Story Archives 2009

by Chloe Auletta-Young/Race, Poverty Media Justice Institute Intern at POOR Magazine

They used to tell me/I was building a dream/ And so I followed the mob/ When there was earth to plow/ Or guns to bear/ I was always there/ Right on the job.

“Given the subject matter of the exhibition, we have waived the entrance fee,” said the admissions attendant at the California Historical Society in San Francisco. My friend, and POOR Staff Writer, migrant and poverty scholar, Muteado, and I looked at one another and smiled. We had just spent a good ten minutes complaining about the inaccessibility of “advocacy” art events, the hypocrisy of it all, the high price of entrance, the brie and cabernet passed around in front of emaciated portraits of African children. I applaud “From Hobos to Street People” for making it free to the public, and for much more.
The space is big and light, would-be conservative if it weren’t for the art on the walls, the reality in the air. The messages surrounded me and everywhere I turned, in every nook and cranny, I couldn’t escape the significance. This is not an exhibit you critique, you do not remark on the arrangement or the paint color. You learn, you listen, and you walk away with the knowledge that this is truth you cannot ignore. I’m glad there is some sense of catering to the uppity ups of society, because they will come in, and they will be told, and they will know, never will they be able to say that they don’t.

by Por Teresa Molina/Voces de Inmigrantes en resistencia/PNN

For English Scroll Down:

“Janet Napolitano, basta el apoyo al razista sheriff Joe Arpaio.” Sherriff Joe Arpaio del condado Maricopa, Arizona, marcho 200 inmigrantes encadenados de un centro de detencion hasta el desierto, adonde los espera una pueblo de campana rodeada por alambre electrico adonde no les daran atencion medica y los trabajaran como esclavos. No mas leer esto nos debe entrar mucho temor, hasta escalo frio. Estamos en el ciglo 21 y todavia pueden tratar a seres humanos como los trataban en anos de esclavitud? Estas persona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, y sus aliados, si se les puede llamar personas, no tienen Corazon. Son como unos desalmados sin entranas. Yo me pregunto, “Quien es mas culpable? El que hace esta crueldad? O, el que permite que estas crueldades les pasen a otros seres humanos?”

Janet Napolitano, la Jefa de Homeland Security-Seguridad de La Patria, permite que estos abusos pasen por que el departamento de Homeland Security consideran los inmigrantes indocumentados como terroristas. Yo soy Teresa, reportera de Prensa Pobre, Mujer inmigrante, Madre de 5 hijos, y activista para cambio en mi comunidad. Yo ni sabia que nos consideraban terroristas. Para mi, un terrorista es alguien que ataka otro pais… alguien que pone bombas, o hecha gas venenoso en la atmosfera. Pero, yo, ahorra soy considerada terrorista? Esto es una porqueria! Yo trabajo por menos del sueldo minimo, pago impuestos a este gobierno razista que me considera terrorista, yo, y personas como yo, mi pueblo, mi comunidad, hacemos este pais mas ricos. Es como llamar a los esclavos de un pais los terroristas. Que basura!

Antes de que este sheriff Joe Arpaio, mostraba su poder y crueldad contra terroristas, se lo hacia a gente pobre, sin hogar. Desde 1999, el sheriff Joe Arpaio a penalizado delitos menores con el encarcelamiento en la prision, con el proposito de empezar un programa adonde pondria a los encarcelados en cadenas, Chain Gangs- como le llaman en ingles, a trabajar como esclavos por 10 horas al dia en el desierto de Arizona adonde la temperatura sube hasta 120 grados. Que crueldad! Ni animales merecen o aguantan esta tortura. Como es permitido que un hombre tan loco, cruel, razista, clasista, sin Corazon ni sentimientos le den una responsibilidad como decidir como el condado de Maricopa castiga a los presos? Como permitimos esto? En este pais adonde les ensenan a nuestros ninos historias de libertad, igualdad, y justicia Americana. Esto no es justicia, esto no es libertad, esto no es igualdad. El sheriff Joe Arpaio representa todo lo contrario de lo que es ser Americano. Si alguien merece ser considerado terrorista, es el sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“Tiny” Lisa Gray Garcia comenta sobre la importancia de luchar contra los razistas locos en poder que usan su poder para mal: “La policia y los sheriffs siempre hacen pruebas de sus tacticas fascistas de tortura en personas de color, inmigrantes, y gente pobre. Por eso es muy importante luchar contra estos terroristas desde el empiezo, para que sus ideas, razismo, y tacticas de tortura no crezcan, ni se contagian.” POOR Magazine a estado en una lucha contra el sheriff Joe Arpaio desde que el empezo haciendo estas atrocedades contra los pobres en 1999.

Engles Sigue

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“Janet Napolitano, Stop supporting the racist sheriff Joe Arpaio!” Sherriff Joe Arpaio from Maricopa county, Arizona, made 200 shackled immigrants march from a detention center in the city all the way out to a tent prison surrounded by electric barbwire in the desert. Here, they are being treated like animals, working on a chain gang up to ten hours a day and are generally denied basic medical needs. Just reading this should make us afraid, even shiver. We are in the 21st century and racists can still legally treat other human beings worst than animals? These people, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his cronies, are not humans, they have no hearts. They are like evil zombies walking around without souls. I ask myself, “Who is more to blame? He who commits this cruelty or the people that let these atrocities be committed against other human beings?”

