Story Archives 2011

My Ancestors Cried

We went from creating art for survival,

to selling our art and culture to survive

sold and bought by the colonizers at a museums, art galleries.

While some of my people eat cheese and wine,

we get bought and sold creating genocide

Our Ancestors said art is done by the people

for the people not for rich colonizers

But we lost our way our culture, our art, our self

now we chasing the mighty dollar or some crumbs

to stay alive

I hear my Ancestors cry

We went from creating art for survival,

to selling our art and culture to survive

Exposed in museums our people can be found

but WE don't have the funds or time to appreciate our

people and Art

In Museums you can find what they did not destroy or burn

the Herstory of our people....

The Herstory of our people must be told and not by Docents at museums

But by Nuestra Gente, Curanderos, Danzantes, el pueblo.

From the moment I met James Neptune, he put a smile on my face. He is an avid storyteller and I know this will not be my only interview with him. We cracked jokes, ndn style and like James said we didn't have enough time. He discussed the role of healing with me, which is a constant reflection in my life and path. He gave a story on Cleveland Indians and the role of Indian mascoting as well. He runs the Penobscot Tribal Musuem on the Inidan Island, please go visit him! He is amazing!

Gary breaks it down about his reservation, what it means to be a father, keeping up Penobscot ways, the Indian Island School, talked a bit about the Casino Initiative (where the one in town got have one and a Indian Nation couldn't), Paper Mill chemical dumping into the Penobscot River, and much more!!!

POOR Magazine has been focusing on Vallejo, CA, across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco.  Vallejo benefitted, at first, from San Francisco's institutional, governmental incompetence and disinterest in honestly trying to keep its Black population from fleeing to friendlier places.

Many East Bay communities have grown as Black San Francisco has shrunk.  The Bayview newspaper did a story on this sad detail, among many others we and they have pointed to, of the realities of life in San Francisco for poor people of any skin color. 

the last two U.S. Census reports tell the tale, the Big Three People-of-Color populations (Asian, Black, Latin) outnumbers White Vallejo, with other brown-skinned people from the world Diaspora to Amerikkka making up the rest.  Why is this important?

Until a few years ago, Vallejo was considered an up-and-coming place to live, a great place to be for non-white folks.  Until recently, Vallejo was just like any other place in the Bay Area with more brown skin than white holding the place together--it was run by Whites. 

The current Mayor is Black, but you couldn't tell by what has happened to the city and the way the power structure responded to challenges facing the body politic, primarily a seriously messed-up budget leading the city to file for bankruptcy.  Vallejo has been trying to find new ways to make a buck, but they began with an attempt to destroy the Glen Cove/Sogorea TE Ohlone First Peoples' 4,500-years-old shellmound, to, as the song goes, "put in a parking lot". 

Sound familiar (without the bankruptcy proceedings...so far...) to anyone paying attention to whazzup in San Francisco?

San Francisco's Po'Lice Department is infamous for getting overtime pay from the budget of the MUNI public transit system, which has been hurting in a variety of self and governmental-incompetence-and-indifference-inflicted ways for years.  EIGHTY PERCENT  of Vallejo's budget, we are told, has gone to pay for Fire-fighting and Po'Lice services.

That's an amazing...appalling percentage of a budget for a city of approximately 100,000!  San Francisco has a mostly brown-skinned population, a Budget Brawl In City Hall that never ends (and the bruises are always found on brown skin).

When a baseball team doesn't try to stop one of another team's players from stealing a base it's called "Defensive Indifference".  What is it called when the white power structure of a mostly brown town doesn't even notice their budget is more full of plot holes than a Hollywood blockbuster disaster movie (until all they seem able to do is wring their hands, cry wolf, and make the un-skin-privileged pay for their incomptence and/or indifference)?

Business as usual.

I can't cry over the Vallejo Po'Lice Department finding itself staring into the budget headlights, getting run over like everyone else.  The San Francisco administrations of Gavin Newsom and the possibly interim Mayor Ed Lee (and others) want city workers to pay pay pay for the privilege of having been city workers for however many years or decades they worked.

