to accept a service animal. The shelter and housing system, which are grounded in the Western notion that adulthood equals independence, has been very accommodating to Alison’s family’s needs, but now as time is running out of this dwelling space, it’s leaving them virtually homeless, as they were in the beginning.

“We are temporarily housed at in a shelter and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts,” she concludes, “But we are due to exit in a couple of days and we have no where else to go.”
Unjust evictions and homelessness has to cease, especially when the individuals are trying to make a difference somehow!

Alison would like to thank the following organizations that have supported her through her struggle: S.O.U.R.C.E. Volunteers, City & County of San Francisco Daly City Krispy Kreme Donuts, Dept. of Human Services, City & County of San Francisco Neighborhood Services, City & County of San Francisco District Attorney's Office, City of San Bruno Marine Corps, Clear Channel Radio 98.1 KISS FM, Darlene's Fabrics, Homeless Prenatal Program, Poor Magazine, RADCO Eviction Defense, Safeway Stores, S.F. Sheriffs Office, S.F.P.D./Operation Dream, Shelter Network, St. James M.B. Church

Alison has recently learned that she and her family must move out of the shelter they are staying in this Thursday. They have nowhere to go, if you can help in any way please call 415.863.6306.

by Guillermo Gonzalez and Gloria Esteva/PNN

For English scroll down

Sentado en un auditorio oscuro, lleno de presentimiento malo en la Universidad de Stanford yo escuche las palabras de Gloria Esteva (reportera de la Prensa Pobre y miembro de Voces de Immigrantes en Resistencia en el instituto de Clase, Pobreza, y Justicia en la Prensa Pobre). Escuchando las palabras de Gloria me senti verdaderamente inspirado. Yo soy el maestro de el proyecto de Voces y un reportero immigrante para la Prensa Pobre, y cuando yo oyi a Gloria hablando en esta conferencia, realize que sus palabras y el hecho que nosotros estabamos presente ayi era la manisfestacion de lo que nosotros en la Prensa Pobre juntos con otras organizaciones y individuos estabamos testificando en esta asamblea de la Comision de Comunicaciones Federal (FCC) sobre el futuro del internet neutro en la Universidad de Stanford el Jueves pasado. La palabra de Gloria ha resonado la voz poderosa de comunidades raza migratorias y otros eruditos de pobreza que por otra parte no serian representados en esta reunion.

Un autobs de viaje que fue encargado por la Alianza de Medios transporto una corte transversal de gente incluyendo varios pobres, raza, discapacidados y eruditos migratorios de la Prensa Pobre, Primer Programa de Aprendizaje de Voz, Escuela Secundaria de Oasis y KPFA. Llegamos a Stanford solo para ser saludados por las caras confudidas de los alumnos de privilegio de Stanford. En sus caras, se les miraba que estaban tratando de aberiguar lo que una gente que se mira como nosotros estaban haciendo en su escuela. Tal vez yo era el paranoide , tal vez solo me hago incomodo cuando hay una diferencia de clase sensible, o tal vez esto era por el paseo de autobus largo que solo me tenia sintiendome sobresospechoso. Nos juntamos alrededor de la entrada del auditorio para una foto de grupo cuando a nosotros se nos acerco de repente agresivamente y groseramente una senora que buscaba pleito. "No habra ningunos signos o banderas adentro! Habia rumores sobre algunos de ustedes sacando banderas de sus bolsos. Solo sepa que a solo que nos demos cuenta que sus banderas estan fuera de sus bolsas, seran tirados de la conferencia!" Si, era obvio, nuestra gente no fue querida alli. Pero solo en la manera de PNN,contestamos con respeto y dignidad, y continuamos a realizar nuestra mision.

Despues de que todos nuestros comentarios fueron grabados en video por la Difusion de Publico de Palo Alto, el grupo de mas de veinte de nosotros fuimos para dentro. Como el instructor/facilitador de lenguaje para Voces de immigrantes en resistencia programa, fui instruido por Coeditor de Revista POBRE (y uno de los eruditos de pobreza de plomo de la Revista POBRE en residencia) Tiny a.k.a Lisa Gray Garcia para traducir la conferencia. De este modo, tome un asiento entre Gloria, Patricia, Angela y Teresa, (las mujeres poderosas que arreglan el grupo principal de pobreza y eruditos migratorios del programa Voces) y me dispuse a traducir la idea esencial de la conversacion entre el panel de expertos que hablan sobre el asunto de la neutralidad del internet... Eso es lo que pense. Los expertos continuaban discursos largos, con un lenguaje muy tecnico para los cuales hasta yo necesite la traduccion. Entonces trate de comunicar lo que entendi del panel, que era muy poco. Tal vez era que yo no era tan inteligente como pense que yo era, pero toda esta conversacion de frecuencias de Internet electronicas me hizo sentir como un trabajador del campo inculto en una conferencia de tecnologia.

Los pensamientos y sentimientos de la inferioridad traspasaron mi espina, complementada por el sentimiento que cada uno nos miraba y pensaba, "Esa jente pareze perdida." No iba esta conferencia a ser sobre la libertad de palabra? Por que hacen ellos todo esto sobre la tecnologia cuando la verdadera cuestion va irrepresentada? Deberia yo cambiar mi testimonio para hacerlo relevante a la cuestion de tecnologia de la cual esta gente habla? Pense que yo era el unico que tenia estos sentimientos. Anduve fuera para conseguir un aire fresco cuando fui asercado por Tiny. Ella me dijo lo que yo tenia que oir. Ella me dijo que esta gente trataba intencionadamente de hacernos sentir el inferior, ellos intentaban intencionadamente a enganarnos con toda esta tecnologia para hacernos pensar que esta audiencia no era realmente sobre la libertad de palabra.