Janet Napolitano, the Head of Homeland Security, permits this abusive action to happen because according to the department of Homeland Security, “illegal immigrants” are considered terrorists. I am Teresa, reportera for POOR Magazine, migrant mother of five children, and activist for change in my community. I was unaware that I am considered a terrorist. For me, a terrorist is someone who attacks another country… someone who bombs busy city buses, or unleashes deadly gas into the atmosphere, but now I am considered a terrorist? This is bull$#!+! I work for less than the minimum wage, I pay taxes to this racist government that calls me a terrorist. My labor and the labor of those in my community, make this country rich… off of our cheap labor. Calling undocumented immigrants terrorists is like calling slaves terrorists. Ridiculous!

Before this sheriff Joe Arpaio demonstrated his “power and strength” by committing cruel acts against us immigrants--pardon me “terrorists”--he would bully poor folks, homeless people, and anyone he could. Since 1999, sheriff Joe Arpaio has penalized misdemeanors with felony prison time, with the intention of putting these people incarcerated for crimes of poverty into chain gangs, to work like slaves for up to ten hours at a time in the Arizona desert where the temperature rises up to 120 degrees. This is cruelty. Animals don’t even deserve to be tortured this way. How is it that this racist, crazy, classist, heartless, @$$hole is responsible for deciding how the county of Maricopa punishes those persons encarcerated? How do we permit this? In this country where we teach our kids an American history of liberty, equality, and justice. This is not justice, nor liberty, nor equality. Sheriff Joe Arpaio represents the exact opposite of the American ideals this country is found upon. If someone deserves to be called a terrorist, it is sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“Tiny” aka Lisa Gray-Garcia comments on the importance of fighting racism and evil men in power: “The Po-Lice and sheriffs always test out their fascist tactics of torture on people of color, migrants, and poor folks. That is why it is very important to fight against these injustices from the start, so that their racist ideas and fascist torture tactics don’t spread.” POOR Magazine has been fighting sheriff Joe Arpaio since he first came on the scene perpetuating crimes against poor folks in 1999.

by Marlon Crump/PNN

"I'm scared, I don't know what else to do, or who to talk to!"

"Why me, what have I done? What do these people want from ME?!"

"Can somebody do something about this?!"

"All of this because I submitted a piece of paper, in telling the truth of what's been going on?!"

"When will it stop? My body is in so much unexplainable pain........ALL BECAUSE I SPOKE OUT!"

Before 2008 ended, I wrote a story called "Digital Apartheid" which presented a detailed summary of the impact that the D.T.V (Digital Television) transition would have on people particularly in poverty, seniors, and people with disabilities now that U.S Congress were forcing everyone to watch their television sets by the means of digital broadcast after purchasing a digital converter box. (Which is similar to a cable television box.)

I started off the story, stating that "Technology has arrived to a new age: The Age of D.T.V. I also stated in "Digital Apartheid" that "the digital divide and conquest is literally just around the corner."

Unfortunately, I have to start this particular story off by stating that technology has arrived to another age in an era of terror, through the voices of its victims: The Age of Technology Terror!

And this has apparently been happening for quite sometime, by person or persons, unknown.

The above outcries and pleas are from victims who've experienced multiple harassments/stalkers and unexplained physical technological trauma as a result. Shockingly, these problems are seemingly invisible to doctors, law enforcement officials and members of the public.

These victim's voices are seldom taken seriously due to the ignorance, disbelieving, scrutiny, and even ridicule resulting from such acts actually taking place, leading many governmental authorities and their counterparts to conclude that such mysterious acts are "absurd" or "preposterous."

(Much to the delight of those responsible, as denial, ignorance, and disinterest are their greatest covert cover from exposure.)

Through my own extensive research, credited to an anonymous source who wishes to raise universal awareness about this terrifying, untold issue in media by sharing her own ongoing experience, I've discovered that this technological terror is not a myth, a lie, a fairy tale, or a script from a modern day science fiction movie. It is very real............

And it is called Electronic Harassment via Organized Stalking!

Imagine the terrifying thought of your own body organs burning, the breaches of unseen rays to your human nervous system disrupted for no explained reason(s), leading to dirahea, chronic fatigue, and other mysterious life-threatening symptoms as a result for either speaking out against a certain injustice, making someone very angry, or just simply being yourself.

Even worse, just imagine experiencing such bizarre incidents, yet no one is willing to believe you and they immediately conclude that you're crazy. This falls alongside of the "Why are they targeting me?" and "Why no one will listen to me?" question............ bearing little or no answer.

Just think of people purposely playing their television or stereo a little too loud, constant phone calls just to annoy someone they despise, disrupting a person's human nervous system, preventing them from functioning properly. An old trick to attack someone in the jungle is drumbeating: an old fashioned tactic used to confuse and intimidate the enemy, to throw them off their concentration.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

To the general public May 19th may not mean anything--but our governor pulled a fast one on us. Houseless parents, Medi-Cal, Food Stamp administration, IHSS, CalWORKS, CAPI and general low income families have a deduction in their aid. Prop 1D which goes to the ballot May 19, will be re-directing a large amount of funds away from DCYF (Department of Children, Youth & Families) and will cut medi-cal payments for these people in need. That means children with autism and other mental illnesses such as muscular dystrophy will lose the support they need. It wasn't the fault of these children that their parents were born in poverty and there is no reason why they should suffer for it. There are plenty of places that can be cut instead--prison guard salaries for example. I know this is a sacred cow but it should be looked into. Half the prisoners in jail over the age of 60 should be released to save the government a couple million dollars.