Whatever happened to the I-Scratch-Your-Back-You-Scratch-Mine underpinnings of civilization (the reason we live in cities instead of being hunter-gatherer tribes wondering if somebody wants to count coup and steal our horses, or worse)?  What has happened to the hard-fought-for and hard-won rights of union workers, among other things many, or at least some of us look forward to as old age and Eldership Happens and new generations take over the burdens we drop?

The mutual Bonobo-like "back-scratchin' " only seems to be for the people with connections and money now. 

Vallejo's attempt to destroy the Ohlone shellmound has, for now, been defeated.  They need to find better ways to make a buck.  San Francisco does too.  The current issue of the San Francisco Bay Guardian editorially celebrates a hard-won victory over the Indifferent Ones who so love to carve cash cows out of the city budget without ever trying to replace them.

Maybe Charlie Sheen can help us win some more battles.  Or maybe not.  We do need more wins, though.  How many more San Francisco/Vallejo Budget Brawls In City Hall and China Syndrome-like Governmental Indifference budget-buster bombs are out there, waiting to go off?

I met with John Neptune, Penobscot Tribal Council Member, and our first conversation was if I ate fiddleheads. Fiddleheads is a edible fern that grows by the water and is a traditional food of the Penobscots. I told him that I did not eat fiddleheads and only had moose meat. During this time of the year, many people have already run out of their fiddleheads as they are collected in May and then stored and ate throughout the year. 

John Neptune had a stash at his house so he invited me over for dinner to eat a traditional meal with moose meat and fiddleheads. It was awesome and tasted amazing!

He talked about the role of Tribal Council on his island, and how they are there to help out the community. He talked about the role of thinking seven generations ahead in considering decisions while on Council.

He works at the the Boys and Girls Club of the Penobscot Nation, which he started. He talks about the growth of the program which developed out of his house, and as I observed is a huge Adult Ally and Mentor to the youth there.

While there we talked about traditional food gathering, hunting, fishing as well.

It is very refreshing to meet tribal council members who think about the people first and see their position as a servant for the people instead of a politician.

Hello Peeps,

I'll be doing a limited release of Black Kripple Delivers Krip Love Mixtape for valentine's day 2013

In 2011 I made this mixtape and since that time I added 3 new song/poems to the mixtape. I like to reintroduce you again to Krip Love Mixtape by The Black Kripple, me.; You know its about time that everybody (Especially the media) know that people with disabilities like everybody else experience sexuality, are in relationships, have sex and wants that feeling of being wanted.  This should be nothing new.  The Black Kripple Delivers Krip Love Mixtape explains some stories through poem/songs that I and many peeps with disabilities have to go through expressing their sexuality and disability in this society and in relationships.  Of course most of the poem/songs comes from my experiences as a Black disabled man expressing my sexuality and love to the public in general, other disabled brothers and sisters and of course to my girlfriend who is not disabled and not Black but has grown up in the Deaf community and is a mother of a disabled young man plus working in the disability field.

This 12 track CD has three new songs that will blow you away. The latest is Droolilicious coming up with our own language to flip the script. Stop The World is a song that wants to sneak some time alone with the one you love. My old but sexy poem, Forbidden Acts, makes taboos desirable. The three tracks joins the nine with Beautiful Kripple Angel that brings new concept by using a known image and krippling it like the notion of an angel. We have a popular image of an angel of being perfect in body.  Beautiful Kripple Angel not only gives love to disabled people but also reshapes our thinking of who can be an angel.  Red Eye is about long distance love and the desire to catch a late night plane to his lover. Poet Wants To Sing is how love makes you do things that you would not think of doing.  Being a poet some times I want to sing my poems.  You will hear I'm no Luther Vandross but I just had to do it.  Krip-Kissing once again takes something we know, Kissing and Krippling it in a hot way saying people with disabilities have their own way of kissing.  Ummm r u interested? hahaha.  I'm Beautiful, is a very old poem dedicated to Black women with disabilities and also at the same time displaying my hotness through race and disability.  Love How U Love Me is my poem/song dedicated to Darla who loves all of me including my krippleness, brown skin, my art...  Bed Time Blues is once again how long distance lovers get lonely at night when it is time for bed..  Believe me, I hate that time of day!  Tell Me & I Do It is once again a song/poem on how I want to do anything for my lady.  Red Eye is dreaming poem/song wishing I could catch a red eye to my lady.  The reason Red Eye is on there twice because the song has two different mixes one from Keith Jones an R N B sound and the other by Rob Da 'Noize Temple with a Ray Charles Blues kind of beat.

