Story Archives 2011

p You could cut the hate with a knife. All eyes were on my fumbling fingers, unable to sign my WIC coupons fast enough with one hand while holding my 13-month-old son with the other. Somebody#39;s using welfare checks to pay for their food, A 20 something man in a polo shirt shouted into his phone next to me./p p I spend so many days like this while trying to shop as a poor mama, its hard to even think about them.nbsp;The life of a poor parent in the span data-scayt_word="U.S" data-scaytid="1"U.S/span. is always a scarcity model rollercoaster ride of hate, system abuse, subsistence crumbs and span data-scayt_word="criminalization" data-scaytid="2"criminalization/span, best exemplified in the supermarket experience where the so-called paying customers suffer through the bother of waiting for poor parents to pay with our WIC coupons, working poor mamas to pay with payroll checks or indigenous elders to count out their multiple coupons./p p I began to reflect on this when I heard about the new fresh and Easy Markets opening in the span data-scayt_word="Bayview-Hunters" data-scaytid="3"Bayview-Hunters/span Point, the Mission and the Portola district. It#39;s a new supermarket chain from England that by policy doesn#39;t accept WIC coupons./p p WIC mdash; the federal Women, Infants and Children#39;s program, is not welfare, but rather a supplemental program that allows low-income parents to get milk, grains, cereal and other basic foodstuffs. It#39;s a program used by many working poor as well as mamas on government crumbs so we can feed our children a balanced diet./p p The span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="4"Bayview/span, Mission, and Portola neighborhoods are peopled with a lot of multi-generational, multi-lingual mamas, and families in poverty like mine, who need access to affordable fruits and vegetables and non-hormone-filled meat like Fresh and Easy has, but are these stores really being built for us?/p p Like so much of San Francisco and the whole Bay Area, these communities are under attack from redevelopment and gentrification efforts. Removal and evictions of poor families and elders happen everyday in the city to make way for the corporate veneer of Lennar and John Stewart properties, condominiums, lofts and the rich young people who they are built for./p p So who is Fresh and Easy for? They don#39;t take coupons, personal checks or WIC mdash; and like their Whole Paycheck counterparts, they don#39;t hire union employees, or ultimately many employees at all, as they have the new self-pay check-out stands./p p Fresh and Easy claims it doesn#39;t except the manufacturers#39; coupons for the same reasons it doesn#39;t accept paper personal checks, span data-scayt_word="W.I.C" data-scaytid="5"W.I.C/span. vouchers, or cash payroll checks: That elimination of manual paper processing, combined with its self-service checkout system, saves money./p p Pressured by community members who protested outside the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="6"Bayview/span store on its opening day, Fresh and Easy CEO Tim Mason now claims that Fresh and Easy in the span data-scayt_word="Bayview" data-scaytid="7"Bayview/span will eventually begin taking WIC./p p As this poor mama tries to move out from under the lie of criminalized government crumbs and the non-existent, bootstraps centered, corporate underwritten American dream, I have come to realize our collective, self-determined liberation begins with growing our own food in our poor neighborhoods with people-led community gardens, taking back stolen indigenous land and resources with organized poor people led/indigenous people-led efforts and whenever we have the energy, after all the other things we have to do to survive in this capitalist society fighting the exclusion and removal efforts of us by the smooth talking corporations who don#39;t see us as part of their grand profit-making plans./p

pBrother Troy Davis. Brother, son, comrade—child of God—part of the river of struggle that flows in every corner of the earth; from the arid deserts to the coldest heights and everywhere in between. /p pBrother Troy, killed by the state—the state of mind, intertwined with pillars filled with the mortar of hatred and injustice. Brother Troy, whose breath was our breath, whose struggle was our struggle, whose name lingers in the heavy Georgia air, thick with the putrescence of white supremacy; of Billie Holiday cries of strange fruit. Brother Troy, your life belonged to God, the elders, the community. Who were they to take away your life? /p pWho were they who came to this land in 1492—religious and international social workers—who came to do us a world of good. They wrote about us in their journals, about our gentleness and how we would be ideal servants and slaves. Who were they to assume the role of God on earth and kill us indiscriminately—for pleasure and perceived vengeance—while raping our lands and our women? Who gives them the authority over our bodies? /p pBrother Troy proclaimed his innocence--witnesses recanted statements and procedural malfeasance on the part of the police was cited--casting sufficient doubt on the guilt of Troy Davis in the killing of an off-duty police officer. I am not celebrating anyone’s death. For the loved ones, the hurt can never go away. /p pFor them, there is no clarity, no moving on. But why is it that when a cop is killed, the outpouring of sympathy is expected with unquestioned allegiance wrapped in patriotism, with the calls for accountability of the perpetrator. However, when a brother like Oscar Grant gets killed, there isn’t an ounce