All the times this poverty scholar has worked on proposition 63 (Mental Health Services Act)--including going door to door collecting signatures--wasn't because I liked getting doors slammed in my face. It's about time these millionaires pay their fair share. Prop 1E will cause a ripple effect in time, because these youths under 21 will end up being incarcerated due to the lack of adequate mental care.

Presently the has decided that they will support prop 1A because the overflow in the budget will go towards K-12 education. However, there will not be an overflow because of the huge deficit in this state. Any member who reads this in the Los Angeles area, if you are taking money away from children in Calworks how do you expect them to learn on an empty stomach. This legislation isn't helping anybody, you pay higher medical bills in hospitals and these children can't attend school because they will be too hungry. They will be wandering the steets causing a burden to society.

All voters, please get out on March 19, the assembly has fallen for the Governor's hypnotic trance. After a minority of millionaires held up the budget for a period to bankrupt the state, they still scream that taxes are too high on them. When those three republicans broke ranks to settle the budget after two long days in the torture chamber known as the assembly, they finally agreed on a budget. Some of those people who got I.O.U's from the budget will not get their money back plus interest as they were promised. This part of the budget I will give on further articles, it does not retain too much interest to a normal person

Call your assemblyman if you are in a republican district and tell him he's an idiot.

by Marlon Crump/PNN

"Are there any other parents that are in a similar situation like you are?" Paulette Brown was asked during a recent radio broadcast interview.

"Yes there are." Paulette replied. "But too many of them are too scared to fight the system because it is such a big entity. We are just one person, or a group of mothers and fathers who are out here saying that our children are being abused."

Unfortunately, the system is a mammoth with divisions, subdivisions, and counterparts aimed specifically towards "certain issues." No matter what injustice one may experience as a result of the system’s action, fear is immediately imminent when they fight back, by simply speaking out.

"Fostercare" is defined as "a system by which a certified, "stand-in parent(s)" cares for minor children or young people who have been "removed" (or displaced) from their birth parents or other custodial adults by state authority."

Throughout U.S history (and most likely in other countries) the foster care system, homes and agency affiliates have presented a destructive ticket for children, physically and psychologically. No matter the overwhelming number of complaints that discover the desks of an administrative supervisor, an oversight agency, and a public official for fostercare reform.............the destination for the complaints seems to arrive into wastebaskets at the side of their desks.

Former U.S President Bill Clinton signed a fostercare law, the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) in 1997, written by Dr. Cassie Statuto Bevan, which reduced the time children are allowed to remain in fostercare before being available for adoption. This law required state child welfare agencies to identify cases where "aggravated circumstances" make permanent separation of a child from the birth family the "best option" for the safety and well-being of the child.

One of the main components of ASFA is the imposition of stricter time limits on "reunification efforts."

Proponents of ASFA claimed that before the law was passed, the lack of this legislation was the reason it was common for children to be weakened in care for years with no permanent living situation identified. The children were often moved from placement to placement with no real plan for a permanent home.

Opponents of ASFA argued that the real reason children were weakened in foster care was that too many were "taken needlessly from their parents in the first place." Since ASFA did not address this, opponents said, it would not accomplish its goals, and would only delay a decline in the foster care population that should have occurred anyway "because of no reports on child abuse."

Ten years after ASFA became law, the reported number of children in foster care on any given day is ONLY about 7,000 fewer than when ASFA was passed. Children continue to be vulnerable and weakend in care, and to be moved from place to place.

Paulette Brown, an in home care provider a single mom of two daughters, (lost a son to violence in 2006) is desperately seeking justice against the inhumane treatments that the foster care system has/is subjecting towards children who are taken away, particularly one of its primary affiliates being the Child Protective Services agency.(C.P.S)

Paulette appeared at POOR Magazine’s very first POOR Community Newsroom, on February 3rd since its forced relocation/gentrified move from the S.F Grant Building, in December of 2008. Unfortunately, inhumane treatments, tortures, rapes, abuses, etc, etc are not uncommon to us.

Paulette's niece, while she was still an infant, has been tortured, tormented, and traumatized into the fostercare system until her release into her aunt's custody, at three years old. Paulette's half-sister's drug use was the motivation for her niece to be taken by the fostercare system. However, their job was not to traumatize her.......... by failing to protect her.

More and more children aren't treated much differently than the children forced into illegal sex slave operations that law enforcements soundly swears to shut down, and the "terrorist detainees" held in the prisons of U.S Guatanomo Bay. Like so, President Obama has recently ordered the closing of Guatanomo Bay, but not before these detainess will have extreme difficulty adjusting to life, as a result of "interrogation techniques" given to them during their imprisonments.

Such stories of the fostercare system and C.P.S have motivated "Tiny" Lisa Gray-Garcia, and her mom, co-founder, the late great "Mama" Dee Gray to establish the CourtWatch division of POOR from the very beginning of POOR. The late great "Mama" Dee Gray, herself, was tortured for many years in the fostercare system.