I know there are so many experiences of people with disabilities dealing with sexuality, love and relationships and I hope everybody will express their love in the way they want to.  I also hope more musicians/poets/singers express the experiences of people with disabilities in a powerful political and honest way.

I would like to thank all the music producers on this mixtape who were mostly Black disabled musicians except for Jay Williams who is not disabled:

Rob Da 'Noize Temple who really kicked some butt with music production on 5 out of 9 songs in three days.

Jay Williams who mixed and provided music to my first every poetry mixtape back in 1999 I'm Beautiful has been one of my favorite poems and the public eats it up.

Rinnessy who funked out my song for Darla, Love How U Love Me then Jay laid his touch on it by mixing it.

Keith Jones who smooth out Red Eye and Bed Time Blues

Thank u everybody!

Contact info:

Kriphopptoject@yahoo.com

Blackkrip@gmail.com

Press Release

Issued: April 6th, Los Angeles, CA
Krip your mind and limp your style at "Putting Disability in the Mix," an event at Los Angeles City College's Tully's Cafe on Friday, May 6th at 7pm and Saturday, May 7th at 2pm. The shows and parking are free. The campus is located on Vermont Blvd. between Santa Monica and Melrose. There is a Metro Red Line stop nearby.

The show is sponsored by Krip-Hop Nation and Truth & Pain and will feature hip hop artists, poets, and comedians. It is brought to LACC by English professor Evan "Bones" Kendall who, with DC Curtis, co-authored “Truth & Pain starring the Gangsters & Retards in... The Mystique-cal Person-a of MC Cripple Crip,” a novel featuring teenagers with disabilities. The novel was discovered by Leroy Moore, the central figure in Krip-Hop Nation, an international group of performing artists with disabilities. Moore invited Curtis and Kendall to a San Francisco event in February, and now a similar show will take place in Los Angeles.

Coming from all over the state, performers will include poets Leroy Moore, Lateef McCleod, Nathan Say, King Montana, hip hop artists, Roxx Da Foxx, DJ Quad, comedian Nina G, as well as authors DC Curtis and Bones Kendall.

Celebrating the diversity of the disability community, "Putting Disability in the Mix" will make you sing, shake, and laugh with these performers, authors, and comedians of various abilities, attitudes, and attributes as they open minds and win hearts. The show is appropriate for adults and teenagers, though some explicit language may be used.

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Performer bios:

Leroy Moore - is a black, disabled writer, poet, hip-hop music lover, community activist, and feminist. For well over a decade he has worked tirelessly promoting his perspective on identity, race, and disability. A performer and lecturer, Moore is known as "The Black Cripple." He has been a guest presenter in high schools and universities across the country and in Canada, the UK, and Holland. Moore has a poetry CD entitled "Black Disabled Man with a Big Mouth & a High I.Q." He is also the creator of Krip-Hop Nation. Moore was co-host of the radio show "Pushing Limits" on KPFA. He is a consultant on race and disability, a producer, a columnist at Poor Magazine and IDEAL magazine, and is co-founder and community relations director of Sins Invalid. His upcoming book of poetry is entitled "The Black Kripple Delivers."

DC Curtis and Bones Kendall - met studying literature at UCLA. Both worked in the entertainment business for many years before becoming English teachers, DC at a high school and Bones at Los Angeles City College. They co-wrote "Truth & Pain starring the Gangsters & Retards in... The Mystique-cal Person-a of MC Cripple Crip," a novel about a group of teenagers, four from the streets and four from a home for the so-called disabled. Though not disabled themselves, they are friends and advocates for people with disabilities. Their novel challenges stereotypes and argues for a kind of inclusiveness that is not based on pity.

