Story Archives 2008

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, poverty scholar, welfareQUEEN and Daughter of Dee and co-editor of POOR Magazine/PoorNEwsNetwork

Be bop bebop..bop..bop

A slow mist rose from the ground co-mingling with candlewax, sage, and car exhaust. Bop..bop..be-bop..bop.. Warm breath weaving through the rhythm of a congo drum entwining with words of resistance from African Peoples, Raza Peoples, Celtic peoples, Pilipino peoples, Native peoples, indigenous peoples all.."One.... we are the people..Two....indigenous people...Three .. and we are taking back the land and ONE....We are the Scholars...Two... indigenous scholars and Three... we are taking back OUR land!..."

Citing the articles from the United Nations(UN)Declaration on Indigenous Peoples adopted one year ago by the UN General Assembly, displaced, evicted and removed children, mamaz, daddys, tias and tios, aunties and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, elders, ancestors, and spirits from all across Turtle Island; Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, New Orleans and DQ University gathered to pray, testify and resist on Market street at sunrise in a spiritual, political and revolutionary ceremony of resistance to out of control development, eviction, displacement and criminalization locally and globally.

"My whole family was displaced out of San Francisco," Xicana mama of three girls, welfareQUEEN and POOR Magazine teacher and staff writer Vivien Hain called into the crowd, her powerful voice joining the layers of sounds as she re-told her family's deep poverty scholarship of houselessness, welfare de-form, struggle and displacement. Vivien cited article 10 of the declaration as she described how her uncle, a life-long Mission district resident, was gentrified out of his home with his disabled wife and now is houseless on the streets of San Francisco. Vivien concluded her powerful speech: "Gentricide, that's our new classification for the murderous act of gentrification."

Since 1996, while on welfare and still dealing with the effects of over 15 years of homelessness as a child and mother, eviction and deep poverty in LA, Oakland and San Francisco, my mama, African- Irish- Puerta Rican, and indigenous Taino very poor single mother, and me launched POOR Magazine as an indigenous organizing project that actively practices eldership, ancestor worship and interdependence. We launched it as a direct resistance to the non-profit industrial complex, criminal UNjustice system, welfare systems, and the school to prison pipeline; that all work to separate, divide and destroy our indigenous systems of caring and community. As a poor people/indigenous people led organization the personal and organizational lives, dramas, concerns and struggles of the hundreds of co-leaders; poverty, youth, disability and migrant scholars at POOR Magazine are intertwined with the running, survival and thrival of ourselves, our families, our communities and our organization. Like many other poor people/indigenous people led organizations, there is no intention to untwine that real and honest core of truth, that is the indigenous organizational model.

In July of this year POOR Magazine (as well as many of the non-profits and small businesses in our building who we stand in solidarity with) received a notice that our lease would not be renewed by the new owners of the building. POOR Magazine's tenuous hold on stability was severed. As an organization we weren't planning to move until we had raised enough money to purchase a building so we could launch the revolutionary housing, arts and education project that acts as a long-term solution to homelessness: HOMEFULNESS; a sweat-equity co-housing and sustainable community that would house and give equity, support, arts education and economic development opportunities to homeless and formerly homeless families as well as house the offices and classrooms of the Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute and Uncle Al's Justice Cafe.

In San Francisco's Bay-view District there have been over 150 evictions reported in this month alone. In Oakland, 72 elder and disabled tenants face homelessness at the California Hotel due to mismanagement by a housing corporation given millions of dollars to "manage" their resident hotel. In New Orleans over 4, 500 people were evicted from public housing targeted for redevelopment. It was time, we thought, to employ another model for systemic change. It was time, we realized, to implement the very powerful UN Declaration on indigenous peoples.

Bop.. be-bop..bop..bop.. the drum beat wove through the voices, la tierra, our land- speaking for all the people who aren't here - who were already displaced, removed and destroyed, people like Jose Morales, a migrant elder removed from his land, his home of 40 years, by unjust laws put in place to protect property not people....

"Indigenous people shall not be forceably removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and where possible with the option of return," POOR Magazine co-editor, indigenous Pilipino, African, Irish and Native descendent poverty and worker scholar, Tony Robles, read from Article 10-28 of the UN declaration on indigenous peoples throughout the ceremony

"Our land is under attack, we are working under a deadline, the General Services Administration (GSA) is threatening to take back 1/3 of our land but we will not go," Steve Jerome Wyatt, Native Scholar and president of the DQ University coalition testified at the ceremony. The ceremony was opened with a prayer led by indigenous scholars from DQ University and United Native Americans who are currently fighting for their rights to keep the only off-reservation tribal college, DQ University, alive and strong. Steve concluded, "our spirit is with all of you, with the people always! DQ will never die!

"We cannot allow POOR Magazine to leave this land, POOR Magazine represents our collective resistance to exploitation, deportation, incarceration, eviction," Renee Saucedo, Xicana scholar and resistance fighter in the war on migrant peoples, representing one of the events co-sponsors, La Raza Centro Legal, testified, "Who is POOR Magazine?, it is poor people of color, particularly young people, who are fighting criminalizing legislations like the gang injunction, people fighting everyday for justice, for our communities" Renee concluded.

We poor will wear our courage, sorrow and innocence vividly as our burning rage, until Private Property bombs on the stage where for much too long it's been pissing on the people, and then at last human space truly will belong to all. Excerpt from the poem, EVICTION, by San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman.

The Taking Back the Land Ceremony was about resistance to displacement, it was also about cross-organizational, cross generational, and cross-cultural movement building. Over 20 organizations, from San Jose to New Orleans represented, including Delores Street Community Services, SOMCAN, Just Cause Oakland, DQ University, United Native Americans, Coalition on Homelessness, HOMEY, POWER, Justice Matters, League of Revolutionaries for a New America, Faithful Fools Street Ministry, The SF Bayview, P.O.C.C. BLOCK REPORT, First Voice Apprenticeship Program, Lumpia Project, San Francisco Living Wage, CHP, Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition, CHAM, Axis of Love, All African Peoples Unification Party, Homeless Action Center and many more. Our lives, our communities, our organizations, our futures, are connected, shared and lived.

Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired.(Article 26 of the UN declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

Two SF Board of Supervisors candidates, Eric Quesada and David Campos, were on hand to testify. Each one is vying for district 9
(the Mission) which is ground zero of out of control displacement and gentrification of communities of color. "We have been fighting this fight for 500 years," Eric Quesada galvanized the crowd by calling out the roots of the land theft, the original theft of indigenous peoples land on Turtle Island that happened over 500 years ago when the colonizers "discovered" our land and launched an onslaught of terrorism on indigenous peoples in the name of "ownership" that has continued through today making the connections between historical and current displacement in the Mission, the tenderloin, the Bayview, DQ University, New Orleans and beyond.

Eviction Victim

Eviction Resistance
23 times and counting

"cause without equity we all at-risk"

Born from three generations of poor women of color and countless generations
of

colonized others
Mama Dee..an act of resistance- by tiny

"My mothers mothers mother was a slave - she worked in tobacco and cotton plantations, my mothers mother cleaned the houses and mansions in San Francisco, our blood is spilled in the name of others peoples profit, we will not be moved - we should own these buildings " all of this is ours," Citing Article 28 of the UN declaration which states, "indigenous people have the right to re-dress", Laure McElroy, POOR Magazine board member, welfareQUEEN and poverty, race and disability scholar in residence at POOR's Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute waved her hands to the land beneath and above our heads as she stated our collective right to reparations.

Bop.. be-bop..bop..bop..

"Any magazine named POOR, that's a magazine where Jesus would be".. proclaimed Sandy Perry street minister from event co-sponsor, CHAM in San Jose. Sandy began his solidarity message to the circle with prayer and a welcome from poor folks in San Jose who are struggling with displacement, eviction and poverty: "When Jesus said all of us can be rich, he didn't mean rich like these developers do, he meant rich with community, with love and with caring for one another", Sandy concluded.

Indigenous peoples have the right to establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination. (Article 16 of the UN declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

"Hoy es un dia historico"(today is a historical day) because as of today we will no longer accept displacement, Gloria Esteva, migrant and poverty scholar and staff writer with Voce De Inmigrantes en Resistencia at POOR Magazine (the revolutionary bi-lingual media access and education project for migrant raza workers in the Bay Area) who along with POOR Magazine reporteras y reporteros Teresa Molina and Guillermo Gonzalez, connected displacement with the exploitation of migrant peoples locally and globally, Gloria concluded, "This is our land, we built it from scratch, we will be exploited no longer!"

Prensa POBRE reportera Teresa Molina added, "The reason we don't own land is because they don't let us own land so they can exploit us for cheap labor! That is why we will continue to fight until our voices are heard!"

Be bop..bop..bop..bebop

"Please stand up and fight..I am from New Orleans, I know about removal and displacement from the government, thousands of people were removed and displaced and much of that displacement came from the government," August Foreman, Katrina survivor here to speak on Katrina for events in the Bay honoring Katrina's tragedy on August 29, spoke to our circle, with his words creating a national lens to the Take Back the Land Ceremony.

Be bop..bop..bop..bop..the spirits of our displaced ancestors rose up with the drum beat.

Midway through the ceremony, I asked for a silence to be called for all the people who aren't here - who have already been displaced and following that powerful moment, on the wings of the very spirits we called out to for strength our allies and fellow poverty scholars from The California Hotel in Oakland whose 72 elder, disabled tenants have faced eviction due to gross mismanagement by private housing developers OCHI, and allies, Just Cause Oakland arrived at the ceremony.

"We didn't want to become homeless, we didn't want to be put on the street," Mickey Martin, poverty scholar, tenant and now co-manager of the California Hotel described their fight to stay housed even in the face of police raids, city and private funding cuts and mis-management of their housing, "So now our attorney is suing the City for 53 million dollars to keep our hotel open for the rest of our lives - we are going to run our hotel til we become old and gray!"

He was followed by the powerful voice of Robbie from Just Cause Oakland,"We are working now to prevent the eviction of over 215 families from public housing and along with the California Hotel evictions are hitting hundreds of tenants of other residential hotels as well as over 600 public housing units"

One"WE ARE THE PEOPLE and Two..INDIGENOUS PEOPLE!Three! And we are taking back OUR LAND!

Chris Durazo, from displacement fighters and allies at SOMCAN, spoke to the crowd " This "Take Back the Land Ceremony" is very meaningful for us at SOMCAN because they are re-zoning the eastern neighborhoods (in San Francisco) where our families and elders live and we are responding by demanding that they ( the SF Board supervisors) stop building unaffordable condominiums and give it back to our families, our diverse families."

Article 14
Indigenous People have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages and in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning

"I work with the children every Tuesday and Thursday in FAMILY project", Youth Scholar and POOR press author Jasmine Hain spoke to our circle about FAMILY, an on-site classroom which is a joint education project of POOR Magazine and ART and faces eviction from their classroom at POOR. FAMILY is cooridinated by co-madre, poverty scholar and welfareQUEEN Jewnbug, who is also a skilled early childhood arts educator. FAMILY provides intergenerational programming, arts, music , dance and social justice to children ages 2-14 and parents in the Tenderloin struggling with poverty. "I work in FAMILY so that the poor families and elders, mamaz and daddys, can learn to write their stories and become media producers and make change for their families and communities" Jasmine concluded.

If people really wanted to "solve" homelessness they would start giving poor people access to equity! Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia

"I stand here, the descendent of a stolen people in San Francisco, Mexico", The next testifier was welfareQUEEN and poverty scholar in residence at POOR Magazine, Queennandi, who wrote a poem in honor of the ceremony, "My house is not my home, technically I'm houseless and don't own nothing .serial land robberies.the landlord whipped me with an eviction notice cuz I resisted being whipped"

"Under article 22 of the UN declaration, I accuse the federal government of benign neglect of disabled people, women and children locally and globally", founding member of POOR Magazine and poverty scholar in residence Joseph Bolden cited the declaration.

"I want to take you on a journey, in the U.S. we have the fair housing act, it came down under the Reagan administration" locally we have proposition K and L put into affect by Willie Brown, ostensibly to create more offices for non-profits- under these laws we have right to the right to be housed, not temporarily but permanently. Illin and chillin columnist for POOR and founder of KRIP HOP also cited UN declaration 22 and the recent laws that were passed to protect housing but seem to mean nothing to our communities.

Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. (Article 26 of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples)

Byron Gafford,Bayview resident of Alice Griffith who's family is facing pending eviction along with 150 others recently served with eviction notices in the Bayview thanks to government and corporate developers Lennar displacement efforts, testified with a poetic tribute to long-time girlfriend and recent victim of negligence at the hands of PG&E in the Bayview. "to rob, steal, and kill the good like shirley weston in order to claim the neighborhood of death for his own With the help from PG&Evil.."