of remorse, sympathy—much less an apology—from law enforcement—the cops, or from those communities that embrace law enforcement with unconditional patriotic support—where anthems are hummed but accountability is stalled, and justice murdered? /p pThose of us from communities where people are viewed--not as human--but as criminals, or even animals, know well the role of the police. Those agents of the wealthy shot at us—workers—when we tried to organize ourselves against the impunity of the rich, in forming unions and forging bonds with people in struggle. They shot at civil rights workers, students and those protesting various wars who said, enough. They are not our friends, never have been. /p pHoward Zinn wrote, “If the world is destroyed, it will be a white collar crime, done in a business-like way, by large numbers of individuals involved in a chain of actions, each one having a touch of innocence”. The denying of the stay of execution of Troy Davis makes the highest court in the land complicit in his murder. Two justices, Scalia and Thomas, articulated the institutional injustice of the court, indicating the prevailing attitude that “The US constitution does not prohibit the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a court that he is actually innocent”. In other words, it does not matter if you’re innocent, as long as you had a trial./p pBrother Troy, you lift our spirits as we climb towards justice, towards taking back our histories, our lives; towards reclaiming the land and the vision of community that was stripped from us a long time ago. We stand in unity with your spirit, the spirit of Idress Stelley and others killed by the injustice system, our brothers in Pelican Bay and in all prisons, migrant people, elders, youth in struggle locally and globally. Peace. /p

p (photo credit: span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Tiburcio" data-scaytid="1"Tiburcio/span Garcia-Gray)/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" We were all standing there in line at the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="po'lice" data-scaytid="3"po#39;lice/spannbsp;station in different states of hegemony ndash; some of us bought in to the lie of security and span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="po’lice" data-scaytid="9"porsquo;lice/span, believing we had ldquo;done wrongrdquo; or span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“f-ed" data-scaytid="11"ldquo;f-ed/span uprdquo; and some of us not. It was Wednesday, September 21supst/sup, the day of the state sponsored murder of Troy Anthony Davis and there werenbsp; easily 210 of us standing in a line snaking out of the building. We were in the Cop span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="sto’" data-scaytid="13"storsquo;/span the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Po’Lice" data-scaytid="15"Porsquo;Lice/span Bank, the building known simply as ldquo;850 Bryantrdquo;. Uniforms rushed past us with relaxed authority. This was their place, we were just waiting in it.nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" For traffic tickets to felonyrsquo;s this is your building, this is your nightmare. In the last six months since budget cuts have cut deeper wounds in societies collective flesh, yet more cops roam the streets issuing more tickets, the line for traffic tickets outside room 145 at 850 Bryantnbsp; has begun to expand like a python ready to strike, like an un-checked levy after a storm. The people are piling up and the workers to help them diminishing./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" I was there standing in that line. I was rocking my hand-made, life-size, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="“Yo" data-scaytid="17"ldquo;Yo/span Soy Troy Davis hellip; I am Troy Davis shirt/body patch. It was 11:00 am and I was tweeting, calling, petition signing, and calling again. And then I remembered, I had a voice, maybe thatrsquo;s all I had, but I had a voice and I could speak up andnbsp; then..../p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" Excuse me, can i get everyone#39;s attention..... I waited until the halls were clear of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="po'lice" data-scaytid="5"po#39;lice/span and the only sound you heard was thenbsp; silent tapping of fingernails to touch screens and then I did it. I stepped outside of excepted norms of behavior. All those unseen, unsaid demands on speech and when is ok to speak up, They are about to execute an innocent man in Georgia in less than 5 hours, and you all can do something about it, right now, from right here... I went on to explain a little background about the case of brother Troy and fact that 7 out of 9 witnesses recanted their testimonies, how so many people, including several span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="politricksters" data-scaytid="19"politricksters/span in power have stood up to say this is wrong./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" I have the number on my phone that you all can call, i have the link to the petition that you can sign, please consider it, we aren#39;t doing anything else for at least the next hour, right? nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" And then it was over. I finished speaking and people looked away. They continued ticking on their meta-keyboards, and looking at their nails, and reading their papers, and looking at their feet. And it was if i have never said anything. Or was it?