Story Archives 2011

h1 span class="auth"By span class="redtext"font color="#b32417"Valerie Taliman/font/span/span span class="datentime greytext"font color="#7d7d7d" size="2"June 27, 2011/font/span/h1 div class="postmeta" div class="rgt" span class="st_facebook"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets facebook"nbsp;/span/span/spanspan class="st_twitter"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets twitter"nbsp;/span/span/spanspan class="st_digg"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets digg"nbsp;/span/span/spanspan class="st_reddit"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets reddit"nbsp;/span/span/spanspan class="st_delicious"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets delicious"nbsp;/span/span/spanspan class="st_stumbleupon"span class="stButton" style="display: inline-block; color: #000000; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none"span class="chicklets stumbleupon"nbsp;/span/span/span/div div class="clr" nbsp;/div /div div class="post" div class="article-photo" id="flashPlace" img alt="Johnny Bonta Hate Crime" class="attachment-large wp-post-image" height="411" src="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Johnny-Bonta-and-family_-e1309189122650-615x411.jpg" style="width: 476px; height: 346px" title="Johnny Bonta Hate Crime" width="615" //div div class="photocredit" Courtesy Johnny Bonta/div div class="clr" nbsp;/div div class="photocaption" Johnny Bonta, center, with his daughter Alyssa and mother Barbara Happy. Johnny was a victim of a hate crime on May 24 as he was attacked outside a gas station in Fernley, Nevada./div ul class="read-tags" li strongRead More:/strong/li li a href="/tag/hate-crimes" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none"emfont color="#b32317"Hate Crimes/font/em/a/li li a href="/tag/reno-sparks-indian-colony"emfont color="#b32317"Reno Sparks Indian Colony/font/em/a/li /ul div class="post-content" p Johnny and Lisa Bonta, a Native family from the a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/06/natives-targeted-most-for-hate-crimes/" target="_blank"font color="#b32317"Reno Sparks Indian Colony/font/a, became the latest victims of a hate crime on May 24 when they were attacked at a gas station along I-80 in Fernley, Nevada, a border town between the Fallon and Pyramid Lake Indian reservations./p p ldquo;I was pumping gas at Quick Stop on our way to Reno to look for another job when these skinheads in a blue car drove by real slow and checked us out.nbsp; The driver jumped out with a baseball bat, and I asked them lsquo;why you holding a bat?rdquo; said Bonta. ldquo;He said lsquo;letrsquo;s do thisrsquo; and tried to pick a fight. I donrsquo;t know how to explain what happenedmdash;we didnrsquo;t do anything to them.rdquo;/p p Bonta, a Paiute member of the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, tried to avoid the confrontation by telling them he didnrsquo;t want to fight. He got back in the car, with his son-in-law Shane Murray at the wheel, and they quickly drove away with the carload of skinheads in close pursuit./p p As they approached the freeway ramp, they were cut off as the blue car swerved in front of them, then slammed on the brakes, causing Murray to crash into it.nbsp; Murray said he recognized one of the attackers as Jacob Cassell, a former classmate and son of retired Lyon County Sheriff officer Jim Cassell./p p ldquo;They all jumped out of the car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar, and we knew they were going to hurt us,rdquo; said Lisa Bonta, in an interview from Washoe Medical Center, where she was in treatment for seizures she suffers./p p The fight broke out on the highway after 1 p.m. and while traffic was passing by, no one would stop to help them. Lisa and her daughter, Alyssa, were terrified watching the brutal and bloody fight as her unarmed husband and son-in-law tried to fight off the three young men in their 20s./p p ldquo;I saw one of them hit my husband in the head with a bat, and the other one was trying to cut off his braid with a knife. nbsp;Johnny was covered in blood and they just kept hitting him with a crow bar.nbsp; They even tried to slit his throat,rdquo; she added./p p ldquo;Jacob Cassell had my son-in-law on the ground in a chokehold and Shane was turning blue. My daughter was sobbing lsquo;theyrsquo;re killing himrsquo; and somehow she found the strength to hit Jacob in self-defense so he would release Shane.rdquo;/p p It was then, Lisa said, that Cassell turned his anger on her and her daughter, jumping on the hood of their car while swinging a baseball bat and cursing at them./p p ldquo;Irsquo;m a 46 year-old woman with serious health problems, and I tried to defend myself, but he hit me across the lower back with his bat, calling us lsquo;niggers and river monsters,rdquo; said Lisa, who is Anglo. ldquo;He pointed at Alyssa and said he would rape her the next time he saw her in Fernley, where she lives.rdquo;/p p Meanwhile, Johnny Bonta was knocked unconscious with a bat, his nose and sinus cavities broken and bleeding, with stab wounds on his neck./p p Lisa said Jacob Cassell taunted the family as the sirens approached, telling them, ldquo;You hear those cops coming? Theyrsquo;re not going to help you. My daddy is a cop in this town, and nothing is going to happen to me. You fucking niggers are going to jail.rdquo;/p p When Lyon County Sheriffrsquo;s officers arrived, they took statements and began filling out police reports with Cassell and his friends, but they did not take statements from any of the victims. When Lisa asked why they were not being questioned for a statement, no one responded. ldquo;They ignored us,rdquo; she said, before she suffered a seizure and required medical attention./p p Three ambulances responded to the scene and took Lisa, Alyssa and Murray away for treatment; Murrayrsquo;s injuries included a crushed elbow and broken hand./p p Johnny Bonta, bleeding and barely standing after being hit in the knees with a bat, was arrested on the scene and taken to jail. He said he was not allowed medical treatment for six days while he was in the county jail, all the while uncertain about what charges had been filed against him./p p Assuming he was on his way to the hospital, Lisa Bonta had no idea her husband had been arrested. She finally located her husband in jail after calling other facilities repeatedly, and was very upset that he was not given medical treatment for his extensive injuries./p p ldquo;I asked them to tell me what charges he was being held on and no one would say. They said they gave him the information, but he canrsquo;t read or write, so I needed to find out. At first they said there was a bench warrant for an unpaid $367 fine, and when we made arrangements to pay that, they charged him with battery with a deadly weapon, even though it was those boys who had the weapons. The booking papers say we owe $30,367.00. rdquo;/p p Lisa Bonta is outraged that their attackers were all released at the scene of the crime and were not charged despite the fact they bragged about it on Facebook on May 24, the day of the attack./p p Two hours after attacking the Bontas, Josh Janiszewski of Fernley wrote, ldquo;Just laid the fists and boots to some 6prime; 5rdquo; tongan dude. what you got on little guys?rdquo; at 3:13 p.m. When asked if they gave them hell, Josh responded. ldquo;Oh we did. Thatrsquo;s for sure!rdquo; at 3:48 p.m. ldquo;Amen,rdquo; said Jacob Cassell at 4:07 p.m./p p Jacobrsquo;s mother Dee Cassell also commented, ldquo;Sohellip;who has blood? You guys need to come home to mom?rdquo; at 4:48 p.m. She later added that she gave them First Aid. ldquo;Better have ur asses at home after I did 1st aid. Donrsquo;t piss off women ndash; they r worse than men!rdquo; she wrote at 8:00 p.m./p p When asked if they got ldquo;some good licksrdquo; in, Josh said, ldquo;sent em to the hospital, they got fucked up man, thats for sure.rdquo;/p p Meanwhile, Johnny Bonta stayed behind bars while Lisa and her family called the jail each day, asking if Johnny had been treated for his injuries. No one would tell her his condition. One morning, she says a surly guard told her ldquo;hersquo;ll have to get his Indian doctor if he wants treatment,rdquo; then hung up on her./p p Lisa appealed to the Reno Spark Indian Colony and said she was able to get two Indian Health Service doctors to agree to visit Johnny in jail, but was told by jail officials that could not be allowed. It was not until tribal police pursued Johnnyrsquo;s release that he was finally released after six days and was able to see a doctor./p p The family also lost their car following the attack. The Bontas could not locate their car after the Lyon County Sheriffrsquo;s office had it towed from the scene. When Lisa called to ask about their car, she was told the police had no information. She found the car two weeks later in a small towing yard, tires flattened and in need of repair. Since Johnny has not been able to work, they cannot afford to pay the impoundment fees or have it repaired. They are now walking to all of their medical appointments in Reno. The situation has created great hardship for them and their children./p p ldquo;We lost everything as a result of this attack, and now wersquo;re homeless since we canrsquo;t go back to Fernley,rdquo; said Lisa. ldquo;The FBI took our statement last week and we