On February 9th, 2009 there were several issues that were raised on the radio broadcast, 89.1 KPOO before Miss Brown was interviewed, such as the D.T.V transition (Digital Television transition was delayed until June 12th, by the urging of new U.S President Barack Obama to Congress.) and the ongoing "budget crisis" that continues to infest the lives of poor working families, and people in poverty, today.

Paulette’s purpose was to inform the world of the treatments that her niece had experienced (from the time she was an infant until three), and the hassles from San Francisco city agencies of the fostercare system she's been corruptively channeled through, for every action she took to prevent these acts from continuing.

It was reported on 89.1 KPOO that more hassles will increase with the San Francisco Department of Social Services, and other S.F city agencies due to the" budget crisis" here in the State of California. When I listened, I asked my own self, "Does it really take more or less money and/or an economic stimulus package for an overseer and or a governmental authority official to take these ongoing complaints more seriously?"

Exactly who is going to provide a "Bailout Plan" to innocent children who are faultlessly funneled into the fostercare system, into a world existing of disgusting, sickening, and inhumane treatments from foster parents, resulting in children growing up having difficulty adjusting to life? Are children going to continue being subjected to the fostercare sytem as political prostitutes?

"They never wrote a report, they just gave her back to me with all the issues she has had to deal with. I’m supposed to be the mother, the father, the police officer, the therapist, lawyer, and I can’t do it all." Paulette explained.

"They need to go ahead and report this child abuse, but they are passing the buck onto me and telling ME to report it when she’s a ward of court. She’s still under the foster care system. THEY are supposed to protect her, THEY are supposed to report this, not me."

Paulette has presented numerous reports and complaints to her niece’s therapist, her social worker, and her attorney regarding the wicked treatments her niece was receiving, while she was in the fostercare system. Her niece has given them letters telling them what happened to her, but no action has been taken.

Paulette presented her concerns of the aftermath mental well-being of her niece. "Here I am dealing with all these issues that she is having. She's doing more things now, than when she left me, like fighting with people, depression, and self-medication. I need help and the fostercare system is not helping."

Though Paulette presented, and voiced her concerns, only one can ponder the thought of how can the fostercare system help when they're practically contributing to the problem from its inability of intervention(s) from prevention(s) by not even reporting it?

Paulette's niece has been in three fostercare homes, one where she was molested, the other where she was raped, and the other where she was physically and verbally abused. In 1996 when her niece was three, she stayed with her foster mother who's son stayed there as well..............while he was on parole for rape! Upon learning this, Paulette acted quickly to have her niece removed from that household.

(Placing children into fostercare homes where the parents have a criminal history is, or the parent is not given a background check, is not uncommon. It as if they are thrown into a jail cell with a dangerous inmate.)

After an estimated wait time of one year, her niece was finally given to her. She then took her niece to San Francisco General Hospital to be examined. When her niece was examined, it was revealed that her niece's vaginal area was severely penetrated.

When Paulette asked the doctors what was wrong with her vaginal area, she was told by by two doctors that her niece was raped. Her area was bleeding alot.

Paulette confronted the foster mother regarding this, and the foster mother responded "Oh that's just a rash." Paulette knew this was a lie, given the fact that she has two children of her own, and knows what a real rash lookes like. A second incident occurred when Paulette visited her niece and changed her diaper, only to discover that her vaginal area was bleeding out of control.

After Paulette expressed her outrage of this horrible act being done to her niece, the foster mother stopped Paulette from having any more visits.

In 2001, Paulette's niece was violently attacked by her own therapist when she was at the Edgewood Center for Families and Children. A civil action was filed by Paulette, where she prevailed on the action with a settlement. Then-San Francisco City Attorney Robert Evans informed a San Francisco judge that the S.F Department of Social Services neglected Paulette's niece's needs.

Paulette called the ombudsman of San Francisco to fire the therapist, the social worker, and the attorney of her niece, James Donnelly, due to the fact that they wasn't doing their jobs. However, Paulette explained during her radio broadcast interview that NO action was really taken by the ombudsman.

At one point, there was a critical service called Family Mosaic, that was threatened to be cut. Paulette relentlessly fought to prevent this service from being cut, especially since she was already having the world on her shoulders, and cutting a vital service for her niece was just doing WAY too much. Fortunately, this service remained intact.

There was some discussion during the radio broadcast that current S.F Mayor Gavin Newsom hires people at the S.F Department of Social Services, which means that complaints of these abuses fall directly under his jurisdiction.

On numerous occassions, Paulette has appealed and urged Newsom to launch an investigation into these incidents. Unfortunately, she has received the same hassles, runarounds, and disconcerns his aides have given her, just like the fostercare system.

Paulette was saddened by this attitude and inaction by Newsom, given the fact that she supported him during his first 2003 mayoral run against his opponent, Matt Gonzalez, whom he successfully defeated. She even has a huge picture portrait of him featured with her and her children after his victory, as the new S.F Mayor.

Before Newsom, Paulette appealed to former S.F Mayor, Willie Brown and his aides for help, but recieved the same treatments.