/p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" My brother, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muteado" data-scaytid="21"Muteado/span span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Silencio" data-scaytid="23"Silencio/span, in our POOR Magazine family of poverty scholars and reporters told me he did a similar thing on the evening of the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="SCOMM" data-scaytid="25"SCOMM/span threat of deportation his family had just had to deal with in Oakland./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" I looked around, it was a crowded BART train and no one was saying anything or doing anything. We were all just standing there. I knew no-one else would say anything so i decided to speak up, I busted out with my poem about the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="criminalization" data-scaytid="27"criminalization/span of immigrants,/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" He said that when he was finished with the piece,nbsp; no-one said anything, but the air was heavy with his words./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" As i write this piece my heart is heavy with the deep loss of a powerful spirit like brother Troy Anthony Davis. I gaze at his humble image, now a part of our POOR Magazine altar for all fallen victims of span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="po'lice" data-scaytid="7"po#39;lice/span terror, plantation systems, racism and poverty and i cry./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" Wenbsp; grieved yesterday and held a inter-tribal prayer ceremony in POOR#39;s family, holding the grief of all our lost and stolen brothers and sisters. We didn#39;t move on. We did no work./p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" Some organizers and conscious folks talk about moving on and doing the work. But wenbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" as indigenous peoples from many nations at POOR Magazine, will not move on, we will hold this grief in our collective hearts and souls and act daily to re-port and sup-port on not only the movements of change but the movements of no change.nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 15px; font: 12px times new roman" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font: 12px times new roman" We will continue to speak up in places we are not supposed to about things we are not supposed to even mention and we will make art and cultural work about things and people that never get art made about them and we will work daily to make sure that all silenced, removed, deported, lynched, incarcerated, criminalized, harassed and abused peoples are heard and loved and remembered and we hope you all do the same. even when its uncomfortable for you to do so./p

p strongHipsters Desecrating an Altar/strong/p p nbsp;We began walking with span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Ayat" data-scaytid="1"Ayat/span, Ram, and I heading to Clarion alley a narrow street or alley surrounded by murals, graffiti, art, debris everything you can imagine in an alley, we were heading to the site that has POOR Magazine mural, a mural created by POOR Magazine Family multi-generational, multi-Ethnicity, multi-culture, and mural that speaks about the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="GentrufuKation" data-scaytid="3"GentrufuKation/span, the displacement of poor, span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="migrante" data-scaytid="5"migrante/span and ldquo;minoritiesrdquo; out of the Mission. The mural also speaks out of the resistance that people are living and are fighting in the Mission day by day./p p nbsp;One our span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Sheroes" data-scaytid="7"Sheroes/span in the POOR magazine mural is Super baby mama she is a poet, writer, mother and she is on welfare, her words are her weapons, her voice is her power, she shatters stereotypes while protecting poor mothers and children everywhere. Her unborn child can detect police harassment at anytime from anywhere and she signals her mother. Super baby mama crushes the batons, guns and squad cars of the unjust law officers within 10 seconds.nbsp; El Mosquito is our span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="polylingual" data-scaytid="9"polylingual/span, multi-racial Superhero who speaks more than 2000 indigenous languages who are no longer spoken and he is a panhandler by day and fightrsquo;s for poor people justice by night./p p nbsp;Is privilege for Poor and oppress peoples to make and create art and be exposed, we are proud of the POOR magazine mural that was created by our family and community members./p p nbsp;As we talk of the mural we notice a group of ldquo;Hipstersrdquo; arriving from the other end of the clarion alley bumping disco music and looking as usual, nbsp;we didnrsquo;t care so we went back into talking about the mural and the message of it, we also admire a beautiful altar that someone had created, from flowers, posters, rare stones, and boxes that seems contain something inside, it was a beautiful Altar. As the nbsp;sun went down we decide to leave, as we pass by the hipsters we had no choice to walk around them to get by, as we pass them you can feel the negative energy they were given us, almost like ldquo;get out, you donrsquo;t belong hererdquo; but we kept quite and walk on. As we got to Mission and 16supth/supI realize I left my plastic bag containing my hot span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Cheetos" data-scaytid="11"Cheetos/span and Orange span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Jarrito" data-scaytid="13"Jarrito/span so I told nbsp;Ram to nbsp;wait for me while