know they got a copy of the video from the gas station parking lot. We are asking for a full investigation into this hate crime.rdquo;/p p The Bontas said since this happened, at least four other Native families have told them they too were harassed and attacked by skinheads in nearby border towns. But people told her they donrsquo;t report the incidents because they donrsquo;t believe police will help them. These follow an April 2010 attack on Vincent Kee, Navajo, in Farmington, New Mexico, where three men took Kee from a McDonaldrsquo;s and shaved a swastika symbol on the back of his head and branded him with the symbol using a coat hanger./p p ldquo;Someone could have died that day,rdquo; said Lisa, ldquo;and the only reason this happened is because my husband and son-in-law have brown skin. We have a 10-year-old daughter, and I have to speak out about what happened for her sake. I just donrsquo;t understand why these young boys think they have the right to randomly beat others. We have to put a stop to this kind of behavior.rdquo;/p p Lisa also said they are hiring an attorney. ldquo;I want the police to know they canrsquo;t deny people medical treatment just because they feel like it. Johnny could have died from a head injury, and they violated his civil rights. They should be held accountable.rdquo;/p p emIndian Country Today Media Network will continue to follow this story and is looking into any fundraising information there may be for our readers. The case has been classified as a hate crime and is under investigation by the FBI. ICTMN is currently waiting for approval for copies of the police report. Calls to the Reno office of the FBI were not returned./em/p /div /div

p img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/CA.ECONOMY_0.jpg" style="width: 109px; height: 113px;" //p p nbsp;/p p California Governor Jerry Brown#39;s attempt to keep expiring tax increases alive was blocked by Republikkkans.nbsp; Brown is praying that the economy is nice to him and makes those soon-defunct taxes moot.nbsp; If the economy doesn#39;t cooperate, $2.6 billion in extra cuts to education and other programs happen./p p The Rapture didn#39;t happen and the guy who said it would now says October is the 2011 sell-by date for Humanity#39;s souls.nbsp; When do we get sold down the river for that $2.6 billion (or more)?/p p State Controller John Chiang, who refused to stop the paychecks of state workers, as Governator Schwarzenegger wanted him to, cancelled the paychecks of state Legislators because THEY won#39;t play nice--to balance the budget.nbsp; Balanced budgets are nice in theory (who doesn#39;t want to bring in more money than they spend...?), but they are an old, tired Republikkkan tool in the anti-government weapons locker./p p What Chiang should be doing is cancelling the paychecks of enough Republikkkans that the Demokkkrats (if they have a clue...) can do what needs doing--save the state economy and the hopes and dreams of the state#39;s poor population (largely forgotten in all this smug gamesmanship), keeping those tax upgrades in place and finding other ways to get much needed cash in the coffers./p p San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener wants to pass a law that makes it okay to modify proposals put on local election ballots by Supes or voters.nbsp; Here you get into that crazy gray area of THE WILL OF THE VOTERS that Republikkkans most often like to chant like holy writ, except that sometimes it actually is kinda sorta holy.nbsp; If San Francisco does this, shouldn#39;t the State of Kkkalifornia do it too?/p p I mean, the FIRST thing that needs changing at the state level if something like that were done would be to severely modify or abolish altogether Proposition 13.nbsp; That would be a good start towards putting some healthy black back into the bleeding budget./p p Contact your state Legislator.nbsp;/p p Contact State Controller John Chiang to demand he take away the Republikkkans#39; power to destroy the state economy.nbsp;/p p Sacramento, Californiabr / (916) 445-2636 Officenbsp;/p p Los Angeles, Californiabr / (213) 833-6010 Office/p p nbsp;/p

p iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9N68yVY3xjc" width="480"/iframe/p pstyle type="text/css" @font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman"; }@font-face { font-family: "Times New Roman Bold"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } /style/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" emEditors Note: As a grassroots, non-profit, Bay Area, arts, media and education organization led by poor and indigenous youth, adults and elders, POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE is extremely concerned about the security of our indigenous ancestors at Glen Cove, Sogorea Te and we stand in solidarity with the occupation by indigenous peoples at Glen Cove and will offer media and resources until there is a peaceful conclusion that secures the safety of the sacred shellmound. /em/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" emThe Following are a series of letters, words and poetry for the Greater Vallejo Recreational District (GVRD) and the Mayor of Vallejo created by youth and adult media students in the Revolutionary Youth Media Education Program (RYME) and PeopleSkool at POOR Magazine/em../p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Taiyana, Youth Scholar, Aged 14/b/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear GVRD,/p p class="MsoNormal" I donrsquo;t feel you are making the right decision,/p p class="MsoNormal" tearing precious land from the Ohlone people. You/p p class="MsoNormal" wouldnrsquo;t tear the burial ground of soldiers and war/p p class="MsoNormal" veterans so why tear and dig up history that is as/p p class="MsoNormal" important as the resting place of soldiers. Fight the power!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Taiyana Jahnel/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 16pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" 14 years old/p p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Stacey Langley Watts, Disability Indigenous Scholar/b/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear Corporate (most likely) White Folks at the GVRD,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Halito.spannbsp; /spanMy name is Stacey Langley-Watts and I am a Choctaw Indian.spannbsp; /spanMy people are originally from Mississippi but were removed from their homes during the Trail of Tears.spannbsp; /spanI moved from Texas to California for the summer, and in the Native tradition, when you come to someone#39;s house as a guest, you protect the house.spannbsp; /spanThis is my house for the time being, and I want to support my Ohlone brothers and sisters in their fight to keep their land from being turned into a park./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Our ancestors are very important to us as Native people.spannbsp; /spanWe want the city of Vallejo to stop their plan to build a park on this land, because it#39;s where our people are.spannbsp; /spanA cemetery is not a place to party.spannbsp; /spanIt#39;s a place to pay respect to the elders.spannbsp; /spanThe City of Vallejo doesn#39;t care one way or another about history. spannbsp;/spanAll they care about is money.spannbsp; /spanOnly 10 0r 15 shell mounds remain in the Bay Area, and we need to save them from becoming malls or places for rich white folks to shop at Victoria#39;s Secret or eat at yuppie restaurants.spannbsp; /spanThe land is beautiful and sacred just as it is.spannbsp; /spanYour corporate interests don#39;t need to change the shape of the land./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" We are going to fight this big money with our voices and our presence.spannbsp; /spanIndian people are strong people and you can#39;t keep us down./p p class="MsoNormal" Sincerely,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" Stacey Langley-Watts/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Aminah Jalal, Youth Scholar, Aged 10/b/p p class="MsoNormal" bnbsp;/b/p p class="MsoNormal" I donrsquo;t think it is nice/p p class="MsoNormal" I donrsquo;t think it is right/p p class="MsoNormal" I donrsquo;t think you want/p p class="MsoNormal" To see the bodies/p p class="MsoNormal" You will probably/p p class="MsoNormal" Get a fright/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanAminah Jalal/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanAge:10/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom ldquo;Treerdquo;, Youth and Poverty Scholar, Aged 20/b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear GVRD,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanGod sent an idea to someone special. The idea was to protect the deceased. Before they were called burial grounds, they were called shell mounts as where the Ohlone people protected their ancestors. Now today we want to keep Glen Cove sacred burial grounds alive, for the colonial people. All we ask for is respect, peace, and that our land may be protected./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanSincerely, Tree Davis, age 20/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Yarsquo;mil, Youth Scholar, Aged 12/b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear GVRD,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" My name is Yarsquo;mil and I am 12 years old./p p class="MsoNormal" Why do you want to bulldoze the ancient Ohlone Indian burial/p p class="MsoNormal" Ground? How would you like it if we bulldozed your ancestors/p p class="MsoNormal" burial ground? If you had a heart you wouldnrsquo;t do this, let me/p p class="MsoNormal" know if you change your mind./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" `sincerely/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" ~YamiL/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Michael, Incarceration and Poverty Scholar/b/p p class="MsoNormal" Grandmother,hellip;.wake up!