"I supported him and I just wanted him (Newsom) to look into these incidents of children being abused in the fostercare system." Paulette said, softly and sadly. She's also appealed to the S.F Board of Supervisors, and other prominent city officals to put an end to the violence in the communities of color, following the death of her son who was killed on August 14th, 2006. His killers are yet to be caught, or even sought.

Just three years ago, Paulette's niece was sexually molested by staff members of the Boys and Girl's Club.

Despite the disregard of documents that validate all of Paulette's complaints, the lack of interventions by oversight agenicies, refusals of representations from disconcerned lawyers due to intimidations, the overwhelming fear of retaliation from parents (especially ones previously involved with the penal system),and the financial security jeapordization of their jobs; Paulette continues to organize her efforts to bring awareness and a movement against the savagery of the fostercare system.

"You're doing too much" are the discouraging remarks Paulette's received. She's been asked why is she fighting so hard. "She's my niece, I love her and we have the same blood, so don't ASK me why I am fighting so hard!" Paulette's fiery response to such a foolish question.

Paulette is currently her niece's relative care giver, where she only has partial custody, since her niece is still a ward of court. Paulette has been denied adoption of her niece due to her niece needing "more therapy" which is alleged by the Department of Human Services. Paulette contends that it is a lame excuse to conceal the possibilty of their retaliation towards her for exposing their corruption.

Paulette swears that her niece has never even gotten effective therapy services for her niece's needs. Every time Paulette tried to place her niece in a therapy service that could've effectively treated her niece's needs, she was always removed from that service by the S.F Department of Human Services.

Nine months before Paulette received partial custody of her niece, she was informed by her niece that her foster parents were physicallly and verbally abusing her. Her niece was choked, beaten, and had her glasses broken. Paulette reported these incidents to the social worker, the therapist, and the lawyer, but just like the other times, these three did nothing to stop it.

Her niece was so frightend that she slept at night with a razor blade her side.

On December 21st, 2008, her niece was violently choked, and dragged down the stairs. The mother did the dragging, while the father watched. This was the absolute final straw for Paulette. On December 22nd, 2008, Paulette's niece was partially placed back into her custody by the court.

Unfortunately, her niece was not out of the woods. Her niece's social worker of approximately seven years, Aunca Bujes, breached confidentiality by revealing to the foster parents that Paulette had reported the abuse. Both Paulette and her niece immediately started receiving threats as a result. Her niece received so many of them on her cell phone, that Paulette had to change her number.

"They put her in the same room WITH THE ABUSERS, asking her what happend. You don't put a CHILD in the SAME room with the abusers and try to get information out of that child. She is not going to tell you any and everything!" What they told Paulette was that her niece only said that "they grabbed just her arm." There was more to it than that, but they have not made a report."

Before the murder of her seventeen year old son on August 14th, 2006, Paulette was even been threatend by C.P.S regarding her OWN two children, in addition with her niece; should she continue with her fight against the fostercare system.

"It'll be a cold day in HELL before I let that happen!" Paulette responded, furiously.

Paulette Brown is seeking the help of other parents who've had similar experiences like she's had with the fostercare system to organize a massive movement to hold it accountable for its lack of interventions and its failures to protect children. She can be reached by her email: serina1994@aol.com

Like Paulette, every parent and sympathizer must organize to hold the entire fostercare system accountable for its lack of prevention to protect the lives of children.

To C.P.S (Child Profit Service) your kids will soon become their kids and somebody else's kids too.

And once they get your kids in their hands and out of yours

They meaning C.P.S and the court system will make it hard for you to get them back anytime soon.

When C.P.S (Child Profit Service) need money they have their own therapist at the family service agency 1010 gough.

That they use to help kidnap the children through lies that they coach the child to tell on their parents. ...
Excerpt from the poem, "When Child Profit Service come to your house" written by POOR Press author, poverty scholar, and poet, Byron Gafford.

by JewnBug, Media facilitator: Wendy Fong

Today is a new day. Poor skies lead to rainy days, but poor skies say goodbye lead to better days sometime. better days sometime in the neighborhood welfareQueen in tha house! PoMama, poverty scholar gonna break it down how indigenous families mutated to inter-dependency in this blood stained land of America how the childcare system needed funding instead built prisons destroying our families but with thumbs up votes to Obama's economic plan there will be increased money for 2009 no more rainy days for now…

I had the privilege to facilitate this column interview with Jewnbug, co-founder of the F.A.M.I.L.Y. Project, founder and executive director of A.R.T. (Artistikal Revolutionary Teaching), Parent Voices (grassroots, state-wide with 18 chapters in California), a Po'Poet, poverty scholar, welfareQueen, POOR Press author, and PoMama columnist, about child care in California. Her voice was vibrant and fierce, a womyn beating to a thousand of her own drums. I was eager to hear about the good news and future plans in childcare.

When President Obama signed the Economic Recovery and Investment Act for 2009, it granted $2 billion for federal childcare funding. For the past 7-8 years the federal government has not increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a program designed to support families by increasing quality, availability, and affordability for childcare. This has been the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend money on education after World War II. California is populated with the most children compared to all fifty states. From this act, the state will get approximately 12 percent of the $2 billion funding. When broken down, about 75% will go towards certificates or vouchers, allowing more availability for children and parents to selectively access childcare, 4% towards improving quality care such as teacher training, and 21% towards licensing. The plan will also increase funding for the Headstart Program over the next two years, which is the largest federal source for childcare funding for children under five years old.