Finalmente despues de horas de "expertos" discusiendo del futuro del Internet, la parte de comentario publico de la audiencia comenzo. Altavoz despues del altavoz, la cuestion de libertad de palabra fue mencionada cada vez mas, y el tono de protesta comenzo a crecer entre las altavoces. El publico hablo, y el mensaje estaba claro. En las primeras altavoces, Tiny vino al microfono,"Estoy de pie aqui en honor de todas las mamas pobres, la juventud, los adultos y mayores de color que no estan en esta audiencia de muy menos tienen acceso de Internet." Tiny nos recordo quien no estaba en este cuarto y como esta nueva infraccion en nuestro acceso nos tomaria mas adelante en el problema muy grave del divido digital.

La accion subyacente que trataba de ser cometida por Verizon, Comcast, y ATT era criminal. La estrategia "paga para jugar" que estaba siendo propuesta por las telecomunicaciones grandes reservaba el derecho de cobrar impuestos injustamente sobre Internet y negar a usuarios el acceso a un estado de Internet neutro, uno donde ninguna entidad podria dictar al publico en que podemos y no podemos registrar. Los eventos que preceden a esta reunion eran las acciones inconstitucionales tomadas por Comcast para bloquear deliberadamente la informacion enviada por correo electronico a usuarios de organizaciones que ellos aparentemente sintieron para ser "inmorales."

La razon de la reunion: para darle la oportunidad a la FCC para que calculen lo que ellos deberian hacer sobre este asunto. Cuando Joy de KPFA hablo, recordo a los miembros de la FCC que su responsibilidad es servir a la gente, no los conglomerados de corporaciones que tratan de girar el Internet en aun otra fuente estable de ingresos. No hacen estas companias grandes bastante dinero de los usuarios del Internet? No son ellos contentos en saber que el Internet de los Estados Unidos es clasificado dieciseis en el mundo y aun es uno de los mas caros? Los abastecedores de Internet grandes del Internet de este pais nos sobrecargan para el Internet lento que es mas rapido, y en algunos casos hasta libres en otros paises.

El nombre de Gloria fue anunciado por el asesor y ella se levanto al lado del microfono, "Yo uso el internet para buscar informacion y para complementar mis publicaciones, y tambien para tener informada mi comunidad de lo que ocurre en ella. Al mismo tiempo publicamos sus voces en nuestra revista publicada en el internet, Prensa Pobre. Asi mismo usamos la oportunidad que nos brinda KPFA, y tambien trabajamos en conjunto con otros periodicos de la comunidad. Creo que eso no les interesa mucho pero, yo quiero decirles que yo estoy aqui porque tenemos derecho a la informacion. Y no sola la informacion que nos publiquen todos los que usan el internet, si no la informacion que decimos nosotros y otros organismos que estan tratando de decir la verdad a el mundo."

Su voz encanto la atencion de todos en el auditorio. Cuando ella hablo y yo traduje, note que cada par de los ojos de los representantes de la FCC fue enfocado en la presencia de esta mujer fuerte, inmigrante. Y como podian ellos no ser completamente encantados?

Cuando una campana de limite de tiempo de minuto sono el auditorio entero se elevo con sus voces y exigio que Gloria sea permitida terminar, "Solo quiero decirles, que aun que estemos en la capa mas baja de esta economia, tenemos derecho a la informacion. Porque apezar de que no podemos pagar sus medios tan caros, porque con nuestros trabajos no nos alcanza para pagar por los aparatos que uzamos para nuestras publicaciones. Creemos que se debe escuchar nuestra verdad, y nuestra verdad le esta preguntando a los scientificos y a toda la gente justa de este mundo, porque existimos los pobres? No por lo que dicen los libros, si no por lo que estamos diciendo en nuestro periodico. Porque somos personas que estamos trabajando, estamos contribuiendo a la riqueza de este paiz, y tenemos derecho a que nuestra voz se escuche! Gracias."

Gloria hablo con una pasion que era casi inexistente en esta audiencia. Una pasion inspirada por la opresion constante de pobreza y injusticia que esta mujer sobrevive cada dia de su vida. Ella hablo del corazon, ella hablo con la conviccion de revolucion y angustia sobre la cual todo el personal en la Prensa Pobre se esfuerza por expresar y educar a nuestros lectores.

El discurso de Gloria podria ser oido en la radio KPFA en el internet, por este sitio, HYPERLINK "http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25881" http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25881

Para mas informacion en la lucha para salvar un Internet libre y abierto visite a www.media-alliance.org

Poverty, Race, Disability and Migrant scholars from PoorNewsNetwork and the Voces De Inmigrantes en Resistancia Program at POOR speak truth to the FCC on net neutrality.

I sat in a dark, foreboding hall at Stanford University listening to the words of resistance of Gloria Esteva (staff writer of POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork and member of the Voces de Immigrantes en Resistencia at the Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute at POOR). As I listened I felt truly inspired. I am the co-teacher of the Voces program and a migrant scholar myself and as I heard Gloria speak I realized that her words and the fact that we were even there was the actualization of what POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork(PNN) along with other individuals and organizations were fighting for through testimonies in the public comment portion of the meeting of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on net neutrality at Stanford University last Thursday. Gloria's words resonated the powerful voice of migrant raza communities and other poverty scholars that otherwise would not be represented at this meeting.