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Grandfather,hellip;. Shift your old bones!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Your rest is interrupted,/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Your slumber with the ancestors is ended./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Rise from the cool embrace of our cool dark mother./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" WAKE UP!!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" We need your bones to reveal their secrets./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" We need your eternal resting place for a restroom./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" A place for the worldrsquo;s thinnest toilet paper to reside./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" RISE UP!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Make way for the inheritors of the grave!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" There is no longer any place for you here./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The land you abided in life./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Grandmother!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Grandfather!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" You are being evicted in death, by those who stole your land in life!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" WAKE UP!!/p /div p class="MsoNormal" bnbsp;/b/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Philip, Indigenous Youth Scholar, /b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" To whom it may concern, (at GVRD)/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" My name is Phillip Standing Bear. I am Lakota Sioux from the plains/p p class="MsoNormal" tribes. I am concerned about what you have planned to build over the Glen/p p class="MsoNormal" Cove Burial Grounds. Do you realize that a park and bathroom area is not/p p class="MsoNormal" even across the city but in fact, just around the corner? If you believe that/p p class="MsoNormal" building a little park for the little boys and girls for the neighborhood, when/p p class="MsoNormal" it probably will not be used anyways./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" These grounds are sacred and our own ancestors who built these/p p class="MsoNormal" Shell mounds, would not even walk on those grounds if not to just pray, give/p p class="MsoNormal" thanks, give gifts to loved ones lost. These burial grounds are just like your/p p class="MsoNormal" cemeteries. Many things are the same while you still consider these grounds/p p class="MsoNormal" like they were yours. How many times a year would you go and dig up your/p p class="MsoNormal" grandmother, or your grandfather, for ldquo;examinationrdquo; and ldquo;detailrdquo;?/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Donrsquo;t do this to these people. If only just let us keep our sacred lands./p p class="MsoNormal" That is all that is left for us other than our daily lives. Just give it some/p p class="MsoNormal" consideration, that when you are used to having nothing, that the little things/p p class="MsoNormal" in life matter more to some than others./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Thank you for your consideration,/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" Sincerely, Phillip S.B./p /div p class="MsoNormal" bnbsp;/b/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Liana, Mama and Indigenous Scholar/b/p p class="MsoNormal" bnbsp;/b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Blessings to the living!spannbsp; /spanMy name is liana. I know that the world will never end.spannbsp; /spanMy Grandma said so.spannbsp; /spanShe said itrsquo;s the people!spannbsp; /spanI believe that GVRD should do the right thing/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Respect the land . Do the right thing!/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" bnbsp;/b/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Rashida, Youth Scholar, Aged 12/b/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;/span/p p class="MsoNormal" The government wants that to happen because they know how powerful the Native/p p class="MsoNormal" American people were. So they wanted to know their DNA. They donrsquo;t want the people/p p class="MsoNormal" to know how creole they are. They donrsquo;t want them to know their true history. So They/p p class="MsoNormal" cover it up with stuff that donrsquo;t matter! And they think the people donrsquo;t now about it./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" my name is RASHIDA REED, I am 12 years old./p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Kamaria Shanndoah, Youth Scholar, Aged 14/b/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear GVRD,/p p class="MsoNormal" I donrsquo;t feel that it is fair for you to dig up the burial grounds of the Ohlone people. There are only a handful of shell mounds left, so why get rid of them, or build a park on top of them? Who would want to play on top of a burial ground? If a person wanted to dig up the remains of your ancestors and study them would you like it? I donrsquo;t think so. It is only fair to keep the shell mound there and not dig it up./p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanThank you,/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanKamaria Shanndoah/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Ayat,spannbsp; /spanPoverty Scholar/b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" The ancestors buried one another here/p p class="MsoNormal" Among the empty lots markets and shops/p p class="MsoNormal" Under your parades planned poverty and sneers/p p class="MsoNormal" They lay without peace, grieving non-stop./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Does your laws for the land state;/p p class="MsoNormal" Show no respect, be a disgrace/p p class="MsoNormal" In Glen Cove there is no respect there/p p class="MsoNormal" I thought only devils torture the dead/p div style="border-bottom: 3pt dotted; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" bFrom Ayana Jalal, Youth Scholar, /b/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Ispannbsp; /spandonrsquo;t think its right that you want/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" to make Glen Cove in to a park./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" If you want to make a park or make/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" a mall make it some were else./p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" spannbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span-Ayanaspannbsp; /spanJalal/p div style="border-bottom: 1.5pt solid; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" span style="font-family: 'times new roman bold'"bFrom Youth and Indigenous Scholar Tiburcio, 7 years old/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p div style="border-bottom: 1.5pt solid; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 1pt; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" p class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; border-top: medium none; border-right: medium none; padding-top: 0in" Dear G.V.R.D,br / Why would you do this to our people?nbsp; Without them there would be no us.nbsp; You can kill us with nuclear bombs but do not take out the history of Vallejo to make a park.nbsp; I don#39;t know much, but i do know ancestors and they#39;re fragile with people who respect but they don#39;t respect people who don#39;t respect./p p Tiburciobr / nbsp;/p /div p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" span style="font-family: 'times new roman bold'"bFrom Tony, Robles, Co-editor and Revolutionary Worker Scholar @ POOR Magazine/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p To whom it may concern:br / I am surprised at the actions of the city of Vallejo in regards to the building of a playground and public restroom on an Ohlone burial site.nbsp; I have always felt a spirit of community in Vallejo--a city whose landscape is a story of the history of the land--from the Indigenous Ohlone to the Spanish to the African Americans who migrated from the south to the Filipino Community to Indigenous people from this hemisphere who have migrated here to escape poverty and other circumstances.nbsp; I would think that a city with so rich a community and history would see the historical and cultural importance of the shell mound site to the Ohlone people./p p I was taken by a story i read recently about the Russian consulate replacing gravestones of deceased Russian merchant seaman in a Vallejo cemetery.nbsp; The replacement of the gravestones was done out of respect to the legacy and spirits of the seaman.nbsp; I read that the actions of the consulate created a bureaucratic scenario amongnbsp;Vallejo city leaders,nbsp;underscoring the