Today over 200,000 children are waiting for childcare on the Centralized Eligibility List with no guarantee of childcare. Yet, what are parents and children expected to do in the meantime? “Basically parents are getting penalized by not fulfilling their welfare requirements of finding a job and fulfilling a certain income bracket,” says Jewnbug. However, when the additional funding arrives, part of it will help alleviate waiting, helping families find jobs, and create new childcare jobs.

However, although this is good news, Jewnbug says she is also challenging the system from its foundation, asking how did childcare get so neglected in the first place? How did America suffer from such a deficit for infants, toddlers, and children? First, we have to re-examine the idea of family, the idea of childcare, and how the indigenous childcare model has changed to a corporate, interdependent model in America. Indigenous childcare was where everyone used to take care of their own children, everyone learned together “for the people by the people.” All ages learn together, playing together in a community of family and eldership across multiple generations.

In the United State, when a child reaches 6 months, or even 3 months old, the mother is expected to go back to work. “This is corporate child abuse,” says Jewnbug, “it promotes a separation of mother and child. Being a parent as a job is considered by Calworks as being below the poverty line. Why are parents not paid for taking care of their own children?” She references Dr. Wade Nobles, a tenured professor in Black Studies at San Francisco State University, who talks about how Western or Euro-centric ideology is centered on individuality, which promotes this separation by of parent and child. He states individuation argues that “you’ve got to break free from your family... that you have no independent agency because in their minds you are submitting to the thinking of or the feelings of or the ideas of these other individuals.” It is a political idea that is reinforced by capitalism, where it thrives on the exploitation of people to maximize profits.

How does our childcare system relate to the prison industrial complex? “It was a set up,” says Jewnbug, “Did you know that they project how many beds to build in prison based on the 3rd grade literacy?”

Jewnbug is also working on a few key things she hopes to see occur during the allocation of these funds. One key thing is that the governor doesn’t steal the money from the childcare funds. If the funds are not spent over the next two years, it will automatically roll over into the next fiscal year making it susceptible for the governor to grab it. Thus in order to prevent rollover funds, they are attempting to create child care vouchers or a Rainy Day Account, also known as reserve accounts to save funds during economic recession. Also that the state requires child care facilities to get inspected annually, compared to every five years as they do presently. Federal money will be increasing the CCDBG, which was funded for 8 years. That money needs to trickle down to 12%. That funding combined with the other funding can use childcare vouchers for private child cares-- anything of their choice.

by Bruce Allison/PNN - Media Faclilitator Thornton Kimes/PNN

When Care Not Cash got started, a training program was begun at San Francisco General Hospital for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA’s) and Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN’’s).  This was to help CalWorks clients find a new career and jobs.  This time around, during the budget crunch, the CNA’s and LVN’s are being laid off as too expensive; both being replaced by administrators who may well have not beat feet on the hospital wards as actual nurses in years.

As a former CNA I can tell you this is not an easy job;  aside from the taking of pulse, respiration, blood pressure, temperature, and other tasks (like installing or changing catheter bags), dealing with people who are sometimes confused and angry about their situations is part of the work.  You either love it or you are in Job Hell.

If you like doing this, you become a better person and commit to making the job your career.  You become who you would like to see by your bedside when it’s your turn.  They are never paid their full worth. 

Mayor Gavin Newsome has taken CNA’s and LVN’s from S.F. General, plus the unit clerks who do clerical tasks and are unofficial nurses assisting the professionals and  social workers who direct homeless clients into respite housing until their illnesses and wounds get better or heal. 

Respite beds at Next Door  (Polk and Geary Streets), other shelters and SRO hotels, have been cut in half along with their staff.  A few days ago, this poverty scholar went to a rally for the nurses who have been laid off.   Patients and health care activist organizations gave testimony. 

A heart attack survivor who had been treated at the nationally known and respected S.F. General Trauma Unit (which has also been deeply affected by the cuts) said that he wouldn’t have survived his ordeal without the professionalism, loving care, and badly needed conversation, humor and laughter of the CNA’s and LVN’s;  a social worker from Child Protective Services (CPS) spoke about the children seen in the unit suffering from parental abuse (cigarette burns, stab wounds, and other horrors)—the experienced staff cheer the kids up and make separation from their parents less scary. 

Waiting time in S.F. General’s Emergency/Trauma waiting room, which is no picnic to begin with for any uninsured person waiting to be seen for anything, will increase by at least another 4 hours—as they sit in uncushioned uncomfortable chairs (possibly bought on sale or acquired from the lowest bidder—to put it nicely; designed by the Marquis de Sade if you want to be mildly mean about it).  The nurses stood in a circle at the Emergency Room entrance to say goodbye to their laid off comrads as the rally ended. 