I went back to get my munchies./p p nbsp;As I was getting back I notice that two of the hipsters were close to the Altar and POOR magazine mural, as got closer I realize nbsp;what was happening, the hipsters were desecrating the Altar, dumping the small wooden boxes that seems they containing personal things and taking some of the posters with them and destroying the Altar I stood and watch as they continue to disrespect the altar, I wanted to say something but it was seven of them and I was by myself, one the hipsters notice that I was just there watching, he got up from sitting in the curb and start stretching like he was getting ready to fight, I watch until they finish disrespecting the altar./p p nbsp;I was sad and mad at the same time, and could not understand what I had witness, I told friends about the incident and my anger turn into sadness after realizing that those young man, they were product of the environment they were raise without respect, manners, without any culture, without knowing about their ancestors, just like span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="15"Amerikkka/span was born. As I think more deeply of the ancestors of these young man ornbsp; ldquo;founding fathersrdquo; as they are know who were a bunch thieves, who rape and murder nbsp;who stole land and use slaves to build span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Amerikkka" data-scaytid="17"Amerikkka/span .I am not surprised how even their ancestors were weird in dressing too, wearing fake wigs and the weird clothes they wear, to show their ignorance./p p ldquo;They say that apples donrsquo;t fall far away from the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="tree.”" data-scaytid="19"tree.rdquo;/span/p p nbsp;Is sad to see the arrogance on these group of folks all over Valencia street, creating span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="GentriFukation" data-scaytid="21"GentriFukation/span and almost feels like they are entitle to do it../p p nbsp;I hope each of those creatures who disrespected the Altar get what they deserve and that our ancestors make justice./p p ldquo;You span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="gotta" data-scaytid="23"gotta/span Give respect, to get respectrdquo;nbsp;/p

p Our politicians are either stupid or lazy, because they donrsquo;t look at the bigger issues and are only concerned about monetary span data-scayt_word="profit.”" data-scaytid="1"profit.rdquo;/span Alberto span data-scayt_word="Saldamando" data-scaytid="2"Saldamando/span, representative from the International Indian Treaty Council, gave me this simple revelation concerning the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.nbsp;/p p What concerns me is the fact that it could affect the reservations that surround the proposed pipeline. Tens of thousands of people below poverty level could get sick and die or get hurt or killed in an explosion or rupture. Trans Canada Pipelines Corporation clearly already have pipeline laid down to Cushing OK, where major refining plants are located, and hence they already go around the areas where major poverty levels are at./p p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;" President Barack Obama, self-proclaimed leader in clean energy revision, has planned to accept all parties undertaking this project that could lay waste to sensitive ecosystems, up the price of gas because of such dirty oil needs to be refined even further due to different compounds that make up the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada. But most of all that matters to me, with this controversial topic, is where they want to build it as well as the environmental issues/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanUpon reviewing a map of the proposed pipeline, it shows the original Keystone Pipeline as it heads south from span data-scayt_word="Hardisty" data-scaytid="3"Hardisty/span, then it makes itrsquo;s way to Winnipeg. Which is east from span data-scayt_word="Hardisty" data-scaytid="4"Hardisty/span. From there all the way down to Steele City KA, then breaking off from there to span data-scayt_word="Patoka" data-scaytid="5"Patoka/span and Wood River IL.,/p p class="MsoNormal" Instead of going east to Winnipeg, they decided it must go south to Baker MO., already several issues come to mind. Including a way to put the pipeline inside of the Rocky Mountains, also along with that comes the issue of the strength and durability of the pipeline as well as a way to keep it from leaking or corroding. I believe we may have another BP situation on our hands here. What happens when there is a spill of BPrsquo;s proportion on land? Do the politicians think of that? Just last Monday September 20, a major oil rig exploded and not a single word was said about it, witness Maria Slay told the span data-scayt_word="Oklahoman" data-scaytid="6"Oklahoman/span that she heard four or five explosions and said workers are at the drilling rig around the clock. No injuries were so called reported. Letrsquo;s say that happened near the reservations. That would be a cataclysmic event that would affect a lot of indigenous people of the reservations. Another issue is the compounds that make up the tar sands of Alberta, Canada./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanBituminous sands, colloquially known as oil sands or tar sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse span data-scayt_word="gases" data-scaytid="7"gases/span per barrel of final product as the production of conventional oil./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanHeavy metals such as