importance of honoring our ancestors/elders.br / nbsp;br / I urge the city council to honor the Ohlone people leaving the shell mound undisturbed.nbsp; Those in public office may be the representatives of political constituencies, but lets not forget that native people are the spiritual guardians of this land, a land that predates the name Vallejo./p p Sincerely,/p p Tony Roblesbr / Co-Editor POOR Magazine/p p nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" ________________________________________________________/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" span style="font-family: 'times new roman bold'"bFrom Tiny Gray-Garcia co-madre, co-editor POOR Magazine/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Dear GVRD and Mayor of Vallejo/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Ocama Ocama Ocama Pachamama/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Please listen when we speak/p p class="MsoNormal" We are only trying to reach/p p class="MsoNormal" A part of your soul/p p class="MsoNormal" Not bought and paid for/p p class="MsoNormal" By real estate deals and bank rolls/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Listen when we speak for ancestors who are not able/p p class="MsoNormal" To stand in front of your tall buildings and back-room deals/p p class="MsoNormal" But who spent years working the land you are now trying to steal/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Listen to our pleas before its too late/p p class="MsoNormal" And this all becomes a tragedy caused by the state/p p class="MsoNormal" Listen to your hearts which you also have/p p class="MsoNormal" From your ancestors now laid to rest in other parts of this same land/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" Listen, Ocama , Listen to our/your ancestors and everyonesrsquo;s Mama (Mother Earth)..../p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" nbsp;/p p class="MsoNormal" In prayer until our ancestors are safe/p p class="MsoNormal" Tiny/p

p img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/FUTBOL.jpg" style="width: 273px; height: 184px;" //p p nbsp;/p p WHAM!nbsp; BAM!nbsp; CLANG! span data-scayt_word="RRRRRRMMMMMMMMM" data-scaytid="5"RRRRRRMMMMMMMMM/span..../p p Ah! Ah! Ah! Mexico won!nbsp; Mexico won!/p p The crows woke me up again.nbsp; This time they were driving the garbage truck that empties the dumpsters of the non-profit feeding program (across the street) right outside my span data-scayt_word="window...at" data-scaytid="1"window...at/span span data-scayt_word="6a.m" data-scaytid="2"6a.m/span./p p What, did Mexico win?nbsp; I asked./p p Ah! Ah! they shrieked, a soccer game in the Rose Bowl stadium!/p p Who were they playing?/p p Ah!nbsp; You didn#39;t know?nbsp; America!/p p Really?? I said, I only pay attention to that sport every four years./p p Ah! Ah! Ah!nbsp; span data-scayt_word="KNBR" data-scaytid="6"KNBR/span sports-talk radio station talked about it.nbsp; One of their ESPN radio people said people are upset!/p p Why?/p p The Rose Bowl was full of Mexicans!/p p Ah! Ah! Ah! another crow yelled, the Mexicans in the stands were rude, they called the American team the Spanish word for Jack-Ass!/p p Maybe they just wanted them to know they like the span data-scayt_word="tv" data-scaytid="9"tv/span show?/p p Ah! Ah! People are upset!/p p People are always upset, I said, usually about the wrong thing.nbsp; One of the desk clerks at this SRO hotel said people were angry the span data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="3"U.S/span. Open Golf Tournament left out #39;One nation under God#39; in the Pledge of span data-scayt_word="Alliegiance" data-scaytid="11"Alliegiance/span.nbsp; No sports writer covering the golfers said anything about it.nbsp; span data-scayt_word="KNBR" data-scaytid="7"KNBR/span didn#39;t either.nbsp; I DID hear some crazy talk about people should always support the national team of the country they live span data-scayt_word="in...but" data-scaytid="4"in...but/span, they, nobody raised me to be like those crazy Oakland Raiders fans!/p p Ah! Ah! Ah! Now you span data-scayt_word="talkin" data-scaytid="12"talkin/span#39; smack!/p p Maybe, I said, but I don#39;t care where an athlete or team comes from, mostly, I just love to watch people who are good at what they do.nbsp; I mean, people want Tiger Woods to be great again.nbsp; The span data-scayt_word="tv" data-scaytid="10"tv/span people want ratings.nbsp; The talking heads say people need or want heroes.nbsp; They want Rory span data-scayt_word="McIlroy" data-scaytid="13"McIlroy/span to be the next Tiger.nbsp; Not span data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="15"gonna/span happen!/p p Ah! Ah! Why not?/p p Who needs that kind of pressure?nbsp; I said, not me!nbsp; Hey, 11 different winners in 11 straight major pro golf tournaments!nbsp; span data-scayt_word="McIlroy" data-scaytid="14"McIlroy/span has no plans to play a lot in America, so he#39;s not span data-scayt_word="gonna" data-scaytid="16"gonna/span be a hero to anybody but the hard-core golf lover who follows the sport span data-scayt_word="whereever" data-scaytid="17"whereever/span it#39;s played./p p Ah! Ah! You#39;ve got a point!/p p Only person I agreed with you called in to span data-scayt_word="KNBR" data-scaytid="8"KNBR/span, I said, was the one who said the Mexico fans forgot about good sportsmanship./p p Ah! Ah! span data-scayt_word="Talkin" data-scaytid="19"Talkin/span#39; smack again!/p p People do that all the time though! I said, screaming abuse at baseball players.nbsp; I did it to opposing soccer players at the games my hometown college team played--when I actually paid attention to amateur soccer--the opposing goalie got really mad once./p p Ah! Ah!nbsp; You too?nbsp; The crows sounded disappointed./p p I was young./p p Ah! Ah! Ah! We span data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="20"gotta/span go!/p p That garbage truck was really loud.nbsp; POOR Magazine makes noise too, in two languages (we#39;d love to do it in more).nbsp; The span data-scayt_word="post-futbol" data-scaytid="21"post-futbol/span game ceremony for the winning team at the Rose Bowl stadium also upset the same people pissed off about the other stuff, and, apparently, the American team too.nbsp; It was held in Spanish only.nbsp; An American team member was quoted as saying that if they#39;d won in Mexico City the ceremony wouldn#39;t have been English-only./p p This is a hard thing, so many in span data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="22"Amerikkka/span want English to be the only legal language, and they complain and complain and complain that people from other countries don#39;t try hard enough to speak English; they (try to) make school really hard for children who don#39;t speak English the moment they arrive.nbsp; POOR Magazine#39;s newsroom and other meetings are held in English AND Spanish for a reason--that#39;s who we are, we don#39;t leave anyone out of the conversation, we don#39;t believe in English Language Domination over span data-scayt_word="whereever" data-scaytid="18"whereever/span anyone else came from in this diverse, troubled world we live in.nbsp; We are often convinced we are the ONLY people who care about this issue, though we know that isn#39;t (entirely) true./p p The crows?nbsp; I span data-scayt_word="dunno" data-scaytid="23"dunno/span.nbsp; They wake me up and we have these conversations--and then they fly off and see other stuff and, I know, think about waking me up for more early morning smack-talk.../p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p

p img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/CHECKS.jpg" style="width: 256px; height: 192px;" /nbsp; img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/u26/BENCH.CHECK_.CASH_.AD_.jpg" style="width: 245px; height: 206px;" //p p nbsp;/p p strongDepends how you look at it.nbsp; From the city#39;s point of view, it#39;s probably good.nbsp; But from the retailer#39;s point of view, it could be bad because it will bring in a different type of clientele than shops here now.nbsp; They#39;re trying to get new people in and existing people out.nbsp; On this street, you can only get certain types of businesses now.nbsp; They want green businesses, and they want to get rid of the check-cashing spots.nbsp; They want to get rid of businesses that serve low-income people/strongbr / --Anonymous Market Street clothing retailer answering the question #39;Is Market Street On The Way Up?#39; in the #39;2 Cents#39; column in the May 2011 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA monthly paper published by San Francisco Study Center Inc./p p There are several things one can take from the above quote to run with revolutionary marathon-like, so to speak, but I was intrigued by the comment about check-cashing businesses.nbsp; Like many poor people I use them.nbsp; I think it is peculiar, at best, that my MONEY MART VIP Club Card doesn#39;t really do much for me--if I cash a Welfare span data-scayt_word="PAES" data-scaytid="3"PAES/span check at the un-Money Mart place (only open 5 days a week...) on my span data-scayt_word="block...I" data-scaytid="1"block...I/span get more money from them!