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Aldo Arturro Della Maggiorra called on our spirits and ancestors with the conga drum, Joe Smooke from Bernal Heights Community Center spoke on media mis-representations of poverty, RAM from POOR Magazine led the power-giving chants, San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman spit his beautiful tribute poem, Eviction, allies from Homeless Action Center in Oakland testified on their collaborative work with POOR, Bruce Allison at POOR spoke a tribute poem to elder eviction resistor Jose Morales, Mrs Booy from the Bayview, Quanah Brightman from DQ university, Leroy Moore/Illin n chillin, Jewnbug repping FAMILY project and many others spoke, represented and testified. So many powerful voices rose up and honored the silenced voices of indigenous peoples who struggled before us, who struggle with us today and will struggle and resist this in the future.

"To all of the Newsoms, Guiliani's and Schwarzeneggers, we will never give up." Revolutionary legal advocate, poverty and race scholar in residence at POOR and staff writer Marlon Crump authored a poem for the event which began, "This is OUR land you seize from OUR hand,

be..bop..bop..bopbebop..bop..

Postscript: After the ceremony the new owners of 1095 Market street met with POOR Magazine staff and committed to helping POOR Magazine and the other tenants who face eviction make a smooth and safe and transition to another space that will stabilize your urgently needed youth and adult programming for the long-term.

by Joseph Bolden

Issack Hayes/Bernie Mac Are What?

Well the above is how it hit me as in a delayed dream sequence.

First I though it a sick joke then as I hear over and over on the news, E.T. (I don’t consider Entertainment Television) as News.

Mr. Issace Hayes, old Truck Turner, who on the” Rockford Files” called the main character Mr. James Garner played on the convict-turned detective series (RockFish) For nearly a year I really thought the show was called or renamed RockFish.

That was how strong Issac Hayes's Character was to me.

In 1971 Grammy winner for the music sound track of “Shaft” in his home, unconscious next to his treadmill died soon after.

Police ruled out foul play.

I don’t think he’ll be remembered meerly as “Chef” on “South Park” way too much musical, political, movie air time for that.

Bernie Mac, dead-on real street cred serious with a series to boot and movies.

One of the Kings Of Comedy and in a few action films died of complications due to pneumonia Saturday in a Chicago-area Hospital.

Mr. Mac was 50 and Mr. Hayes 69 still relatively young, much too young to die.

Yes, there's another previous death before these two shining stars.

Earlier, Tuesday, July 22, Ms. Estelle, Getty died at 84 In Los Angeles.

Star of stage, and screen best known as Ms. Bea Arthur’s satirical, quick, witted, and quipping Mother Sophia on” Golden Girls”The tv sit com from 1985 to 1992.

Ms. Getty is surrounded by family and friends before her demise.

It is the way of life I guess that the so called three happens or are conditioned to see it?

I like many others didn’t want to place Ms. Getty along with Mac and Hayes.

Yes, I admit I didn’t hear about Ms. Getty until later and waited for another of my people to fall replacing Ms. Getty but I’d be wrong.

All three were in their fields were great entertainers and that’s the way of it except…

How Ms. Getty had family and friends surrounding her before she left earth.

While Hayes is alone and Mac with loved ones and friends.

It tells me to keep your dear friends close, family closer and do as much good as you can before departing this fragile existence.

For though reincarnation’s return may be possible, just in case be the best person you can be because you just may see all of 'em again someday.

It’s always best to have more good, dear friends than bad, revenge driven enemies.

Send comments to ask/tell Joe(I don’t know which) @poormagazine.com or
jsph_bldn@yahoo.com

by Tony Robles/PNN

An ancestral voice draws me closer. Thick syllables weave through the air like brown leaves steeped with the wisdom of winter rain; proudly displaying its beauty like a butterfly coming into bloom--wings beyond reach.

I have no watch but I know I'm late. I scurry down Sansome Street past skyscrapers that Henry Miller described as the "Great big tombs in the sky". I reach my destination - The United States Appraisers Building at 630 Sansome. I'm met by 2 uniformed security officers with brown faces like mine. Same routine - off with the metals, belt and dignity. I deposit my metals and belt in a plastic tray. They look at me as if I'd committed a crime --no connection in our brown faces. I retrieve my belongings and walk to the elevators.

I get off. A group of Pilipinos minus uniforms and badges are gathered. I nod at them and walk through a door. A man in an orange sweatshirt sits behind a plexiglass barrier. I sit and pick up the phone. "Are you Julius?" I ask. "Yes" he replies. His is the voice I've been looking for. His is the brown face I will connect with.

Julius Domantay's face is youthful. He has spent the majority of his 50 plus years on earth within the confines of prison. His eyes are piercing yet gentle; eyes once set like stones-- eyes that now radiate passion and truth about his life and community.

The son of a Filipino immigrant father, Juluis went through hard times as a youth. He and his siblings were teased for their broken English, alienating them in a culture that placed little value upon them. The hardest relationship was with his father. The elder Domantay left Julius and the family to come to the US; sending for them later. When 11 year old Julius arrived in the US, he was in for a surprise. "When I got off the plane my father told me, this is your new mother", Julius says leaning close to the plexiglass.

As Julius and his 4 brothers and 2 sisters grew, their father had difficulty keeping a roof over their heads. He wasn't the kind of parent to reason with his kids. Julius got into trouble, landing in youth facilities. "I was a gangbanger", he says. One day in 1977 he and a group of friends went for a ride. They stopped to get beer at a corner store owned by Sam Totah. Totah was a long time storeowner who had businesses in the Western Addition of the 60's. Julius pulled a gun and the man known as "Uncle Sam" lay dead. Domantay and his crew fled, not bothering to take the beer. He was captured shortly after and tried as an adult at the age of 17 - the youngest person ever tried as an adult in San Francisco at the time. His sentence - 7 years to life.

Julius has spent more than a quarter century in various prisons in California - most of that time in San Quentin. Like many youngsters coming in for the first time, he was hotheaded and combative - alienating his fellow convicts. "Lots of guys come in wanting to be bad, to be something they're not" says Julius. Julius spent time in solitary for fighting. Julius adds, "You got to be humble. You got to be able to say I dont want to fight, and walk away".