From Bruce:
Dear Mayor:  your adversary, this Poverty Scholar so far left-wing he can’t make right turns, wants to know if you are getting this tired old ball of wax rolling again—setting up hopes for another “generation” of homeless mothers to be trained into medical jobs and careers (or the next career fad that comes along), only for them to be crushed and disappointed by the next cycle of economic doom and gloom invented by The People Who Brought You The Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown and their proteges?  You’re not getting my vote for Governor!  I have a lot of friends on Facebook and they feel the same way.

by Zackary Whitehead

I believe in Miracles

Since you came along

You sexy thing

--You Sexy Thing, Hot Chocolate

It is 7:15 AM and I’m standing guard at a supermarket. The shelves are stocked with soups, toilet paper, cereals—everything. It is cold and I begin pacing back and forth. I think of tigers in cages. I feel a brotherhood with them although I am not locked in a cage. Music is piped into the store’s overhead speakers. Suddenly I hear the famous guitar riff of the 70’s hit “You sexy thing” by Hot Chocolate. The song was featured in the movie, “The Full Monty” where a group of unemployed steel workers in England—some of whom work as security guards for lack of anything else—devise a scheme to make big money as strippers. The final unforgettable scene shows the group dressed in security guard uniforms stripping at a club before an audience of screaming women.

I look at my uniform and want to dance—to tear my uniform off and dance while cans of soup and other items jump off the shelves and into the pockets and outstretched arms of people who walk right out the door and into the sunshine—no questions asked. I am jolted out of my daydream when the manager calls for a price check over the loudspeakers. People begin filtering in—I acknowledge each with a nod. They are elders, youth and migrants. I’m the first person they see.

My job is to be a deterrent to shoplifting. Would-be shoplifters are supposed to look at my uniform and see me as a symbol of authority--making a 360-degree turn and heading out the door. When I take my 10-minute break I go to the bathroom. I look in the mirror. I don’t see a symbol of authority but a symbol of a bad economy.

It’s been almost 20 years since I last worked as a security guard. To work as a guard you have to be licensed by the California Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. I got my “guard card” by taking a class provided by a security officer training school in Oakland. I remember the bold words captured in a frame in one of the school’s offices:

Those who adapt

Survive

Those who don’t

Die

Those words made me think of dinosaurs. I sat through the “powers of arrest” and “duties of a security officer” sections before watching a video on the security implications of the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The class was a cross section of elders, migrants, people of color and ex-military folks. One young man was given an ultimatum by his father, get a job as a security guard or join the marines. Another young man had ambitions of joining the California Highway Patrol. I sat in back of the class next to an elder from Fiji. We looked at each other, he nodded—he knew.

It’s 8:10 AM. More and more people filter in. Many are migrant Raza with families, many are African descended, Chinese and Russian elders. I am part of what is known as Loss Prevention—LP for short—making sure the store doesn’t lose potato ships, toilet paper, and freeze-dried noodle soup. But what of the losses that come through the door, each with a face that tells a story? The list of losses include:

Languages

Lands

Cultures

Identities

His(her)stories

Wives

Husbands

Children

Homes

Jobs

Sanity

Do those losses count--do they ever count? I stand at the front entrance and nod in acknowledgement.

Private security is one of the fastest growing industries in the US. 34 billion dollars a year is spent on private security services to protect private property. This reflects upon the rampant privatization of public safety services, shifting from protecting people to protecting property. In a report by www.themorningcall.com, between 11,000 and 15,000 companies employ over a million security officers—double that of police officers. According to Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the occupation of security officer has a turnover rate comparable to that of a fast food employee. In an economy that is spiraling downward, it is ironic that the only job many people can get relates to the enforcement of laws governing property rights. Prior to my security job, I worked as an employment counselor for a local non-profit. I helped low-income people find work and take part in community organizing campaigns. Now I work as a guard—it’s the only job I can get right now.

There were several candidates applying at the security-company that eventually hired me. All were African descended, a couple elders. One fellow had worked in the Tennessee prison system and had failed the test to become a San Francisco Police officer. His eyes lit like pools of flame when he talked about the starting salary of a SF cop. Another applicant was a woman who wore brown polyester suit with fingernails a deep shade of red. She looked like a muni bus driver but could have easily been my auntie. She expressed frustration of ageism in her job search. She then talked about her daughter who was attending classes at UC Berkeley. "My daughter is so smart," she said, her face beaming.

It’s 9:50 AM and the traffic in the store is picking up. A houseless man walks in. According to my post orders, I am to ask all undesirables to leave the premises. Our eyes lock. I nod and wait for “You sexy thing” to come over the loudspeaker.

by Irene Marr/PNN Race, Poverty, Media Justice Institute Intern

Carpooling. It's fun with friends, saves on gas, AND you're going green. Many have the option to share their vehicular luxury, but for others, it's a way of life.

Thousands of Californians rely on sharing gas costs and roadway incentives for adding passengers to their car, not necessarily because they're devoted to "sharing is caring"ideology, but because they can't afford not to.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and if you know the "City of Angels", you know that in no way do people have wings and fly--they drive, everywhere. Gas was always an issue, and no matter what people may think, has never been cheap. My friends and I always relied on asking for rides or pitching in on someone's gas tank to go somewhere. For most of us, without this, none of us would have gone anywhere. It's how we went to school and work. It was how we did the things we needed to do 'cause we couldn't afford to buy a car ourselves. My father moved to this country and found himself carpooling from the beginning. He found that it was a way to save on transport costs since he was struggling to establish his new life. Not only that, it's hard to take the bus when you're work is 30 min. by car, up to 45 during rush hour.