vanadium, nickel, lead, cobalt, mercury, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, selenium, copper, manganese, iron and zinc are present in oil sands, which make the oil sands extremely hard to pump and refine, which is why many people call the bituminous sands ldquo;dirty oilrdquo;.span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanAnother issue I just stumbled upon is the lies that were told to us. I recently heard from a colleague of mine, whorsquo;s name I will not release due to the relative nature ofspan style=""nbsp; /spanthis article, informed me that Trans Canada Corporation is not selling the oil to the United States but instead they are only renting the land from the United States to sell oil to South America. When I heard this, two things came to mind, jobs and money./p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanIf this is true, Americans near and around the extended pipeline would be the most in danger, including those peoples on the reservations. What if nothing happened, oil production is moving forward in the process and oil is being sold. Greenhouse gasses would be the major problem. Many people in the Midwest have breathing problems due to so much drought.span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /span/p p class="MsoNormal" span style=""nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; /spanThe only money the United States would be getting is from Trans Canada Pipelines for renting the land, and the only jobs created by this would be for the oil rigs that are already in place and have workers. Not a single man or woman would be able to build the actual pipeline even if they had the experience. I canrsquo;t say for sure if anything will happen, but what I have the right to say is that this proposed pipeline will only bring more issues to come instead of solutions./p

p nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Tahoma; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 1) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="1"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="2"KHN/span)nbsp;Where are you from tell us about the Hip-Hop SCENE there./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="3"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spannbsp;isnbsp;Malaga, anbsp;city in southernnbsp;Spain,nbsp;but I live innbsp;Madrid/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 2) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="4"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="5"KHN/span)nbsp;Tell us more about the song, nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="6"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:nbsp;/b /spanThenbsp;song talks aboutnbsp;overcomingnbsp;strugglenbsp;belongs tonbsp;Jake#39;s new albumnbsp;where she worksnbsp;andnbsp;T-Sonnbsp;span data-scayt_word="Juako" data-scaytid="7"Juako/span./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 3) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="8"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="9"KHN/span)nbsp;Being disabled Hip-Hop artist what is the hardest thing for you?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="10"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanIn Spainnbsp;itnbsp;isnbsp;harder tonbsp;be seen,nbsp;no onenbsp;opts for anbsp;disabled person./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 4) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="11"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="12"KHN/span)nbsp;What is your future goals/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="13"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanMynbsp;goal is tonbsp;get mynbsp;CD,nbsp;because fornbsp;various reasonsnbsp;I had to leavenbsp;the span data-scayt_word="labelbecause" data-scaytid="14"labelbecause/spannbsp;itnbsp;did not meet established in the contract,nbsp;and decided tonbsp;start from scratch./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 5) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="15"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="17"KHN/span) What do you think about span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="16"Krip-Hop/span Nation?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="18"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanI like knowing thatnbsp;we are many andnbsp;above all thatnbsp;we cannbsp;unite andnbsp;show the worldnbsp;what we do./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 6) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="19"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="20"KHN/span) Do you know any other disabled musicians in your country?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="21"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanYes, butnbsp;many peoplenbsp;feel verynbsp;badnbsp;reputationnbsp;... we havenbsp;spokennbsp;a thousand times,nbsp;but since winningnbsp;annbsp;MTV Europenbsp;Award/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" forgetnbsp;all the friendship./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 7) span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="22"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="23"KHN/span)nbsp;How did you get into Hip-Hop?