A tour bus that was commissioned by Media Alliance to transport a cross section of folks including several poverty, race, disability and migrant scholars from POOR Magazine/PNN, First Voice Apprenticeship program, Oasis High School, Center for Media Justice and KPFA arrived at Stanford and got off the bus only to be greeted with a somewhat unwelcoming aura of academic entitlement generated by the faces of the Stanford kids walking by and wondering what in the world people that looked like us were doing on their campus. Maybe I was just being paranoid, maybe I just get uncomfortable when there is a noticeable class difference, or maybe it was the long bus ride that just had me feeling over-suspicious. We all gathered around just outside the auditorium where the hearing was being held for a group photo when we were suddenly aggressively and rudely approached by a lady in a suit.

"There will be no signs or banners inside! There were rumors about some of you people were pulling out banners from your bags. Just know that if we see you with banners inside you will be thrown out!" Yes, it was obvious, our people were not wanted there. But just in PNN fashion, we brushed off the belittling remarks and glares of the suits, and proceeded to carry out our mission.

After all of our comments were videotaped by Palo Alto Public Broadcasting, the group of over twenty of us made our way inside. As the instructor/language facilitator for the Voces de immigrantes en resistencia program, I was instructed by POOR Magazine co-editor (and one of POOR Magazine's lead poverty scholars in residence) Tiny a.k.a Lisa Gray Garcia to translate as much of the hearing as possible. So, I took a seat amongst Gloria, Patricia, Angela and Teresa, (the powerful women that make up the core group of poverty and migrant scholars of the Voces program) and prepared to translate the gist of the conversation between the panel of experts speaking on the issue of net neutrality on stage... Or so I thought. The experts on stage were going on long, technological savvy rants that even I needed translation for. So I tried to convey what I understood from the panel, which was very little. Maybe it was that I was not as computer savvy as I thought I was, but all this talk of electronic internet frequencies made me feel like an uneducated field worker at a technology conference. Thoughts and feelings of inferiority ran through my spine, supplemented by the feeling that everyone was looking at us and thinking, "They’re in the wrong place."

Wasn't this conference going to be about freedom of speech? Why are they making it all about technology when the real issue is going unrepresented? Should I change my testimony to make it relevant to the issue of technology that these people are talking about? I thought I was the only one having these feelings. I walked outside to get a breath of fresh air as I was approached by Tiny. She told me what I needed to hear. She said to me that these people were intentionally trying to make us feel inferior, they were intentionally trying to trip us out with all this technology mumbo jumbo to make us think that this hearing wasn't really about freedom of speech.

Finally after hours of "experts" talking about the future of the internet, the public comment portion of the hearing began. Speaker after speaker, the issue of freedom of speech was mentioned more and more, and the tone of protest began to grow amongst the speakers. The public was speaking, and the message was clear. In the first queue of speakers Tiny came up to the mike, "I am standing here in honor of all the poor mamaz, youth, adults and elders of color locally and globally who are not at this hearing much-less getting internet access at all," Tiny went on to remind us who was Not in the room and how this new infringement on our access would take us even further into the very real digital divide.

The underlying action that was trying to be committed by Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T was criminal. The "pay to play" concept that was being proposed by the big telecoms was reserving the right to unfairly tax the internet and deny users the access to a neutral internet state, one where no entity could dictate to the public what we can and can't log onto. The events preceding this meeting were the unconstitutional actions taken by Comcast to deliberately block information being emailed to users from organizations they seemingly felt to be "unethical."

The reason for the meeting: to let the FCC figure out what they should do about this. As Joy from KPFA reminded the members present from the FCC, their duty is to serve the people, not the conglomerates of corporations who are trying to turn the internet into yet another cash cow. Aren't these big companies making enough money off of the users of the internet? Aren't they content knowing that the United States' internet is ranked sixteenth in the world and yet is one of the most expensive? The big internet providers of this country's internet are overcharging us for slow internet that is faster, and in some cases even free in other countries.

Gloria's name was announced by the moderator and she was up next to speak, "We at Poor News Network/PNN publish articles written by the Voces de immigrantes en resistencia on the internet, we also work with KPFA El Tecolote, The SF Bayview, and other sources of published media around the bay. I know you're not really interested in that, but, I am here to say, that we have a right to be informed. We have a right to any and all information published on the net. The information that PNN, and other organizations like us, who are trying to spread the truth, is published on the net. We, the people at Poor News Network have the right to be heard."

Her voice captivated everyone’s attention in the audience. As she spoke and I translated, I noticed that every pair of the FCC representatives' eyes were focused on this strong, immigrant woman’s presence. And how could they not be completely captivated?

As the one minute time limit bell rang the whole audience rose up with their voices and demanded that Gloria be allowed to finish, "I just want to say, that although we are at the lowest link of our economy and our society, we still have the right to be informed. Because even though we don't make enough money with our meager jobs to pay the internet fees and the costs of computers, our truth should still be heard, and our truth is asking the scientists and all the righteous people of this world, why it is that poor people exist? Our answers are not what the books tell us, but the truth that we publish at POOR Magazine. We are working people, that are contributing to the economic prosperity of this country and we have a right to be heard!"