For the majority of the laborers in California, carpooling is the only way that they'll get to their jobs and contribute to the State's workforce. The State even fosters this notion when providing carpool lanes and waived bridge tolls for carpoolers. From a policy perspective, this decongests the roadways, helps the environment, and encourages mobility. Economically, the State can not afford to lose out on people traveling to their jobs, especially the blue collar ones.

As the analyzing archaic duo Matier & Ross reports in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Bay Area Transit Authority is looking towards riders to help seal their $140 million budget by raising the bridge toll and even eliminating the toll waiver for carpoolers. Somewhat compromising, the authority proposes a ˜discount rate to still keep a touch of incentive for those who are riding the eco-friendly cause.

What's concerning about this matter isn't that they're hiking up the toll, but who they're squeezing money from. I know for sure that if I were back in L.A., my friends and I would have more of an obstacle getting around. My family and I would struggle incredibly if we had to run around picking up the kids from different schools while running errands without personal vehicles. I also know that the neighboring Beverly Hills would have a lawn and garden crisis. It's hard to fit lawnmowers and weed wackers on a bus, let alone a safety risk.

As families and workers who rely on carpooling personal vehicles to fulfill their daily obligations, this proposed toll increase is going to thicken the barrier of transportation obstacles that hinder their means of financial support. On the other side of the income fence, it's a contradiction to doing things the ˜environmental way". Given this, there is definitely an extreme disconnect between what we perceive as "going green".

The experience of low income people (who are the majority being of color and migrant) is inherently "green" by default. Low income people are reliant on the carpool factor and therefore gain the right of benefiting from no-cost bridge crossings. In opposition, the higher income population would take from it one more price to pay to be labeled "green". In these times of drive hybrid, eat organic, and other types of "green-washing" campaign, we can see that to be an environmentalist, there are ways to direct your money in order to make help the earth. To carpool and be taxed for it is no different. Those who are inherently green can no longer afford to continue their already helpful ways. It's almost as if carpoolers are being punished in many ways.

"For the poor, an increase on tolls is money that can't afford to be taken away", says Vivian Hain, Poverty Scholar and mother of three. "If the toll proposal goes through, I won't be able to come as often. The bridge toll [currently] takes at least a third of my budget. It's the reason why I carpool. If I have to come 2 to 4 times a week, it's not going to work. Gas on top of bridge tolls is going to make it harder for me to do the things I have to do to make ends meet". As victims of American poverty, Vivian and numerous amounts of Bay Area families like hers are going to be limited in their ability to pull themselves out of their financial hardships. If they can't get to work, how are they going to support their families?
Family includes their elders as well. Like kids, they too need to be supported by being taken to doctor visits, the market etc. This reality is all too familiar with the majority of low-income people, one where cultural obligation is stunted by barriers of finance. Like most families, having a car is key to taking your kids to school, your mother to the doctor, getting yourself to work. This is reality for Tiny Gray-Garcia, also a Poverty Scholar and street survivor. I needed my car or I wouldn't have been able to do it. The carpool lane allowed me to cross the increasingly high-priced privatized bridge It also pushed me to stuff multiple other family members in one car instead of multiple cars. Without this cost-saving perk we couldn't afford to go to work and take our elders to the doctor's across the bridge at all. The cost of travel is getting so that only the rich can do it. If the poor travel they end up becoming much poorer.

Not being able to mobilize on the basis of affordability discriminates the impoverished, people of color, and most of all, a population of people who do a hard day's work to survive, support themselves and their families, and serve their societal duty. To instill a policy where financially fragile people are impacted harder is careless and unfair. People like me, Vivian, and Tiny, who rely on tagging along and bringing people along to accomplish deeds needed to just get by are going to have to yet find more ways to survive and make it work. Maybe I'll start asking people with a Prius for a ride next time.

by Staff Writer

All of you know I love finding musicians with disabilities around the world especially Hip-Hop artists with disabilities. Well it is time to take it to the next level! Read on and pass it along!

My Dream for 2010 is to take Krip-Hop Project and my research on disabled musicians especially Disabled Artists in Hip-Hop to Africa & Europe, face to face to get the artists' stories on paper and on camera!

I got to go! And the goal is 2010! If you know any good deals please hook me up. Plus, I've connected with some amazing disabled musicians and activists in Africa and throughout Europe. I've got to go and 2010 must be the year. If you can assist or put me in the right direction please do! There are so many disabled musicians outside of the USA that I want to meet and get their stories. The internet is cool but nothing is like face to face and 2010 is the time to take my love of finding disabled musicians to the next level!!

I'm on a mission!! If you have any suggestions please hit me back!!

I would love to get some kind of sponsor or grant to do this for 6 months. My dream. All the connections to disabled musicians especially Hip-Hop disabled artists I made through the internet has brought me to this stage and that is to visit all of the artists and write and record their stories throughout Europe and Africa. This would be amazing and has been tugging at me for years. Anyway I need to reach out and tell you anybody that can assist with this vision. Iʼll be writing up a full proposal in the upcoming months and will be asking for letters of support from artists from all over the world that will be apart of my proposal packet. Like I said the connections, friendships and research has been made with disabled musicians throughout Africa and Europe but can you assist in completing my vision?

Stay in contact. Read my articles on disabled musicians on www.poormagazine.org column Illin-N-Chillin, www.kriphop.com and www.myspace.com/kriphop