/p p All banks suck, and some of the credit unions do too.nbsp; I used a credit union in Seattle that didn#39;t suck, but that was because they didn#39;t require a massive initial injection of green-stuff into their veins, unlike a certain so-called credit union on Van Ness Avenue very close to Market Street./p p What is it about San Francisco anyway?nbsp; Granted, I didn#39;t much like the way the Seattle Bank of America span data-scayt_word="semed" data-scaytid="4"semed/span to want to extract its monthly checking account pound of green flesh randomly, NOT on the same day of the month so you could predict when it was coming and plan accordingly.nbsp; San Francisco banks seem to have a different play-book that requires even nastier #39;span data-scayt_word="tude" data-scaytid="5"tude/span./p p I don#39;t use banks partly because of Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco.nbsp; I was a customer during my time as a client of Goodwill Industries, but a previous disagreement over whether or not I owe money to Washington State Unemployment bit me in the ass one day when the Unemployment people contacted Wells Fargo and sucked my entire paycheck into their account.nbsp; Wells Fargo apparently didn#39;t think of me as a valued customer, only a customer, and not one that they planned to speak to about the matter until it exploded in my face./p p After that I let my account die.nbsp; Some weeks later I saw a poster advertising Wells Fargo, and some new thing it was doing for poor customers, on a wall at Goodwill Industries.nbsp; That was the only outreach that I experienced.nbsp; I was not impressed or tempted./p p I am not a big fan of organized religion, but I like Islam and Muslims because (even though Islam seems as authoritarian as Christianity it is also anarchistic) they are not big fans of the Western style of banking.nbsp; They don#39;t do interest.nbsp; They call that usury and it#39;s a no-no in the Bible.nbsp;/p p Muscular Christianity and mega-churches (often the same thing) preaches a love of and hunger for money and very green success at odds with the lived example of Jesus, the founder of the religion.nbsp; One of the things I hate the most to encounter on a public transit bus is two men (usually) trying to one-up each other on Bible knowledge./p p I won#39;t do that here (not a lot of it in my head to spew anyway...), but one thing I#39;ve heard people argue over deserves my opinion.nbsp; Jesus more-or-less said Give Unto Caesar What Is His, and Give Unto God What Is God#39;s, and many Christians seem to think that means you actually CAN serve two masters./p p The statement is actually extremely revolutionary.nbsp; It#39;s one of the things that got Jesus executed.nbsp; If you give God, or the people, what he/she/it/they are due--Caesar, the Government, gets NOTHING.nbsp; The Roman Empire had good reason to go postal on the Dude, he wasn#39;t Abiding their game at all./p p Banks and the people that run them must be held accountable for what they do to the poor, for how they have increased the poor population via the Sub-Prime Mortgage Scam (and its continuing mutations) that fell apart in 2008, and for how they finance the ever-growing Prison Industrial Complex, aka Poor People Housing, aka The New Slave Plantation Network./p p July 1st, 2011, at span data-scayt_word="11a.m" data-scaytid="2"11a.m/span., there will be a Wells Fargo protest at 464 California Street in downtown San Francisco.nbsp; Wells Fargo is the second largest investor in the GEO Group, which builds prisons for citizens of span data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="6"Amerikkka/span and for undocumented people arrested for trying to have a good life here By Any Means Necessary.nbsp; I#39;m not sure if I#39;ll be there, or in a check-cashing place.../p p nbsp;/p

h3 Did New Orleans media contribute to police violence after Hurricane Katrina?/h3 p emstrongby Jordan Flaherty/strong/em/p div class="img alignleft size-full wp-image-21380" style="width: 316px" nbsp;/div p Opening arguments begin today in what observers have called the most important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It is a shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this cityrsquo;s relationship to its police department and radically rewritten the official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against their fellow officers./p p nbsp;/p p The shootings occurred on Sept. 4, 2005, as two families were fleeing Katrinarsquo;s floodwaters, crossing New Orleansrsquo; Danziger Bridge to get to dry land. Officers, who apparently heard a radio report about shootings in the area, drove up, leapt out of their vehicle and began firing. Ronald Madison, a mentally challenged man, was shot in the back at least five times, then reportedly stomped and kicked by an officer until he was dead./p p His brother, Lance Madison, was arrested on false charges. James Brissette, a high school student, was shot seven times and died at the scene. Susan Bartholomew, 38, was wounded so badly her arm was shot off of her body. Jose Holmes Jr. was shot several times; then as he lay bleeding an officer stood over him and fired point blank at his stomach. Two other relatives of Bartholomew were also badly wounded./p p Danziger is one of at least nine recent incidents involving the NOPD being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department, several of which happened in the days after the city was flooded. Officers have recently been convicted by federal prosecutors in two other high-profile trials. In April, two officers were found guilty in the beatingnbsp;death of Raymond Robair, a handyman from the Treme neighborhood. In December, a jury convicted three officers and acquitted two in killing Henry Glover, a 31-year-old from New Orleansrsquo; West Bank neighborhood, and burning his body./p h3 From Survivors to Looters/h3 p In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people around the world felt sympathy for New Orleans. They saw images of residents trapped on rooftops by floodwaters, needing rescue by boat and helicopter. But then stories began to come out about looters and gangs among the survivors, and the official response shifted from humanitarian aid to military operation. Then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco, sent in National Guard troops, announcing: ldquo;They have M-16s and are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will.rdquo; Warren Riley, at that time the second in charge of the police department, reportedly ordered officers to ldquo;take the city back and shoot looters.rdquo;/p div class="img alignright size-full wp-image-21385" style="width: 199px" a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NOPD-murdered-Ronald-Madison-090405-on-Danziger-Bridge3.jpe"img alt="" height="299" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NOPD-murdered-Ronald-Madison-090405-on-Danziger-Bridge3.jpe" width="199" //a div New Orleans police murdered Ronald Madison Sept. 4, 2005, on the Danziger Bridge./div /div p In the following days, several civilians ndash;nbsp;almost all of them African American ndash;nbsp;were killed under suspicious circumstances in incidents involving police and white vigilantes. For years, family members and advocates called for official investigations and were rebuffed. ldquo;Right after the hurricane there were individuals and organizations trying to talk about what happened on Danziger,rdquo; says Dana Kaplan, executive director of Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL), a legal and advocacy organization based in New Orleans. ldquo;But their voices were marginalized.rdquo;/p p nbsp;/p p There is evidence that local media could have done a better job. Alex Brandon, a photographer for the New Orleansrsquo; Times-Picayune newspaper who later went on to work for Associated Press, testified in the Henry Glover trial that he knew details about the police killings that he didnrsquo;t reveal. ldquo;He saw things and heard things that proved to be useful in a criminal investigation. He didnrsquo;t report them as news,rdquo; wrote Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry after the Glover trial concluded./p p Former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who led an initial investigation of the Danziger officers, believes annbsp;indifferent local media bears partial responsibility for the years of cover-up. ldquo;They were looking for heroes,rdquo; he says. ldquo;They had a cozy relationship with the police. They got tips from the police, they were in bed with the police. It was an atmosphere of tolerance for atrocities from the police. They abdicated their responsibility to be critical in their reporting. If a few people got killed, that was a small price to pay.rdquo;/p p Family members and advocates tried to get the stories of police violence out through protests, press conferences and other means. Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, an organization dedicated to justice in reconstruction, held a tribunal in 2006 where they presented accusations of police violence ndash;nbsp;among other charges ndash;nbsp;to a panel of international judges and members of parliament from seven countries. Activists even brought charges to the United Nations, filing a shadow report in February 2008 with the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva./p div class="img alignleft size-full wp-image-21382" style="width: 319px" a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NOPD-accuse-Lance-Madison-brother-of-police-murder-victim-Ronald-Madison-of-shooting-at-police-090405-by-Alex-Brandon-T-P1.jpg"img alt="" height="205" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NOPD-accuse-Lance-Madison-brother-of-police-murder-victim-Ronald-Madison-of-shooting-at-police-090405-by-Alex-Brandon-T-P1.jpg" width="319" //a div After police murdered his brother, Ronald, they accuse Lance Madison of shooting at them. ndash; Photo: Alex Brandon, Times-Picayune/div /div p But it was not until late 2008 that a journalist named A.C. Thompson did what the local media failed to do and investigated these stories in detail. ldquo;Itrsquo;s unfortunate that it took a national publication to really dig to the root,rdquo;says Kaplan, referring to Thompsonrsquo;s work. ldquo;In New Orleans the criminal justice system has been so corrupt for so long that things that should be shocking didnrsquo;t seem to be raising the kind of broad community outrage that they should have.rdquo;/p p nbsp;/p p In 2009, after years of pressure from activists and the national attention brought on by AC Thompsonrsquo;s reporting, the U.S. Justice Department decided to look into the accusations of police violence. This has led to one of the most wide-ranging investigations of a police department in recent U.S. history. Dozens of officers are facing lengthy prison terms, and corruption charges have reached to the very top of the department./p p The Danziger trial is expected to last two months. Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso and Robert Faulcon, the officers involved in the shooting, could receive life sentences if convicted. Sgt. Arthur Kaufman, who was not on the bridge, is charged only in the conspiracy and could receive a maximum of 120 years. Justice Department investigations of other incidents are continuing, and it is likely that some form of federal oversight of the department will be announced in the coming months./p p emJordan Flaherty is an author, journalist and staffer with the Louisiana Justice Institute. He is the author of ldquo;Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six,rdquo; and his award-winning reporting from the Gulf Coast has been featured in a range of outlets including the New York Times, Al Jazeera and Argentinarsquo;s Clarin newspaper. He can be reached at a href="mailto:neworleans@leftturn.org"font color="#265372"neworleans@leftturn.org/font/a, and more information about ldquo;Floodlinesrdquo; can be found at a href="http://floodlines.org" jquery1309457558689="65"font color="#265372"floodlines.org/font/a. For speaking engagements, see a href="http://communityandresistance.wordpress.com/" jquery1309457558689="66" modo="false"font color="#265372"communityandresistance.wordpress.com/font/a./em/p

p nbsp;/p pSCRIPT function googleTranslateElementInit() { new google.translate.TranslateElement({ pageLanguage: 'en' }, 'google_translate_element'); } /scriptSCRIPT src="//translate.google.com/translate_a/element.js?cb=googleTranslateElementInit"/script/p div class="entry" SCRIPT type=text/javascript //![CDATA[ document.write('iframe id="nr_clickthrough_frame" height="0" width="0" style="border-width: 0px; display:none;" onload="javascript:nRelate.loadFrame();"'); nRelate.domain = "sfbayview.com"; //]] /![cdata[/scriptp iframe height="0" id="nr_clickthrough_frame" onload="javascript:nRelate.loadFrame();" style="border-right-width: 0px; display: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" width="0"/iframe/p div class="img alignright size-full wp-image-21396" style="width: 172px" a href="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/John-Martinez.jpg"img alt="" height="257" src="http://sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/John-Martinez.jpg" width="172" //a div John Martinez/div /div p The following letter from PBSP SHU prisoner John R. Martinez is addressed to:/p p nbsp;/p p Edmund G. Brown, Governor, State Capitol, First Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814/p p Matthew Cate, Secretary, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 1515 S St., Sacramento, CA 94283-0001/p p G.D. Lewis, Warden, PBSP, P.O. Box 7000, Crescent City, CA 95532/p p Re: Petition for redress; notice of hunger strike/p p Gentlemen:/p p On July 1, 2011, I and my fellow prisoners ndash; on their own free will ndash; will be commencing a hunger strike to protest the denial of our human rights and equality via the use of perpetual solitary confinement. The Supreme Court has referred to ldquo;solitary confinementrdquo; as one of the techniques of ldquo;physical and mental torturerdquo; that have been used by governments to coerce confessions (Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227, 237-238 (1940))./p p In regards to PBSP-SHU, Judge Thelton E. Henderson stated that ldquo;many if not most, inmates in the SHU experience some degree of psychological trauma in reaction to their extreme social isolation and the severely restricted environmental stimulation in SHUrdquo; (Madrid v. Gomez, 889 F. Supp. 1146, 1235 (N.D. Cal. 1995)). Not surprisingly, Judge Henderson stated that ldquo;the conditions in the SHU may press the outer bounds of what most humans can psychologically toleraterdquo; and that sensory deprivation found in the SHU ldquo;may well hover on the edge of what is humanly tolerable for those with normal resiliencerdquo; (Madrid, 889 F. Supp. at 1267, 1280). Four years later, a Texas federal judge reviewed conditions in isolation of a Texas prison that mirrored those of PBSP-SHU. He correctly held:/p p ldquo;Before the court are levels of psychological deprivation that violate the United States Constitutionrsquo;s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. It has been shown that defendants are deliberately indifferent to a systemic pattern of extreme social isolation and reduced environmental stimulation. These deprivations are the cause of cruel and unusual pain and suffering by inmates in administrative segregation hellip;rdquo; (Ruiz v. Johnson, 37 F. Supp. 2d 855, 914-915 (S.D. Tex.1999))./p p Thus solitary confinement, by its very nature, is harmful to human beings, including prisoners,supa class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" href="#footnote_0_21395" id="identifier_0_21395" title="“Empirical research on solitary and supermax-like confinement has consistently and unequivocally documented the harmful consequences of living in these kinds of environments. “Studies undertaken over four decades corroborate such an assertion. (Craig Haney, “Mental health issues in long-term solitary and ‘supermax’ confinement” in crime and delinquency. Vol. 49, No. I, January 2003, pp. 124-156). See also, Amnesty International, Report on Torture, Penal Coercion, 1983."font color="#265372"1/font/a/sup especially for those of us prisoners whose isolation is perpetual based solely upon our status as an associate or member of a gang. In theory, our detention is supposedly for administrative ldquo;non-disciplinaryrdquo; reasons. Yet, when I asked one of the prison staff why is it we are not afforded the same privileges as those gang affiliated inmates in a Level 4 general population (GP), I was told that ldquo;according to Sacramento,rdquo; we donrsquo;t ldquo;have shit comingrdquo; and that it is the departmentrsquo;s ldquo;goal of breakingrdquo; us down. Thus, our treatment is clearly punitive, discriminatory and coercive./p p Further proof is provided by the fact that a member of a disruptive group ndash; i.e., a gang per CCR 3000 ndash; who commits a violent assault on a non-prisoner will receive three to five years in the SHU as punishment and then be released back to the GP. Ironically, we on the other hand receive way harsher treatment. We are subjected to the same disciplinary SHU conditions. Worse yet, for an indeterminate term solely for who we are or who we know. Not for violent or disruptive behavior./p p Most of us have been in isolation for over 15 and 20 years. In most cases, for simple possession of a drawing, address, greeting card and/or other form of speech and association./p h3 style="text-align: center" span style="color: #800000"ldquo;According to Sacramento,rdquo; we donrsquo;t ldquo;have shit comingrdquo; and it is the departmentrsquo;s ldquo;goal of breakingrdquo; us down. Thus, our treatment is clearly punitive, discriminatory and coercive./span/h3 p style="text-align: left" span style="color: #000000"Unfortunately, some of my fellow prisoners are not here with me today. The SHU has either driven them to suicide,supa class="footnote-link footnote-identifier-link" href="#footnote_1_21395" id="identifier_1_21395" title="As Kevin Johnson reported in USA Today: California, which has the largest state prison system in the nation, saw a total of 41 suicides in 2006; of those suicides, 69 percent were in solitary confinement. (“Inmate suicides linked to solitary,” USA Today, Dec. 27, 2006. Those numbers have increased since then."font color="#265372"2/font/a/sup /spanmental illness or becoming a Judas ndash; i.e., informer ndash; to escape these cruel conditions, which occurred after the findings in Madrid./p p style="text-align: left" An oppressed people always have the right to rise up and protest discrimination, oppression and injustice. The Martin Luther King era reminds us of that. So does the Attica prisoner uprising. Those prisoners in Attica acted out, not because they were ldquo;animals,rdquo; but because they were tired of getting treated worse than animals. There is no difference