Over time Julius has gained wisdom through examining his life. He earned his high school equivalency degree and auto vocational training. He has also attended groups addressing anger issues. The most important moment took place in the main yard at San Quentin. "I was with my homeboy when I got distracted. I walked away and came to a man preaching the gospel. I gave my life to God that day. He found me". Since then he has become an effective minister, touching and changing lives behind prison walls. I look at Julius' face through the plexiglass barrier. Id like to kick it in and embrace this brother but I can't. I can only look at his face and the hint of tattoo on his arm.

Julius has worked with at risk youth for more than a decade, giving testimony to his own life in an effort to reach kids that are headed in the wrong direction. One organization he works with is United Playaz (www.unitedplayaz.org), based in San Francisco. Founder Rudy Corpuz describes Julius' approach in reaching the youth. "His approach is genuine, truthful, embracing and real", says Corpuz, a former convict at San Quentin turned community and youth advocate. "He has inspired many youngsters to get out of the gang life; some are in college and leading productive lives. Others are travelling across the nation spreading the message that gangs ain't the answer and some are parents themselves". United Playaz and other organizations recently held a fundraiser on behalf of the Domantay family, beset by legal costs. But the costs are not all monetary. "When you do time, your family does time too", says Julius.

Julius was granted parole several times only to have it denied by Governor Gray Davis who asserted that no convicted murderer would be paroled on his watch. Julius' parole was approved by Governor Schwarzenegger, who had previously denied him, earlier this year. Upon his release he was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and has been held in Yuba County ever since. At issue is the fact that Julius' immigration visa had expired while he was incarcerated. The government wants to deport him back to the Philippines. "Go back to what?" Julius asks. "I have a couple aunties in the Philippines but they're in their 80's. They don't want to take care of me nor should they have to". He now waits as his lawyer and family fights to keep him in the US.

"It's all about politics", says Julius. "The governor is playing politics with my case to appeal to his constituency. I can fight it but like everything else, it's about money".

Julius waits while the courts and the politicians take their time. His lawyer has taken his case to the 9th circuit court of appeals. If he loses there, the next step is the United States Supreme Court.

I jot on my note pad. Julius' relatives are close by. There isn't much time until he is transported to the holding facility in Yuba County. Our time together is over. Before I leave I ask him if God has ever let him down.
"Never" he replies without hesitation.
I thank him for his time, say goodbye and hang up the phone. I walk to the elevators having just spoken to a free man - freer than most.

I walk past the Pilipino guards and out the door leaving the words that echo off the walls and into their ears: FREE JULIUS! FREE JULIUS! FREE JULIUS!

by Tony Robles/PNN

"Jesus was a revolutionary"
--Bill Sorro

The preacher and the poet are similar. Both are passionate and use words to illustrate that passion. Both use actions to back up the words and both are afflicted with shortcomings and contradictions. As a revolutionary I ask, is God a part of our revolution? If not, do we have room for him (or her)? Does an empty belly have room for food? How would you answer this question?

I met 2 spiritual revolutionaries from the Bay Area on a recent trip to Chicago - from a San Jose based organization called CHAM--Community Homeless Alliance Ministry www.cham-ministry.org. Pastors Sandy Perry and Muliaga Togotogo were attending a national conference, along with POOR Magazine, on housing and homelessness. Sandy and Togo was an unlikely pair - Sandy a bespectacled man who looked like an accountant or engineer and Togo, who looked like the offensive lineman of an NFL football team. The 2 are a pair of beautiful brothers in the lord, dedicated to ending poverty and homelessness.

CHAM started in 1990 as SHA (Student Homeless Alliance) at San Jose State University by Pastor Scott Wagers who was a sociology student. Sandy Perry joined as a volunteer in 1991. Since then CHAM has grown into a powerful organization working in tandem with community and other faith-based groups advocating for increased affordable housing, the decriminalization of poverty, and decent, accessible healthcare.

Perry says, "Housing is a human right. We try to organize people to reclaim housing as a right. This is a justice issue, not charity. Charity is what they use to cover up injustice".

CHAM's work includes operating a shelter to house homeless families. The resources of the shelter are the residents themselves. They handle the cooking and the cleaning. "In our view it's entirely communal. 5 families currently stay there" says Perry. "The normal stay is 3 months".

Recently CHAM representatives were in Chowchilla on a "Journey for Justice". The event included panels and speakers addressing the increase in the numbers of prisons and the increased numbers of houseless people in Fresno. Because of CHAM and the work of their allies, the city of Fresno was found guilty of violating the civil rights of houseless people by law enforcement's practice of throwing away their property. The city was forced to pay monetary compensation to those it violated. "When people come together in spirit, we can find the solutions to these problems" says Pastor Togo.

On Saturday October 25th, CHAM will host a forum at their church called, "Reclaiming the Right to Housing". The forum will call for full funding of the National Affordable housing trust fund, a half-million new section 8 vouchers and an immediate moratorium on all foreclosures. The forum will be held at First Christian Church, 80 S. Fifth Street in San Jose, 930 a.m. to 1pm.

Was Jesus a revolutionary, I asked Pastor Sandy. "Absolutely", his voice sang out. Jesus said "blessed are the poor and woe to the rich. Those who are first shall be last and those who are last shall be first". That's the definition of a revolutionary...someone who wants to turn things upside down".

by Mari Villaluna/Indigenous Peoples Media Project -POOR Magazine

I went on the walk for many reasons. I walked for my family, the Seventh generation, and this land. I walked to carry the prayers of hundreds of indigenous peoples. I walked to learn from elders and spiritual leaders. I walked for the healing of Mother Earth. I walked in the spirit of my ancestors. I walked to carry on the stories. I walked for my descendants.

I started the Longest Walk 2 at D-Q University, which is the Nation's only off-reservation tribal college. It is located in Davis, CA, and staged many Longest Walk 2 events before the Alcatraz Island Sunrise Ceremony. As a student at D-Q University, I felt it was important to go on the same walk that former D-Q U students took 30 years ago. The Longest Walk 2 commemorates the 30th anniversary of the original longest walk while bringing attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth and sacred site issues. In following of the issues of environment and sacred sites, the major issue of tribal sovernity came up time and time again. I started out on the Northern route, which closely followed the route of 1978. The Southern route followed the route of the Sacred Run, which took place in 2006 and went throughout the south. Later on, I would join up with the Southern Route.