Gloria spoke with a passion that was almost non-existent at this hearing. A passion fueled by the constant oppression of poverty and injustice that this woman lives through everyday of her life. She spoke from the heart, she spoke with the conviction of revolution and distress that all the staff at POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork strive to express and educate our readers about.

Gloria's speech could be heard at KPFA radio online, through this link, HYPERLINK "http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25881" http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25881

For more information on the fight to save a free and open internet go on-line to www.media-alliance.org

by Sam Drew/PNN

"Hip Hop Tried 2 Kill Me" is the eye-opening title of the new book written by 20-year music veteran, Fleetwood. His book, with a tentative release date of May 19th (Malcolm X's birthday), is a look at the inside world of Hip-Hop from a talented writer, rap artist, music producer, videographer, motivational speaker and community activist.

Hip-hop destroyed the person I was and gave birth to the man I am today, for that reason, I'll always love Hip-Hop,says Fleetwood. Fleetwood's passion for Hip-Hop began during the days of the Sugar Hill Gang, one of the first groups to use rapping in their songs. He wrote his first rhyme across the street from the cemetery where his mother was buried down South.

Fleetwood has the humble personae of a down home country boy. But he has roots in both California and in North Carolina. As he states with an infectious smile, I was breaded in San Francisco's Fillmore district.

His desire to perfect his craft lead him to the frigid climate of Minnesota. He was accepted to Music Tech in Minneapolis, where he received an A.A. degree in music. He produced a young talented singer known as R.L. before he became popular with the R&B group called Next. But after college came a major setback in his musical career. He became a victim in the war on drugs.

I owned my own record labels, I sold dope for my record labels but I kept getting caught,said Fleetwood with amazing candor. What straightened his path was a change in his spiritual outlook or as Fleetwood proclaims, Finally, I put my faith in God!
Fleetwood returned to San Francisco and produced several groups. One group named Probable Cause opened up for acts like E-40, Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs N Harmony. During his budding producing career, Fleetwood got involved in community work helping young people. He got involved with the Proposition 21 movement that focused on justice and freedom for youth in California.

I was part of the problem,said Fleetwood. My Father was a major heroin trafficker. I wanted to be part of the solution, revealed Fleetwood about his becoming a community activist.

Fleetwood has indeed become a one-man solution to the problem.I didn't have any special hookup you just have to use the resources you have available to you,he said.

Beside writing his upcoming book "Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me", for less than $150, he has also established his own non-profit, The Homeboy Hotline, which helps ex-offenders with their re-entry into the community through job resources.

I do the footwork, said Fleetwood about his non-profit. I don't get you the job but I can show you where to go to get one. I help you find clothing, housing and medical care. I also show you how to get grants and avoid the poverty pimps, he said.

He also conducts an annual toy giveaway for children whose parents are in jail. I plant a seed of hope and care around the time of Christmas to reverse the cycle of hopelessness. We go to family shelters with new toys. We'd like to see entertainers and athletes from the Raiders, 49ers, A's, Giants and Warriors help donate new unused toys.

On the drawing board for the future is the launching of a new inspirational God fearing movement called DOPE BOYZ, which stands for Doing Our Part Equally. The mixtape “Blessing” is on the streets now and can be ordered on line. The inspiration for the groups name stems from Fleetwood's early music career. Dope Boyz was the name of my first group in Minnesota. I flipped the script from gangster to Hip-Hop, remembered Fleetwood

In life what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Adversity, it can destroy you or it can build you. In my case it built me to the man I am today, claims Fleetwood about his life. But being truthful and helping others in need helps spread your good name around the world. Fleetwood knows he can go anywhere be it East, West, North or South and know he will get Love from the streets.

Many record companies manufacture street credibility with hired teams of expensive public relations experts who pump out lurid gangster tales to create a street buzz to sell records. Fleetwood's street cred comes from years of pounding the pavement, assisting troubled youths and defending the community from predatory attacks.

The corporate media controls Hip-Hop,Fleetwood bluntly tells me. But he has a remedy to the watered down corporate Hip-Hop forced on us by the media giants. Keep it underground and put it on the internet. Put more truth in your music. Make music to inspire people.

To order Fleetwood's most anticipated book of the year, "Hip-Hop Tried 2 Kill Me", go to Marcus Bookstore, Barnes & Noble or Borders Bookstores or purchase it at his website myspace.com/ Fleetwood 189, where mixtapes can also be purchased. There is a tentative date of May 19th (Malcolm X's Birthday) for a book signing at Marcus Bookstore in San Francisco. Check the website for more details.

by Staff Writer

I was looking for a certain content destroye of my columms.

Found myself the usual suspect that I had accidenty pressed some toggle or wrong command switched taking all my columns off.

For those reading my columns(less than a few hundred I dare say)
Thank you for your concern,
I'll try to retrace the accident to get it back on.

Another mess I've gotten myelf into.

For San Francisco Liberation Radio I'll be there again probably at a different day and time.

Thank you listner's especially those lovely women sending pics of their lovely upper abundance exposed with phone and addresses attatched(joking haven't any color pics but can dream.

So not to worry folks,
not to worry. Bye for now

by Carol Harvey

In Mid-March, Shaun Fausz, 25, blond and fresh-faced, left his aunt's house in Pasco, Washington. Walking to Portland, Oregon, he spent the last of his money on Amtrak fare to San Francisco seeking work on ships. He stumbled onto St. Anthony's. Directed to Buster's Place, he showered and slept all night in a chair. Shaun sat talking to me among 100 or so homeless people, mostly men, quietly conversing or dozing at Buster's Place Drop-In Center at 211 13th Street.