DJ Quad LA - At the age of sixteen, he became paralyzed after breaking his neck while diving in the ocean at Venice Beach. A few years after that he became a deejay and after initial success found himself working as a music producer. DJ Quad is the CEO of his own record label, 5h Battalion Entertainment. In addition to being a disabled hip hop artist, he is a music producer, studio engineer, graphic designer, and founder of Fifth Gear Clothing.

Lateef McCleod - A phenomenal black poet with cerebral palsy who just published his first poetry book entitled "A Declaration Of A Body Of Love" this year. He is also in process of writing a novel tentatively called "The Third Eye Is Crying." He was also a cast member of the 2007 Sins Invalid performance and this year was in another Sins Invalid performance entitled Resident Alien. He works at United Cerebral Palsy of the Golden Gate as a grant writer and blogger and for the World Institute of Disability as an intern. He has earned a BA in English from UC Berkeley and a MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. You can gain more information about Lateef from his blogs at teefdabiggafigga.blogspot.com and ucpgg.org/lateefs-view-of-the-bay.

Nathan Say - Poet & Community Organizer found poetry by accident during a literature class he was taking. Prior to moving to San Diego, California to start a new life and dedicate large chunks of time to poetry, he worked at the University of Hawaii's Center on Disability Studies, where he was Project Coordinator of the My Voice, My Choice Project, a youth program for youth and young adults with developmental disabilities. He was also on the organizing committee for Abled Hawaii Artists/Art Enabled, Honolulu's yearly celebration of the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Nathan's first full length show is set to debut November 2011 in San Diego, California. He maintains a blog at http://www.nathansaypoetry.wordpress.com

Nina G - Bills herself as the world’s only female comedian who stutters (or at least until she finds another one). She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and performs at comedy clubs and events. She blends a combination of humor, activism, and education about the experience of people with disabilities.

Roxx Da Foxx - An all-American singer, rapper, songwriter, model, and advocate for women against domestic violence as well for people living with disabilities. Roxane was born and raised in Los Angel

King Montana is a Hip Hop Recording Artist/Song Writer from Albuquerque, New Mexico. King Montana is first cousins with Grammy Award Winner Max Baca of Los Texmaniacs. King Montana has shared the stage with artists such as Baby Bash, Gorilla Zoe, Lil Flip, Frankie J and Zig Zag of NB Ryderz. In Feb. 2010 King Montana signed with R&D Entertainment. His new album "How I Feel" will be released and distributed by Royal Fam/R&D Ent./Bungalo/Universal Music Group Distribution. Featuring Grammy Award Winners Los Texmaniacs, Don Cisco, Philly B, Kristine Mirelle, Da Stooie Bros and more!! The first radio single is called "Call Me Up"feat. Kristine Mirelle. King Montana is also CEO/Founder of Royal Fam Records, which is his own.

El Mosquito, panhandler by day, superhero by night, speaker of over 370 lost indigenous languages and protector of all indigenous and poor peoples across Pachamama kills the drone that killed thousands of poor mothers, babies, and elders from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Palestine.

This drone is the same drone that is well-known for allegedly killing the multi-billionaire known as Osama Bin Laden, son of a family who had ties to the Bush and Cheney Dynasty, and became the corporate rationale for the launching of hundreds of illegal and unjust wars across the globe and billion dollar contracts with private military corporations such as Blackwater and Halliburton

Before El Mosquito intervened "The Drone" (known as "the beast of Kandahar") was poised to launch yet another murderous air-strike on a small village in Pakistan which would have resulted in the death of hundreds of indigenous Pakistani farmers labeled and profiled by Corporate and Independent media as “terrorist insurgents”

El Mosquito is available for personal appearances and emergency response actions at pending evictions, foreclosure sales, gang injunction proceedings, budget genocide proposals and school closures in a poor community of color near you

El Mosquito is a revolutionary PeoplesHero created for TEAM POOR of POOR Magazine in 1998 by Eddie Camacho and Tiny (Lisa Gray-Garcia). We are currently searching  for a conscious game designer to turn TEAM POOR into an interactive game