with us. The only difference is that our protest is one of non-violence. We are a civilized people that simply wish to be treated as humans and with equality. Not subjected to punitive treatment year after year, which is imposed with a desire to injure. As Justice Thurgood Marshall eloquently stated:/p p ldquo;When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality, his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment hellip; It is the role of the First Amendment hellip; to protect those precious personal rights by which we satisfy such basic yearnings of the human spiritrdquo; (Procunio v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 326, 428 (1974))./p p Wherefore, I respectfully request that our reasonable demands attached hereto be honored as soon as possible and that the bigotry and persecution against us for who we are come to an end once and for all./p p Respectfully submitted,/p p John R. Martinez/p p ldquo;Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.rdquo; ndash; Hebrews 13:3/p p cc: Family, friends and supporters/p p emSend our brother some love and light: John R. Martinez, J-S2893, PBSP SHU, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532./em/p p emnbsp;/em/p div class="mcePaste" id="_mcePaste" style="position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; top: 0px; left: -10000px" /div div class="nr_clear" nbsp;/div div class="nrelate nrelate_related nrelate_default nr_110" id="nrelate_related_1" h3 class="nr_rc_title nr_title" nbsp;/h3 /div /div

p I had only been in California for six days when I attended the protest against the release of Johannes span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Mehserle" data-scaytid="1"Mehserle/span, the BART cop that killed Oscar Grant.nbsp; I#39;d heard the story online from my friends in the Bay Area, so I knew that I wanted to be there at the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Fruitvale" data-scaytid="5"Fruitvale/span BART station to make my voice heard along with the voices of so many others from my new community.nbsp; I didn#39;t realize, however, that when Bay Area folks protest, they give it their all./p p Getting my pre-protest nap in was of primary importance.nbsp; I was still a little tired from adjusting to my new home in North Oakland, with the two-hour time change from Texas still affecting me, so I took a disco nap before heading to the Ashby BART station.nbsp; It took me about fifteen minutes to walk to the station, because I have chronic pain and I have to take it slowly.nbsp; I ended up having to wait about fifteen minutes for the train, which is good considering I come from a town with barely any public transportation at all./p p When I got to the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Fruitvale" data-scaytid="7"Fruitvale/span station, the first thing I noticed was the number of people, especially the amount of police, which I thought was really unnecessary, even for a protest in Oakland.nbsp; I looked around and noticed the diversity in the crowd---Socialists, Communists, Quakers, queer folks, anti-war peeps, punks, people from the Nation of Islam---it reminded me of the demonstrations I attended when I lived in Austin.nbsp; People were passing out fliers, in all sorts of colors, of different events and organizations./p p There were several speakers, but I really couldn#39;t hear much except for a lot of applause.nbsp; It was a little frustrating trying to make out words and phrases, and my learning disability decided to manifest itself at the most inopportune time, so I walked around for a bit./p p When it came time for the march, I found myself close to the front, because I was watching a geeky, bespectacled, radical guy in a thrift store suit.nbsp; After a few blocks of marching, I asked him how much longer the march was, and that I was from Texas, where we didn#39;t march for very long distances.nbsp; He looked at me funny and said that we had many more blocks to walk.nbsp; At that point, I realized that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="chanclas" data-scaytid="9"chanclas/span were not appropriate protest wear, no matter how popular sandals may be in Texas, and I should have left my Hello Kitty span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="mochila" data-scaytid="11"mochila/span at home---a backpack was totally unnecessary./p p We marched past span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="panaderias" data-scaytid="13"panaderias/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="taquerias" data-scaytid="15"taquerias/span, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="carnicerias" data-scaytid="17"carnicerias/span... I was reminded of Magnolia Park, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Montopolis" data-scaytid="19"Montopolis/span, and Oak Cliff back home./p p We are all--- Oscar Grant.nbsp; We are all--- Oscar Grant.nbsp; Oscar Grant--- Oscar Grant.nbsp;br / I tried not to focus on my blistering feet.nbsp; I found the marching band and my band geek self came back for a while.nbsp; Whenever I hear drums, I start to get in rhythm and pretend I am some kind of hippie drum majorette./p p Then I heard people chanting Fuck the Police and I joined the group, shouting and reflecting on how I could not express that sentiment at a protest back home without ending up in the Del Valle jail, watching Maury, eating cat food (ham salad), and drinking expired milk.nbsp; I thought of all my friends back in Texas, progressive as they may seem, and how to them, Fuck the Police is just another span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="NWA" data-scaytid="21"NWA/span song (or Rage Against the Machine, depending on the friend).nbsp; I realized that I am a lot more radical than the people I hang around, and that my time in California will forever change me.nbsp; I also thought of growing up in Texas, where cops have had a long tradition of genocide against people of color.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; I always thought that it was wrong to treat people badly just because of who they might be.nbsp; I thank my mother for enrolling me in culturally diverse schools so that I might learn a different way from her generation, though I know she wouldn#39;t approve of my being at this demonstration---she#39;s more of the write letters to the editor type./p p The closer we got to downtown, the more I resolved to make it all the way to the end without quitting.nbsp; My feet were incredibly torn up, after several suburban months of being totally unused to walking distances longer than from my partner#39;s car to our front door.br / I kept thinking of how span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Mehserle" data-scaytid="3"Mehserle/span can go on with his life, while Oscar Grant and others like him cannot, and how the system just doesn#39;t care.nbsp; I started screaming along with the others chanting, and I found my second wind, albeit briefly./p p Once we got to the BART station downtown, my disabled body couldn#39;t take it anymore.nbsp; My muscles and joints had flared up, so I needed to go home.nbsp; I entered the train station and once again noticed a large amount of cops.nbsp; They didn#39;t notice me as I took the escalator to the train platform.nbsp; I thought that if I hadn#39;t been a light-skinned person, then they might have given me shit, and about how much I hate passing oppression./p p Silence followed me like a nighttime Texas wind all the way home./p

p nbsp;(Editor#39;s note:nbsp; Gretchen span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Hildebran" data-scaytid="5"Hildebran/span is a filmmaker and alumni of POOR Magazine#39;s Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute.nbsp; Her documentaries include the internationally screened CARVE (2003), WORTH SAVING (2004), which was presented in HBOrsquo;s Frame by Frame documentary showcase and received Best of the Fest at the 2006 International Conference for Reducing Harm. OUT IN THE HEARTLAND (2005) tells the stories of gay parents in Kentucky facing a constitutional amendment banning marriage)/p p nbsp;/p p I am not from the Bronx or even from New York, but these places have loomed large in my imagination since I was 10 years old.nbsp; Traveling alone for the first time in my life, I stayed with my aunt in her tiny East Village apartment and every New York experience I had ndash; riding the subway, a visit to Bloomingdalersquo;s, held a deep magic for me.nbsp; This was back in the early span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="80s" data-scaytid="7"80s/span, when New York was still reeling from a financial crisis and a plague of fires and abandonment that had consumed huge parts of the city over the course of over a decade./p p nbsp;/p p The most visible damage happened in the South Bronx, where we did not visit.nbsp; This I remember seeing on TV, probably from President Carterrsquo;s much-photographed visit to a desolated Charlotte Street in 1977.nbsp; The images I saw on the news became icons of urban failure, and came to define the South Bronx in the public imagination - block after block of blackened buildings emptied of their windows, enormous piles of rubble, abandoned cars, and hardly any people./p p nbsp;/p p Despite the imprint of these images, I didnrsquo;t find out until I moved to Brooklyn 25 years later that yes, the South Bronx had burned down in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="1970s" data-scaytid="9"1970s/span.nbsp; Some neighborhoods lost over 80% of their housing and population.nbsp; The waves of abandonment and fires spread swept north, eventually consuming over 20 square miles of once thriving communities in the heart of New York City./p p nbsp;/p p The documentary film strongemDecade of Fire/em/strong began to take shape for me several years ago, when a friend, Julia Allen, mentioned this history to me.nbsp; I was stunned by the figures, but only began to comprehend their meaning after I began to meet people who had lived through this disaster./p p nbsp;/p p One of these people, Vivian Vazquez, grew up in the South Bronx during the lsquo;70s.nbsp; She shared stories with me about the vibrant Puerto Rican and African American, not to mention Irish and Jewish communities that existed there before the fires.nbsp; But by the time she was 18, her neighborhood was nearly destroyed. To her, the legacy of the fires was not just buildings lost and neighbors disappearing, but more a residual feeling of abandonment, a sense that the city purposefully turned its back as the community was destroyed.