"I work on boats. Before Pasco, I lived in New Mexico. There is nothing but desert," he said wryly. "They had no need for a deck hand."

Shaun discovered here that he needed a merchant mariner's document, a Z-card, "which costs $300 I don't have."

Though his knees were sore from walking, he already had three job interviews. "Once I get that Z-card, I'll be making all kinds of money again."

Hearing that the Mayor's proposed budget cuts will close Buster's Place on March 31, Shaun observed without this safe haven, "I would probably be sleeping on the streets and end up with that $79 fine I can�t afford. It would put me deeper in debt and make me homeless longer."

Jennifer Friedenbach, Director of the Coalition on Homelessness, called Mayor Newsom's plan to re-design the emergency homeless system "coldly negligent." It excluded the most vulnerable population at the central city's only 24-hour drop-in center, women escaping violence, homeless seniors, the disabled, people with substance abuse and severe psychiatric disabilities. 150 people are served daily, 90 at night, 700 annually.

In recent frigid weather, Buster's caseworker, Louis Roman, said more suffering clients were allowed inside at night. "We're not supposed to, but we do."

Said Friedenbach, "San Francisco is balancing its budget on the backs of its most vulnerable people...This proposal would put 150 at-risk people out on the cold concrete, some for the first time in their lives with nowhere to go."

She confirmed that (Buster's) is the only place to go in an emergency in the middle of the night It provides the sole access to shelters between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. It offers support services and addresses a public health and hygiene crisis with bathrooms and showers (some wheelchair accessible)--- though far more bathrooms are needed.

It is an emergency drop-in place, where women on the streets could go if they are feeling in danger.

With no walls to climb over, no barriers to push through, it is really low threshold. You can just walk in and get some help.

Louis Roman who is a certified substance abuse counselor experienced with dual and triple diagnosis, HIV/ Aids clients stated, "We were supposed to house people and refer them to appropriate agencies. The aim was to at least get (those who were) sleeping at (the old) Fell Street (drop-in center), without being seen, talked to, and, hopefully into their own places; appropriate shelters, SROs, assisted housing developments for elderly, and people with limited mobility."

"A third of our clients are seniors, 60 or over." Louis was saddened by the deaths of three people in the last few months. This was exacerbated by the agency's limited financial ability to refer them to services. "They sit in wheelchairs with heart trouble and other medical problems, and they just aren't seen."

Friedenbach stated that two years ago, when Buster's temporarily replaced the McMillan Drop-In Center, the original vision was broader. "We were moving towards not a holding place, but a place of healing, where the most vulnerable could engage in intensive work with caseworkers to get themselves off the streets. Instead of calling the police, people in psychiatric crisis could go to Buster's. Case managers could do preventative work with the most traumatized clients, addressing their needs with something as simple, perhaps, as a haircut or a massage in a comfortable healing place where they feel part of the community. This new program got intercepted and interrupted by the Mayor's mid-year budget cuts.

Three Buster's Place attendees, like most unhoused people I have interviewed, were warm, funny, and smart. Their views about the repercussions of this drop-in center's loss, exactly matched their advocate/activist counterparts.

The disarmingly charming Shalako Brooks between talking to friends, agreed to answer some questions. Shalako said that in 2005, Kevin Berger, now feature editor for Salon.com, profiled him in San Francisco Magazine. The article no longer appears in full on the Magazine's site, but Google quotes the first sentence, "Ordinary / extraordinary, (Shalako) seemed like just another homeless guy."

Shalako has a Master's in psychology. For 13 years he was personal and executive assistant to L.A. film industry heavy-hitters, Carol Lombardini, (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), and Sherry Lansing, CEO of Paramount Pictures.

Finding his partner of 13 years dead "started this whole cycle." Open about his alcohol addiction ---a half-gallon of vodka a day --- he said, "I'm just screwed up, I hit the skids. That's all." He has been in medical detox 13 times and rehab 12, "but I just can't seem to get over this hump." He partly drinks to fight insomnia.

A 'major alcoholic,' educated and articulate, he found it difficult to convince counselors or half-trained interns that he needed help.

He got entrenched in a homeless lifestyle because it became familiar.

He wants to go back to work. "People are impressed that I have a resume, cover letter, a reference list, and a salary history."

He was burned out of his SRO hotel, because "some crack head" lit his floor on fire.

Shalako has used Buster's Place every day and night for three weeks. With its closure, he would have no place to take a shower or use the rest room, leading to more urination and defecation on the street. He would be forced at 8:00 a.m. to use the Department of Public Health bathroom "when people are shooting up and passed out in the toilets."

He feels the larger numbers of people displaced from Buster's will waste police time when psychiatric problems render them unable to take care of themselves.

More people will sleep in doorways and get tickets for trespassing.

"People need a place to come and feel safe. At least here they're not going to get hurt."

Robert, 52, a New Yorker, sleeps at Buster's nightly. He kidded, "You could be a hostile reporter working undercover for Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh (who run) off at the mouth that the homeless need to do something, because we work so hard sitting here in these chairs at our microphones that we are about to pass out from exhaustion."

He noted Limbaugh's Oxycontin addiction. "Basically it's pharmaceutical heroin. He claims he got a bad back. Every junkie on the street has a bad back, too. He's not unique."