The first Nation we met with was the Single Springs Band of Miwoks, and stay for a few days on their rancheria. The youth there were so inspiring, and I learned much from them. One youth named Sammie gave me the energy to run, and told me to never be embarrassed of singing. That day I taught Sammie the D-Q U school song and we ran a quarter of a mile. Sammie taught me a Miwok song, which I sang everyday on the walk for him and his cousins. We even made up our own Longest Walk 2 rap. Now at the end of the walk I can run up to 6 miles, and I sing all the time. I carried these two lessons with me everyday.

The next stop was with the Washos in Lake Tahoe. Where I meet a woman named Roach who later on adopted me as her sister, gifted me with regalia, and provided a woman's space. I enjoyed talking with her and the excitement she had about the walk. I was reminded of how walking is important as a prayer but how dancing for your people is just as important. I then went on to Fallon and met with many Paiutes, and met a young girl named Kiesha Tom who taught me all about her sacred sites of Sand Mountain, and Grimes Point. She is still one of the most intelligent minds I have ever met. We then made our way to Western Shosone terrority, where I learned about the testing, mining, and fighting for land that is happening within their lands. This is also where I met a elder named Darlene who taught me much about what it means to be a woman.

During the state of Nevada, my grandmother told me "It is your turn to now pray for me." She shared with me about how it was hard for her to walk. I then decided not only would I walk, but I would run for my grandmother's healing. It felt very hard to run that first mile I ever ran, and I had to learn how to breathe while running. Sometimes I was the only woman running alongside many guys, but I never forgot why I ran. I ran for my grandmother's healing and her prayers.

Next was Utah, where we attended a pow-wow at the Salt Lake City's Indian Center. This Center reminded me much of my own community back in the San Francisco Bay Area. Then was Colorado, where I had to relearn how to run because of the elevation. I remember looking at the sky in Colorado and thinking the the clouds were the most beautiful anywhere I have seen in the world. The community that touched me the most was at the Ute museum. There were only 4 Natives that lived in this area but they did so many things for us and is still one of the most memorable times I had. This is also where I met my Longest Walk 2 praying partner, Adriano lives on the Southern Ute Reservation.

Next was Kansas, my favorite place was the Mid America Indian Center in Wichita, Kansas. There I found out the Longest Walk of 1978 was at that very same location. I won't ever forget the wind in Kansas either, I would always hope that the wind would push me from behind while I was running. I remember the first dance that I had with my praying partner at a Longest Walk 2 benefit blues concert in Kansas City. I remember walking through Pratt, Kansas. 30 years ago the KKK tried to kick out the Longest Walk, and this time the Principal of the middle school let out all his students to walk with us. Many of the students had also been learning about the Longest Walk 2 as curriculum in their classes. A day before, we ran into a youth at the Walmart, and he asked Adriano and I if we were walkers. We replied yes. I then asked him if he was going to walk with us. He said he couldn't because he had in class detention during the day. Adriano told him that this was historic and he should skip it because that would be a historic day. His mother told Adriano to mind his manners. That day we saw that youth and he was carrying a flag that the Longest Walk 2 carries. It was powerful day.

In Missouri, I had decided to leave the Northern route and join with the Southern Route in Oklahoma. I was very excited to meet with the many nations in that state. I got to meet with the Iowas, Choctaws, Cherokees, and Muscogee Creeks. My favorite moment was being part of a stomp dance with the Muscogee Creeks. I was even asked if I was wearing turtle shells on my ankles because of how I was dancing. I learned much about the Trail of Tears and how there was more than one route taken by different nations. This reminded me of the Longest Walk 2, how there are two routes but only one walk.

We walked through Texas and Arkansas in a few days, and then landed in Louisiana. While in Louisiana, I got a big surprise that Adriano came down to visit me. I spent five days with the United Houma Nation, which was the Nation in Southeast Louisiana that was affected by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. While there, I listened to Creole music, ate lots of white rice, and chilled with elders. The elders found out that Adriano and I jumped in the Bayou and swam around. They told me that I was silly and that didn't I know that there are alligators and snakes in the Bayou. I found out then. I learned about the struggles of the Houmas trying to re-gain control of their Indian Mound, and how soil erosion is affected thier land. We went to a island called Jean Charles Island which is full of only Houma citizens. Micheal, a Houma citizen remarked that if land loss and soil erosion keep going at its current pace that in one generation that island will be gone. I told Adriano "Wow, one day our grandchildren might never see this land. Thats why we are walking to bring light to this." I learned about how thier Nation is not federally recognized and how that played a role in dealing with FEMA. They were one of the last to receive FEMA funds in Southeastern Louisiana. After those five days, I was so sad to leave. When leaving I was told to come back by anytime, and that I would fit in really well in with the Houmas, well except for my Bayou adventure.

Next was New Orleans, the first stop was the Superdome. I went inside with other walkers and we said how we wanted to walk throughout the dome to the security desk. We were told how we couldn't even be standing inside and were quickly escorted to leave. We then joined up with the walk, and walked throughout the 9th ward. We made a lunch stop there, and helped a resident to rebuild the foundation of his home. That was a moment I'll never forget. It was interesting to see how one part of New Orleans, like the 9th Ward was still rebuilding, and while an area like the French quarter seemed intact.

Next we got to hang out with the Choctaws in Missouri. I met an elder there who told me the story about her grandmother who walked the Trail of Tears all the way to Oklahoma and didn't like it so she walked all the way back to Missouri. I had an opportunity to play stickball with other Choctaw women. Stickball is the predecessor to the game of lacrosse. I enjoying playing and getting the ball away from other players. After playing, I was invited by the Stickball Coach to come back and be part of their team in their yearly stickball tournament.

Then there was Alabama, and I remember the 20 mile walks that we did in the hot southern climate. I loved it when it would rain. In Tennesse, the walk stayed at a Buddhist peace pagoda in the Smoky Mountains. Then in North Carolina, I left to go visit Adriano on the Northern Route in Pennsylvania. There in a sweatlodge in Pennsylvania, Adriano and I made our lifetime commitments to each other. I got married and had to leave to go back to the southern route to continue working on the Manifesto for Change. We made a sacrifice of separating for the bigger picture of why we were walking, to bring the prayers of all the Nations and people we met to Washington D.C.

In Virginia, I met a group called Mexicanos Sin Frontares, Mexicans without borders. I told them about the prophecy of the eagle and condor uniting, and that vision is held at D-Q University. That one day again, Natives will be Natives as they were before, without borders. They were helping to fulfill that prophecy without even hearing about it. The late sleepless nights of working on the Manifesto for Change increased with the walk approaching to Washington D.C.