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p Over the next several years the three of us became co-producers.nbsp; We read up, and talked to current and former residents, defining the outlines of a story about the South Bronx that had yet to be told.nbsp; Vivian returned to her neighborhood looking for answers: Why were there so many fires, for so long?nbsp; And why was so little done stop them? And what happened to the people who were left behind?/p p nbsp;/p p Our research turned up a history of migration, de-industrialization, and racially biased development policies that had shaped span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="1"U.S/span. cities throughout the 20th century. The common practice of grading neighborhoods based on racial composition was first institutionalized in 1937, in urban maps produced by the Home Ownerrsquo;s Loan Corporation for FDRrsquo;s New Deal.nbsp; These maps were funded by the Federal Housing Act of 1934, which explicitly stated that ldquo;inharmonious racial and nationality groupsrdquo; would disqualify entire blocks and neighborhoods from investment./p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p The worst grades on the maps were reserved for any area populated by African-Americans or other people of color. These grades were widely used by real estate agents, banks and federal agencies to exclude certain people and neighborhoods from being considered for home and renovation loans ndash; also known as redlining.nbsp; In decades to come, redlining worked hand in hand with Urban Renewal and suburbanization to separate people by race and class.nbsp; While masses of middle class people followed incentives to Long Island and New Jersey, at least a hundred thousand low-income people of color were relocated from targeted areas in Manhattan into the South Bronx.nbsp; The modern ghetto was born, and the fires came soon after./p p nbsp;/p p Although they arrived only after decades of segregation, redlining and Urban Renewal, the fires were immediately blamed on the pathologies of ghetto residents. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then Nixonrsquo;s advisor on urban affairs, popularized this claim and suggested that government adopt an attitude ldquo;benign neglectrdquo; towards unruly communities of color.nbsp; Over the next decade, as the fires raged on, New York cut fire service in the Bronx down to the bone./p p nbsp;/p p By 1977 much of the South Bronx had burned away, and city leaders like Housing Commissioner Roger Starr were proposing that the city perform ldquo;triagerdquo; and level what was left, including dislocating the 100,000 survivors who had remained behind.nbsp; Starr called this ldquo;planned shrinkage,rdquo; a term that is today being touted as the solution to urban malaise in places like Detroit.nbsp; The term sounds controlled, technical, but masks the brutal history that has set up only certain neighborhoods and residents ndash; the poor and people of color ndash; as extraneous and expendable.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p Irsquo;ve heard that New York has a fiscal crisis every 30 years, and if so we are right on schedule.nbsp; While the Bronx has been spared the worst of Bloombergrsquo;s proposed 2011 cuts to fire service, some of the poorest parts of Brooklyn will see their fire protection on the chopping block in the next year./p p nbsp;/p p Today the South Bronx has come back, rebuilt on sweat equity, and the love and desperation of residents who fought to keep it alive. Alongside the history of the fires, there are stories of the places and cultures that sustained the lives and even flourished (hip hop, for one).nbsp; But it is still once of the poorest areas of the country. Many people have said they feel its harder to survive in the Bronx today than in the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="1970s" data-scaytid="11"1970s/span, because the community isnrsquo;t there to help sustain those in need.nbsp; As Vivian says in the film, ldquo;The people who survive these policies of neglect, we survive.nbsp; People survive, people cope.nbsp; But at the same time, it came a huge span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="cost.”" data-scaytid="3"cost.rdquo;/span/p p nbsp;/p p Through this film, we aim to bring national and international attention to the forgotten histories of the South Bronx, and to spark local dialogues about the market-driven urban policies that perpetuate cycles of destruction and displacement.nbsp; This film seeks to document the human cost of these policies, and to celebrate the people who survived and transformed the ruins of the Bronx/p p nbsp;/p p/p

p iEditors Note: POOR Magazine/span data-scayt_word="Prensa" data-scaytid="1"Prensa/span span data-scayt_word="POBRE" data-scaytid="2"POBRE/span marched with HOMES NOT JAILS, WRAP and Community on July 4th to Liberate just one of over 30,000 abandoned properties in San Francisco, aka span data-scayt_word="GentriFUKation" data-scaytid="3"GentriFUKation/span City... This poem, one of many shared that day, was spit at the start of the March at Delores Park with the Po#39; Poets Project of POOR Magazine/i/p p nbsp;/p p (Image courtesy of Will Steel for span data-scayt_word="PNN" data-scaytid="4"PNN/span- Video Courtesy of Carol Harvey)/p p strongThe Lie of Independence - a Poem in honor of the Housing Liberation Action by Homes No Jails/strong/p p strongBy Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, Daughter of Dee/strong/p p So let me get it straightbr / We are span data-scayt_word="inde-WHAT" data-scaytid="6"inde-WHAT/span today?/p p Well, listen Upbr / I need to tell youbr / span data-scayt_word="Wut" data-scaytid="7"Wut/span the F@@#K?!/p p lied to,br / span data-scayt_word="kkkolinized" data-scaytid="8"kkkolinized/span,br / Taken Awaybr clear="all" /br / br / Poverty Pimped,br / System Pimpedbr / Every Day inbr / span data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="9"Amerikkka/span/p p As a span data-scayt_word="Carribean" data-scaytid="10"Carribean/span Indianbr / Columbus Victimbr / I span data-scayt_word="wasnt" data-scaytid="11"wasnt/span even supposed to be Alivebr / Today/p p The Lie began with something calledbr / Discoverybr / Hitting span data-scayt_word="Ohlone" data-scaytid="12"Ohlone/span Indigenous Peoples in the Bay/p p Perpetrated by Murderers calledbr / Missionaries who used our revolutionary brother known as Jesus#39;br / name in Vain/p p To destroy, Steal, Disrespect in Every Waybr / The Peoples Whose Land this is since Way back in the Daybr / Stolen through so many missionary span data-scayt_word="kkkrimes" data-scaytid="13"kkkrimes/span they should have been calledbr / Murderous Raids, instead of churches, schools and God#39;s Way/p p So Let ME get it Straight - span data-scayt_word="InDe" data-scaytid="14"InDe/span- WHAT TODAY?br / I say span data-scayt_word="WHAt" data-scaytid="15"WHAt/span the F@@#K!/p p Care Not Cash, Sit-Lie LIES, Evictions Foreclosures,br / Plantation Prisons, Real Estate Snakes and So Many False Borders,br / Poison Land, Poison Food,nbsp; Pharmaceutical Murder/p p New Pimps Standing on Old Pimpsbr / So Pimped we span data-scayt_word="dont" data-scaytid="16"dont/span know Which Way is Up o Downbr / So Whose the Illegal, the Criminal and the Real Gangster in Town?/p p The first thing is for us to seebr / through the lie of Independencebr / The Fake notion of Angstbr / The Lie of separateness and alonenessbr / with only the Man to thank/p p so operate with conscious - move in changebr / honor, love and listen to your parents, elders and ancestorsbr / turn off the TV and the video gamesbr / Stop paying the rent-br / Cross ALL the span data-scayt_word="fake-azz" data-scaytid="18"fake-azz/span bordersbr / with impunitybr / Storm all the plantation Prisons/p p TAKE BACK the LANDbr / and span data-scayt_word="dont" data-scaytid="17"dont/span just squat the land - Squat the MAN!/p p Don#39;t EVER CALL the span data-scayt_word="Po'LICE" data-scaytid="19"Po#39;LICE/spanbr / honor Creator and span data-scayt_word="Pachamama's" data-scaytid="20"Pachamama#39;s/span giftsbr / So we can truly span data-scayt_word="Realiza" data-scaytid="21"Realiza/spanbr / Inter-dependence/p