Robert observed that when Buster's closes, "all these people will be scattered elsewhere" making dealing with homelessness harder. "Good luck finding them, keeping track of who they are, where they are, what they are up to."

"With everybody here concentrated in one place, it is easier to address people's needs. At least there's some sense of order to it."

If they decide to come up with funding, the caseworkers could work one-on-one, which is basically needed.

Robert notes that Buster's protects people from criminalization by police and civilians when forced to walk the streets in certain areas alone after dark.

Robert expressed feeling a sense of security, community, and connectedness seeing other homeless acquaintances each day at Buster's.

Shaun, Shalako, and Robert echo Friedenbach's argument against the Mayor's cutting $1,000,000 from next years budget for this critical service.

Without Buster's Place, there will be:

No place to go at night.

No safe haven from danger or bad weather.

Lack of basic hygiene facilities,

No protection from police harassment,

No access to shelter even if there are open beds.

No one-on-one casework to resolve addictions, apply harm reduction principles, or address mental health problems.

Caseworker Louis pointed to reports that Seattle and L.A. are "doing wonderful things. They build housing, and they put people in there. Here it's the opposite." He felt San Francisco is held back by the judgment of City Hall and the Public "coming down on people because of behaviors or lifestyles."

On Friday, the Ides of March, James Chiansini of HAT, the Healthcare Action Team, led a demonstration at City Hall. Nurses saved Bruce Allison, garbed in Caesar's robes, from the Mayor's thousand cruel sword cuts to vital social services for seniors, the disabled, the homeless and others.

Bobby Bogan, Seniors Organizing Seniors, addressed the crowd. ��Last year at this time we were celebrating the biggest budget in (The City's) history, 6 billion dollars. There's too many big salaries. This year, the money ran out. I know what wasteful spending and mismanaging money is. It's like constantly pumping gas into a car (without an) engine.

On the steps, Supervisor Chris Daly told me, "Every year we are back with proposals from the administration around cuts to basic health and human services. This rallyˇ is righteous. The way to (deal with our budget woes) is to make sure the most vulnerable are protected, and those who have the most to give. We are going to fight like hell to stop the closure of Buster's Place."

by Amanda Smiles/Race, Poverty and Media Justice Fellow

Across the room the words "Shipyard News" call at me on the suspiciously crisp newspaper. At the top of the page, in rich colors, are sketches of a community that looks as if it belongs in a fairy tale- or at least every other cookie cutter redeveloped town in America. Below is a headline, "Abandoned and neglected shipyard set for renewal".

On the front page words like 'hope', 'parks', and 'jobs' buzz in glossy black text and on the bottom of the page is "Hunters Point Shipyard Today". Here they are slyly cropped to show dilapidated buildings, rows of broken windows and construction trash laying in the streets. Somehow I feel as if I'm not getting the complete picture.

Then, in quiet letters at the very bottom of the paper are the words 'Lennar Homes of California, Inc.' and I realize this 'newspaper' isn't a paper at all. Instead, it is a cleverly disguised advertisement for Lennar Corporation's newest housing project and most recently targeted gentrification and displacement zone, Bayview/Hunters Point.

Lennar Corporation, a construction company specializing in redeveloping ex-military compounds, has a history of building shoddy homes on toxic land throughout the country. Due to the toxicity of the land, Lennar is able to acquire land in poor areas, such as the Bayview, for close to nothing. Lennar then develops the area, building market value homes that current residents cannot afford, driving them out of their neighborhood.

In the Bayview, Lennar has already acquired 500 acres of land that makes up Hunters Point Shipyard and is expecting to receive hundreds more if their June ballot initiative is passed. This initiative not only would give Lennar access to hundreds of acres more of land but would also provide millions more in tax payer money for the project. The initiative makes no guarantees about providing jobs or affordable housing to Bayview residents, but instead works to promote Lennar's own self-interests.

The word community is smeared all over Shipyard News, citing the broad support Bayview residents have given the project. However, some Bayview residents aren't exactly supporting the project, in fact, some Bayview residents are fighting back.

Residents of the Bayview have created their own initiative expected to accompany Lennar's on the June ballot. This initiative demands that 50% of any of Lennar's new housing developments are affordable to existing residents of the Bayview, that is rented or sold at 30-80% of San Francisco's median income. If passed, this initiative would play a vital role in protecting Bayview residents, many of whom live below San Francisco's median income line, from displacement.

The slow deliberate process of gentrification, which begins years before ground is broken, has already begun in the Bayview. This process, which has systematically wiped out black communities such as the Fillmore, West Oakland, and now New Orleans, occurs in areas where market values are high and land is scare.

"We call it ethnic cleansing, to push people out and not give them anything and no say," say Willy Ratcliff, publisher of the San Francisco Bayview newspaper, "The whole city is pushing people out so rich developers can come in and have wealthy people move in. They squeeze the poor and push them out. It's happening all over the country."

There are certain elements involved that are responsible for the destruction of gentrified communities. One of these elements is keeping communities poor, specifically by keeping jobs out of the community while rents increase. In Bayview/Hunters Point the unemployment rate is at 30% and the city has offered little direct services in this area, forcing residents to leave the city in order to survive.

"The jobs have never been up here," says Radcliff, "There's a conspiracy to keep jobs out of here so they can get the land. They keep jobs away from black people and if you don't have a job you can't live in San Francisco."