Finally, the routes converged and became one walk again as we had left Sacramento, CA. We walked into Greenbelt Park, MD and the energy was high. I was so excited to see my husband and others on the Northern Route once again. It was good to catch up and spend time with my new family.

I walked through the conditions of snow, mountains, hot, rain, sleet, and lighting. Many times I barely slept. I thought about leaving the walk many times. I cried when I missed my family and friends back home. I spent many nights writing and editing the Manifesto for Change. When July 11, 2008 hit it made all of that worth it. The energy the Longest Walk 2 had was one that I never felt. I have been to many protests/marches and this was very different. I was walking with people who gave up their lives for several months to not just talk the talk but walk the walk. I am honored that I was able to be one of the walkers who helped carry those prayers to Washington D.C.

I walked from that day of Feb 11, 2008 until July 11, 2008 in Washington D.C. I learned about sacrifice while praying. In giving up things, I gained knowledge from elders, learned about issues I never knew, and found more about who I am as a prayerful woman. I met the one the Creator made just for me, and adopted a new family. In 1978, Phillip Deer stated "For some of us, the Longest Walk has never ended." I know this walk and its prayers will carry throughout my life.

--

Mari Villaluna
Coordinator
Indigenous Peoples Media Project of POOR Magazine/POOR News Network

"I believe everything happens for a reason.

People change so that you can learn to let go.

Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right.

You believe less so eventually you trust no one but yourself.

An sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe

by RWS/PNN

I got canned last week. Just like that. My job was helping others find jobs. Now I'm the one without a job. I remember that last day. I helped a man put together a resume. He wanted to get into the maintenance training program of the non-profit I was working for. Another guy walked in and told me about the status of his janitorial gig - a gig I helped him get. He told me he was doing ok, that he was trying to avoid certain negative people. He's trying to better his condition - a man of color trying to get closer to himself, his essence as a black man, a king - in a society that treats you like a damn fool.

We talked about life, his 15-year-old daughter, cell phone and child support payments. I walked him back to the job where we hugged and parted ways.

I put in a year's time into my job at a local non-profit. Its mission, I was told, was housing the houseless and jobbing the jobless. The job was rewarding - I got people jobs and averted a knife attack last December in a supportive housing building operated by the organization; jeapordizing my own safety. But as time went on I realized the organization was less human and more spreadsheet-oriented. One evening after work I jumped into bed and found a spreadsheet where a flannel one should have been. It was a cold night.

Long story short, I got jobs for many people - people formerly homeless and/or incarcerated. Unfortunately, my supervisor was typical of what you find in non-profits in San Francisco - aloof as a piece of ivory in a display case. She walked the halls as if she owned them - like a missionary. And of course, she had the privilege of travelling all over the world, "just to get away".

While I was cultivating relationships with community folk, helping them obtain employment, I was being scrutinized for trifling things - like not affixing my assigned magnet to the in and out board to notify the office where I was at all times. They seemed to pay more attention to this than to the fact that many of my so-called clients were getting jobs. It was bizarre. I was terminated without being given a reason. I was told to clear my stuff out. Just like that.

The day after my termination I took a bike ride through the Tenderloin. I must have run into everyone I'd ever known at my former job. Some were working, some not. It was like going back in time. I went to the EDD office to apply for unemployment. I saw one of my former "clients". We exchanged nods. It was like going back in time. Seeing them was a gift. The friendships we'd forged had not been terminated. We shook hands and hugged without the client/service provider relationship hanging over our heads. This is as it should be.

I kept riding my bike, newly canned from the work world. I sought out the real workers. One guy was in the Embarcadero. His set up was a microphone stand and PA system. From a tape recorder played the music of James Brown. He spun and swayed his hips and slid effortlessly across the pavement in a pair of tight slacks, silk shirt and spit shine shoes. He tapped the mic stand and it rose and fell on command in a limbo-like trance. In a coffee can was his money - 2 dollars and change. He sang, "It's too funky in here! Give me some air!". At that moment the door to one of those fancy downtown French toilets opened and the toilet tech appeared with a dopey smile on his face. It was perfect timing because the tech surely must have needed air. The brother was earning his money. If James Brown was soul brother #1, than this guy was soul brother #2.

I rode for miles. I went back to the tenderloin and through the Mission. What would I do without a job? I stopped at Union Square Park and lay in the grass. I looked up at the sun. It was taking a nap so I joined in. I awoke and jumped back on my bike.

I saw a man blowing balloons and twisting them into beautiful shapes. He walked about handing them out to children passing by. The kids held them like giant candy. One parent told his son to return the balloon when the balloon man said; "Any donation is appreciated". The balloon seemed to turn into broken glass in the boy's hands as he handed it back.

There should be a place where folks who want to blow balloons can blow them. I think balloons are flowers that don't need soil to grow. I think those who blow balloons for children should unionize their collective breath into a balloon blowers union and create and shape another world without broken glass.

by Staff Writer

Dear Entertainment

Industry,

As people with disabilities, their friends, families, and supporters, we affirm the value, equality, and dignity of every member of the cross-disability community, including those of us, our family members, and peers with intellectual disabilities.

We, like all Americans, connect with the humanity of TV and film characters to add levity to our lives. We talk about what they do with our friends and co-workers. We laugh with the characters, cry with the characters, imitate their fashions, their haircuts, and their words. While we enjoy sharing joys and bearing pains with them, we are stunned when they insult, disrespect, and misrepresent us.

What constitutes hate speech can only be defined by the community it seeks to reference, and as a community of people with disabilities, we adamantly declare the "R-word" and its prolific use in the film "Tropic Thunder" a prime example of such hate speech. Derogatory words and depictions that perpetuate fears, myths, and stereotypes around disability, no matter the genre of film, legitimize the continued misunderstanding, pain, and exclusion of people with disabilities.

People with disabilities and particularly people with intellectual disabilities have suffered egregious civil and human rights violations throughout our country's history, including institutionalization, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, abandonment by their families, state-sponsored forcible sterilizations, denial of education, employment, and healthcare, and targeted hate crimes.

Unlike other minority groups, the disability community has almost no employment presence in Hollywood. While consulting with other groups about what is and isn't acceptable humor, dialogue, and depictions, the disability community is almost always an afterthought. There have been no checks, no balances - films about us, but without us (e.g. Mr. Magoo, 1997; Million Dollar Baby, 2004; Tropic Thunder, 2008).

If "Tropic Thunder" did include us, self advocate Dustin Plunkett's reaction in response to the film's depictions of people with intellectual disabilities would have changed the final product. He said, "I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It's the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don't like the word retard. We are people..."

We call on the entertainment industry to remedy the harm that is being done by "Tropic Thunder" and to model respect for people with disabilities through our inclusion in employment in the industry and in all aspects of the creative process that creates films and television shows we love so much.

To sign the petition against this movie go to www.aapd.org/petition/>

by Dee Allen

OUTLANDER

A stranger in their own land.
Outlander in every town.
A prisoner in their own land.

This is their original home, throughout known history
But they've inherited dispossession, a present in misery -
A stranger in their own land.

Lost all to a million thieving hands, as sure as strong wind wails
Outlanders often take up room -- inside settler's jails -
A prisoner in their own land.

False depictions bury true selves, no matter how massive
Forced to play the beaten role --victimised & hapless---
A stranger in their own land.

Left in squalour, isolated country hell
Is it any wonder why some would rise & rebel?---
A prisoner in their own land.

Perennial struggle to maintain
In the face of a heartless colonial domain.
A stranger in their own land.
A prisoner in their own land.

by Marlon Crump/PoorNewsNetwork

"Since the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper will now only be an online newspaper, one of the biggest concerns is that people who are incarcerated will no longer be heard."

I learned this recently from longtime re-porters, su-pporters, activists, community members, and voices of the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper.

Contrary to the legendary newspaper line often heard on television, this really "stopped the presses" for me!

The S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper (which is based in the heart of San Francisco Bay View Hunter's Point) will no longer be able to print its weekly coverage of the detrimentally damaging issues that oppression-ally obliterates the voices of the community of Bay View Hunter's Point, the youth, the incarcerated, the poor, and the people in general locally and all around the world...............at least for now.

The funding for the paper to function fundamentally, has unfortunately reached a famine to only have the ability to feed people's mind globally, by means of daily online publications.

Without its weekly print, everyone who thirsts to be heard by the S.F. Bay View Paper to wage combat against evil forces with their very voices, will now be a drought in part.

Everyone, including all of us at POOR Magazine, agreed in unison(s) of the severe effects it will have on not just people who have no access to the internet, but people who are currently incarcerated, some whom from which are even columnists for the S.F Bay View National Black Newspaper, themselves!

"The older people that are used to reading the S.F. Bay View Paper come into the library for the paper", said Debra Franklin, librarian of the S.F Bay View Library's Anna E. Waden Branch. "Most of them don't even have computers to access the internet."

In a world where almost everyone wants to be seen or heard, people are thrilled to get a glimpse of themselves on T.V, or have a sentence from their mouths quoted in a newspaper article for all to see and hear.

Quiet as kept, corporate mainstream news and T.V media have always had a self-serving interest in controlling people's voices.

"The S.F. Bay View Paper was/is a vehicle, particularly for the black community and other marginalized communities that allow us to speak in our own interests," according to Minister of Information, J.R, a S.F. Bay View columnist and editor of Block Report Radio.

"Although paper is out of print, we will continue our mission of education to the masses of people about campaigning that affect their lives."

"The S.F. Bay View Paper means a lot to us over here in the Bay View District." stated Yolanda Miller, a longtime Bay View Hunter's Point resident. "They (corporate media) don't really print the things that's really going on."

This is especially true of the S.F. Bay View Paper's vital coverage of issues regarding people locally and globally, who are subjugated to the imperialistic attributions of racism, poverty, oppression, police brutality, child protection corruption, gentrification, global warming/injustice, incarceration abuse, immigration, and governmental terrorism. .

In early 2005 after my arrival from Cleveland, Ohio, and my relentless confrontations to the cold cruel challenges many poor people face here in San Francisco, CA, I briefly volunteered for the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, (A non-profit organization that advocates for the homeless.)

On May 2nd, 2005, at the "Forgotten People Rally." I delivered my "Care Not Cash/Trash" poem vigilantly attacking Mayor Gavin Newsom's controversial "Care Not Cash" policy, which in disguise of its namesake really injured S.F.' s homeless population.

Following the rally, I appeared on the front page of the S.F. Bay View Paper, a very short time later after a photograph was taken of me, by fellow S.F. Coalition on Homelessness volunteer, Chance Martin. I was so ecstatic because it was the first time I have ever been on the front page of ANY newspaper, let alone even being mentioned in it.

Unfortunately, like so many small businesses, non-profit organizations, and poor families globally that have to fight like pit-bulls to keep mere morsels on their dinner plates; the S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper needed funding to feed the many that starve each day for knowledge and media education, like a car or plane that needs gas to get people to their destinations of travel.

In this case, the S.F. Bay View National Black Newspaper has been the Promised Land of "Voice to the Voiceless" in the true deliverance of people's voices............not just locally.

"It's $4500 a week just to print the paper and no salary for us." explained Willie Ratcliff, publisher of the S.F. Bay View during a recent meeting regarding its future. He began publishing the S.F. Bay View (now the Bay Area's largest Black newspaper) in 1992.

Mr. Ratcliff distributes 20,000 papers weekly on Wednesdays and can't keep up with the demand. Hits on the Bay View's website,www.sfbayview.com www.sfbayview.com, have exceeded 2 million a month.

Mesha Monge-Irizarry, director and founder of the Idriss Stelley Foundation (Now known as Idriss Stelley Action Resource Center) has been a longtime supporter of the S.F. BayView Paper, and has written many articles for the publication, primarily articles of law enforcement abuse.

"In July 2001, hardly a month after my only child Idriss Stelley was executed by SFPD at the Sony Metreon, I knocked on the Ratcliff's door on 3rd and Palou St. for the first time, to find out if they would be willing to cover a story on my son. Mary Ratcliff, in spite of dreadful deadlines to get her paper out, opened her arms, sat with me, fed me, and let me tell her at great length who Idriss really was."

"The San Francisco Bay View Paper is the baddest black newspaper in the West!" exclaimed POOR Magazine/POOR News Network co-founder "Tiny" Lisa Gray-Garcia in her book, Criminal of Poverty.

Willie Ratcliff was born 75 years ago into a little self-governing Black nation known as East Liberty in Deep East Texas, which was founded by his ancestors who had won their freedom and bought their land before the Civil War.

A licensed contractor since 1967, Ratcliff and his family construction firm built public works, industrial, commercial and residential projects.