Take the hotly debated T-line for example. Initially the project promised jobs to Bayview residents and was touted as a way to promote employment in the area. When ground broke, however, no neighborhood faces were seen working on the line. Instead, in an area that is primarily black, the majority of the construction workers were white.

Jobs weren't the only sacrifice Bayview residents made for the line. In exchange for the T-line Bayview residents gave up the 15 bus line, which ran every 15 minutes in and out of the Bayview. The T-line runs chaotically and some residents have experienced waits up to three hours, leaving them stranded without a dependable way to get to work or school.

"I think cutting off the service to that area is a way to strangle the existing community," says Laure McElroy, a former Bayview resident, "Once they get the people out of there they want then service will get better."

Violence also plays a crucial role in the displacement of communities, where developers and city governments have residents trapped on all fronts. Violence feeds violence and whole communities are killing each other off in desperate and ill fated attempts to negotiate the poverty in their area. Much like the Tenderloin, Bayview Hunters Point is treated like a containment zone, where violence is tolerated in order to prevent it from spreading to other, wealthier parts of the city. The city's refusal to mediate this violence is an active step towards letting a poor community wage civil war on itself, destroying its self from within.

Families who do manage to survive the violence in the Bayview are faced with their only option to stay alive: moving out of the area. Mass media plays a role in advertising sensationalized numbers about the killings and shootings in the Bayview, ensuring that, while families move out seeking sanctuary elsewhere, no one else moves in until the district is thoroughly "cleaned up".

For those families who are victims of violence, Victim Services is an attractive avenue for help. However, in California, anyone applying for Victim Services is required to move out of their county. This is under the guise of being for their own protection, however, most people applying for these services are from poor areas like the Bayview. For these people support services come at a cost: their homes and community. It is no coincidence that the way the government deals with violence, which occurs in marginalized communities, is by getting rid of the community itself.

Then there the actual evictions, which at best are contrived and manipulated and at worst down right illegal. One former Bayview resident was evicted from her apartment days after a rental assistance agency attempted to pay her back rent, offering a guarantee to assist her monthly with her rent payments. The landlord refused, and a day later sent the police to the resident's house, giving her twenty minutes to pack her belongings before being shuttled with her family to a nearby shelter.

"I'm reliving it every single day," she says, "When is it going to come to the time of living like a normal family again? As a mom, going back to work, to school."

For the residents in existing housing projects, such as Hunter's View a 267-unit public housing development, the evictions are far more backhanded. These residents, who are facing the destruction and reconstruction of their current units, are asked to sign agreements and pay down rental payments for their future units. The residents who refuse will be evicted and will not be accepted to live in the new units. Those who do sign are agreeing to additional fees and new criteria, and if unable to meet these conditions, face eviction and will not be allowed to live in the new community either. Very few existing residents will be able to meet the criteria on these contracts.

The Development Committee of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission (SFHA) held a meeting on the relocation of Hunter Point residents. When POOR Magazine arrived at the meeting on the advertised day and time, they were told the meeting had actually taken place the day before, just another example of the length developers and SFHA will go to keep the community out of their negotiations.

There are promises in Shipyard News. Promises of a new and shinier era in Bayview's history, when more green space will be available, the 49ers will have a new stadium to call home, and jobs and housing will be in abundance. Who knows if Lennar will be able to keep these promises, like the T-line, only time will tell. Lennar does have one promise it can keep, however, that when ground breaks on the new plan no existing Bayview residents will be "dislocated". Because, at the rate of displacement in the Bayview/Hunters Point, there will be no residents left to dislocate.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

As of March 31st, the only 24-hour homeless drop-in center in the city of San Francisco, Buster's Place, is closed. Now, chairs will be set for men only at 150 Otis while the many women who relied on Buster's Place for shelter find themselves on the streets.

For just three months, men will have fifty, less than half of what was provided at Buster's Place, chairs to sleep in before construction begins to create low-income housing for seniors at 150 Otis. These senior apartments, however, will not be finished for four years, leaving hundreds of seniors out in the cold.

"I feel sorry for these guys… after just three months these people will be on the street again…don't Mayor Newsom and the City Officials know what they are doing," said one shelter monitor.

On March 28th about 40 people from seven groups, including the Senior Action Network, the Gray Panthers, Mission Resource Center, Cannon Kip Senior Center, Glenda Hope, Seniors Organizing Seniors, the Coalition On Homelessness, People of Buster's Place, and Code Pink, went to City Hall to show support for Buster's Place. Together, we set up Buster's Place outside of the Mayor's Office.
The Coalition staff passed out food, hygiene kits and soap.

Despite all these organizing efforts and protests, the city still closed much needed shelters and only six seniors out of 150 got housing in SROs.

"Due to Buster's Place bad record-keeping we could only verify seventeen names- one we couldn't find and six didn't want the housing we offered them," the Mayor's housing and homeless director said when questioned about the small number of seniors offered housing.

Stay tuned to POOR Magazine for more updates by poverty scholar and author Bruce Allison after the Governor's budget revise.

by Marlon Crump/PNN

We’re not just members of the bar
Here in Familawt,
Familawt

We’re connoisseurs of the bizarre!
Best interests of the children is our watchword
We frown upon disparagement and blame
In short there’s simply not, a more congenial spot

For ending your relationship than here in Fam-i-lawt
Familawt.
Familawt…

(Sung to the tune of Camelot, written by David Fink.)