Possessing an extensive resume that stretches from here to the nearest space station, Mr. Ratcliff broke down barriers, sometimes single-handedly, that locked his people out of the construction industry. He grew up knowing that Black people can form beloved communities, living in dignity, enjoying peace and even prosperity, determining their own destiny.

Mr. Ratcliff served seven years on the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, chairing it during the pipeline construction years when it became an instrument for earthshaking change.

Mary Ratcliff, editor of the S.F. Bay View paper, and wife of Willie Ratcliff has an extensive resume (extensively equivalent to her husband's) surrounding numerous experiences of law, education, women, and civil rights, originating from her college education in 1955 to her current present position(s) of media justice to people locally and globally, today.

Willie and Mary Ratcliff gave birth to the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper on February 3rd, 1992.

Following the newspaper's birth, an estimated 697 issues have been produced into the minds of those who are eager to read what was happening socially, economically, and globally. The paper has had head-on-collisions with untold amounts of remote "voice controllers" who were (and still are) great peril to people's voices and their lives of how they saw fit.

It has produced a Moses-like equivalency of deliverance from media oppression, without even charging a single red cent for their own benefit, to feed the minds of many that wanted the truth to be fed to them.

It has provided media education, voices, advertisements, and visibility to members of the Bay View Hunter's Point Community, its youth, activists, community organizers, people in numerous countries, and even certain politicians in the belly of the beast.

"They've really made a difference by reporting things that mainstream media wouldn't report." said an employee of the 3rd St. Community Produce Store to me, as he was servicing a customer. (The store is right next to the S.F. Bay View Paper's very headquarters.)

Until the S.F. Bay View Paper's website was badly hacked most recently, it got 2 million hits a month, coming from every state and 170 foreign countries.

Despite these setbacks, however, the publication continued to valiantly achieve these goals with defiance to corporate media's elite structure aimed at controlling the poor, oppressed, and voiceless, by simply giving people universally the knowledge that they have right to only tell their OWN side of their OWN story..............without having their OWN lives and OWN voices taken out of context.

"You can't build little islands of socialism in a sea market of capitalism." (Paul D'Amato, author of The Meaning of Marxism)

You can support the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, either by placing an ad either online or in upcoming daily papers and by making a donation, which can be tax deductible.

You can also contact KPFA to encourage the regular broadcast of a program covering Black news the Bay View way so that people without internet access in hoods and prisons throughout Northern and Central California can contribute and listen to the Bay View on the air. Contact the Bay View at (415) 671-0789 or to: editor @sfbayview.com Content (Right Column)

by Dee Allen/PoorNewsNetwork

The chants, "Racists go home" and "Smash the Minutemen, smash the border" echo in front of S.F. City Hall, where over 300 activists in solidarity with migrant/immigrant peoples gather in counter-protest of the Minutemen Project. A dozen Minutemen stand to the side, then on top of the steps of City Hall, protesting San Francisco's sanctuary policy of immigrant/migrant youth, calling Mayor Newsom and members of the District Attorney's office "accessories to murder". I stood in solidarity with the immigration activists, making a stand not only for immigration rights but against racism, too.

The Minutemen Project is a group of private individuals who patrol the U.S.-Mexican border for undocumented immigrants and who have played a key role in attracting anti-immigration media to the border. They are, in essence, a White supremacist group with a special focus on immigration and border issues. The Minutemen pose a significant threat to immigrants coming to the U.S., many of whom are escaping the poverty that has washed over their homelands due to economic globalization and the parasitic relationship the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have with developing countries' economies.

As a Black man making a stand against the Minutemen, it is not only about making a stand against racism, but also making a stand for Black, Brown, and multi-racial unity. Issues pertaining to immigration do not end or begin at the Mexican border. The counter-protest is also deeply personal to me in that my paternal grandfather's family is from southern Italy and were forced to change their names on Ellis Island in order to the enter the U.S. in the early twentieth century. The history of immigration of all our families is saturated with the same type of oppression the Minutemen force on La Raza people at the border.

Marching along side people of all race and all communities, I feel proud of the bold statement our unity is making. I begin to chant along with the crowd, feeling excited by the harmony of our voices and then I feel something else- a heavy hand gripping my arm, pulling me out of the safety of the crowd.

I look up to face a white cop, about six feet tall with a blond buzz-cut and black wrap-around sunglasses meant to intimidate. His name reads Kevin Abbey, badge number 1087. A protesting Black man being dragged out of the crowd by a white cop; I knew instantly this was bad. When he finally lets go of my arm I turn to leave the march, to get out of a situation that any person of color knows can escalate out of their favor

.

As I walk away from City Hall, I heard a sudden shout behind me, "Get him!", followed by confusion and a comment from one officer: "I don't know what we are getting him for but we have to get him." Five officers descend on me, four of them White. There are two of them holding each arm, twisting my arms until they feel like they are going to break, with one White cop yelling in my ear, "Do not resist arrest! Do not resist arrest!", although I could barely move. After that, I was quickly tossed into a black-and-white paddy wagon.

They take me to the Fillmore police station, then S.F. County Jail on two fraudulent misdemeanor charges: Battery of a Police Officer and Obstruction of Justice. The battery charge is from a claim that I committed battery on a officer and the obstruction of justice is for allegedly resisting arrest. Although there are two different versions by two different cops about what happened at the march, I was still held for two days until I am released.

For whatever reason, I was singled out. I was one of two people, out of 300, arrested at the protest. They saw me and somehow thought I was weaker and smaller than them, and Black, so they caught me. Being arrested by White cops at a protest against a White supremacist group shows me racists protect their own. For those of us of color in San Francisco, the S.F.P.D. are our Minutemen, patrolling the borders of our city keeping Brown and Black people separate from others. The uniform maybe different, the place may be different, but the action and need to separate is the same.

_____________________________________________________

Dee Allen has plead not guilty to the charges. The misdemeanors in this case are punishable by $2000 and/or 6 mos. in jail and will create a police record. Here's what you can do to intervene on Dee's behalf: Call the SF District Attorney's office and demand that the charges against Dee (his legal name is Donnell Lamont Allen) be dropped immediately. In particular ask for Greg Barge, director of the misdemeanor division.
415.553.1751 -- D.A.'s office, General Inquiries, 8am-5pm.415.553.1752 -- D.A.'s office, General Inquiries, after hours.415.553.1862 -- D.A.'s office, managing attorney, misdemeanor trial division
[The direct line for the managing attorney for the misdemeanor trial division is 415.553-1266. Ask for Greg Barge.]