San Francisco Judge Marjorie Slabach was allegedly one of a group of judges who performed in this caricature of Camelot about family law. She played the part of a queen in the performance

"As an advocate for poor mothers and families in the court system, I was shocked to witness Judge Slabach's flagrant anti-mother and biased rulings," said Tiny, co-founder of POOR Magazine to a group of single mamas vigorously shaking their heads in agreement.

Tiny is just one of many poor single mamas who has witnessed the inappropriate, highly prejudiced behavior of Judge Marjorie A. Slabach in San Francisco's Unified Family Court Division. A Family Law Commissioner, Judge Slabach was appointed in 1997 to preside over family law cases, including child dependency and custody cases. Since then she has consistently ruled against mothers and mistreated them in court by belittling or verbally insulting them and, despite a number of complaints, she has been allowed to continue this inappropriate behavior.

POOR Magazine writer and co-founder of the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Project for the children of families struggling with poverty, Jewn Strohlin is a mother who has directly experienced the overt prejudice of Judge Slabach. Jewn was in court regarding a restraining order in the 2007. In one of the hearings, Judge Slabach said Jewn was a "vengeful glee" and told her she had been observing her "since she walked into the courtroom."

Judge Slabach also consistently ruled in favor of the party opposing Jewn although he failed to appear numerous times. "I found Judge Slabach to be very biased and partial to my case by her showing blatant favoritism to the opposing party," said Jewn. "She didn’t look at the pattern of [her ex-partner’s] behavior and she continued to let him manipulate the system."

Finally Jewn won her case after the opposing party failed once again to appear in court. Judge Slabach told her she "won by default."

Another fellow POOR Magazine writer, poverty scholar, and revolutionary poet, Kim Swan, (a.k.a Queenandi) experienced Judge Slabach's bias and prejudice in February of 2008 during a visitation hearing regarding Kim’s three-year old daughter and the daughter's father.

Kim arrived at the courthouse unaware that the court had decided to include a second hearing that day for her daughter’s father to challenge the petition of the restraining order that Kim filed against him three weeks prior.

Kim was very upset and shocked that she was never served with a notice for this second hearing and didn't have sufficient time to prepare for it. Kim attempted to explain to Judge Slabach the dangers of giving her daughter’s father visitation rights.

Kim told Judge Slabach that her daughter's father had been an irresponsible parent, who has brought their three-year-old daughter around unsavory people and places, and that he used to have heated disputes with her over very petty things, such as grocery bills, utility bills, and paying for a car seat.

Kim spoke of his violent episodes and of the time he had come to her job to harass her in front of staff. Kim asked the Judge to consider this man’s violent history and the people he exposed her children to. While Kim was speaking, she was interrupted with sarcasm by Judge Slabach, who said, "Why don't you show some mental stability and be quiet!"

When Kim tried to explain that her daughter was afraid of visiting with her father and always started crying and begged her mother not to go when it was visitation days Judge Slabach proceeded to belittle Kim and overtly ruled in the father's favor.

Another mother, like Kim and Jewn, who has dealt with Judge Slabach’s unjust rulings, is single mother Sandra Thompson. Sandra came to POOR Magazine for help in a number of legal situations, one of which was a restraining order against her ex-husband who had been extremely violent towards her during their marriage.

Sandra appeared before Judge Slabach, on December 11th, 2007. Sandra was accompanied by co-founder of POOR Magazine, Tiny a.k.a. Lisa Gray-Garcia, and staff POOR reporters, Bruce Allison, Joseph Bolden and Sam Drew.

In a similar instance to Kim Swan's situation, Sandra was anticipating finalizing her restraining order against her ex-spouse. As soon as Sandra's case was called, Judge Slabach "changed" the hearing into a child custody case. According to Tiny, Sandra's lawyer, Ronald P. St. Clair, did not talk with Sandra throughout the entire period before the hearing commenced.

In fact, St. Clair not only didn't meet with his client, but was actually interacting with the opposing side, and San Francisco Unified School District Attorney Vicki Trapalis, Despite her ex-husband's violent history, the ruling ordered by Slabach was for the father to have temporary custody of the child, as recommended by Trapalis.

Sandra was extremely shocked and devastated by this order of Judge Slabach that placed her seven-year-old son's life in danger. Sandra later learned that her lawyer, Trapalis and her ex-spouse had agreed to an ex-parte motion, which is filed without advanced notice to the opposing side and is decided by a judge without requiring all parties to be present. (Ex-parte motions are suppose to be sharply limited by the 5th and 14th Amendment of the U.S Constitution.)

A series of these motions were filed by Sandra’s ex-husband throughout 2006, He even forged her signature on April 3rd 2006, so that a stipulated request filed to the court, would be official, for Judge Marjorie A. Slabach to sit and act as a Judge Pro Tempore, (temporary) in a matter involving their seven year old son. Even more astounding, a court hearing minutes document claimed that Sandra was "present" at the April 3rd, 2006 hearing, although she soundly swears that she was not.

Judge Slabach ignored all of these crucial factors when ruling against Sandra and endangered her son's life.

"You're very biased and corrupt for putting my son's life in danger of an ex-abuser I want to motion, for you to recuse yourself as the judge in my custody case," Sandra said in a recent hearing.

Of course, Judge Slabach swiftly denied her request.

Justice Fo' Da Mamaz on Mothers Day!!! Join the welfareQUEENS, and Po' Mamaz in resistance at POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork as they speak truth to the Criminal Injustice System.

For more information please call 415-863-6306 or email mothersagainstslabach@yahoo.com