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="24"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanI startednbsp;with albums likenbsp;The Predatornbsp;by Icenbsp;Cube,nbsp;span data-scayt_word="NWA" data-scaytid="25"NWA/spannbsp;then,nbsp;and started lookingnbsp;in my language, I foundnbsp;a groupnbsp;(span data-scayt_word="CPV" data-scaytid="26"CPV/spannbsp;violentnbsp;Poets)/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" I decidednbsp;that Inbsp;could do that,nbsp;tell a little ofnbsp;me ... andnbsp;so I startednbsp;...nbsp;in 1994/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Arial; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 8) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="27"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="28"KHN/span) How do people react to your performance?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="29"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/b /spanInnbsp;concert, I gotnbsp;to dancenbsp;tonbsp;4 000nbsp;people, Inbsp;playednbsp;with greats such asnbsp;span data-scayt_word="Jeru" data-scaytid="30"Jeru/spannbsp;The span data-scayt_word="Damaja" data-scaytid="31"Damaja/spannbsp;ornbsp;span data-scayt_word="Masta" data-scaytid="32"Masta/spannbsp;Ace People alwaysnbsp;enjoy anbsp;show./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 9) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="33"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="34"KHN/span) What can we learn from your music?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="35"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanIn my musicnbsp;there is struggle,nbsp;and farnbsp;exceedednbsp;message.nbsp;Althoughnbsp;you span data-scayt_word="canfind" data-scaytid="36"canfind/spannbsp;songs withnbsp;great force/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" and muchnbsp;hesitation/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 10) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="37"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="38"KHN/span) How can readers contact you?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Tahoma; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="39"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanTonbsp;contact menbsp;has 2nbsp;media,nbsp;and on mynbsp;websitenbsp;a href="mailto:jakecrudo@gmail.com"span style="text-decoration: underline ; color: #234786"span data-scayt_word="jakecrudo@gmail.com" data-scaytid="40"jakecrudo@gmail.com/span/span/a/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #234786; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="text-decoration: underline"a href="http://www.lahainepro.tk/"span data-scayt_word="www.lahainepro.tk" data-scaytid="41"www.lahainepro.tk/span/a/span/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5; min-height: 18.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma" 11) nbsp;span data-scayt_word="Krip-Hop" data-scaytid="42"Krip-Hop/span Nation (span data-scayt_word="KHN" data-scaytid="43"KHN/span) Any last words?/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Tahoma; min-height: 17.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Arial; color: #333233; background-color: #f5f5f5" span style="font: 14.0px Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent"bBenjamin span data-scayt_word="Villalobos" data-scaytid="44"Villalobos/span Gonzalez AKA JAKE:/bnbsp; /spanThank you fornbsp;these lines and excusenbsp;my limit English.nbsp;Andnbsp;soon mynbsp;CD will be onlinenbsp;for free downloadnbsp;on my website./p

p I am a low-income, African-American mother of four. I have worked all my life.nbsp; 1 year ago after the all the rich people working downtown as bankers and investors were paid 7 billion dollars, my landlord was foreclosed on. I have never owned a house and probably never will, because i will never have that kind of money or credit. But i have rented a rent-controlled apartment which i was evicted out of because of the foreclosure./p p Now i am homeless with my children./p p When my sister Tiny (span data-scayt_word="PNN" data-scaytid="1"PNN/span co-editor)nbsp; called me to ask me how I felt about the the Wall Street protests, I said. oh yea!!! that#39;s what I#39;m talking about. Finally some people speaking up to these legalized gangsters and bank pimps./p p Sadly, i can#39;t go to the protests. I don#39;t have the time. I am too busy working two jobs just to save money to try to move out of the shelter we are in to hopefully somewhere safe for me and my kids./p p But those folks are speaking for me and all poor peoples who don#39;t even know if we can pay for the rising cost of food much-less dream of getting a loan or a mortgage from these terrible corporate thieves./p p Tiny thinks that someday Capitalism will end and span data-scayt_word="po" data-scaytid="2"po/span mamas like me and her and all of the never thought about people will have the chance to take care of ourselves and our children and our land./p p I hope so. But right now i walk around my cleaning job with a smile on my face as i empty the trash of rich white people in a luxury hotel i work for. Someday, i dream, maybe these people will finally understand the struggle i have seen and maybe someday the poor people can run Wall Street./p p emMaria Lourdes is a poverty and mama span data-scayt_word="skolar" data-scaytid="3"skolar/span and span data-scayt_word="PoorNewsNetwork" data-scaytid="4"PoorNewsNetwork/span New York Correspondent/em/p

p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p (Editor#39;s Note: Dennis Gary is a student innbsp;mynbsp;memoir writing class, a collaboration between POOR Magazine and Senior Action Network.nbsp; Born in Chicago, he has lived in Bozeman, MT, Klamath Falls, OR and in Sacramento. He has lived in San Francisco since 1975.nbsp; He shares his experiences and poetic vision with his fellow students at Senior Action Network.nbsp; We will be featuring writing from studentsnbsp;in thenbsp;coming weeks.nbsp; For more information on Senior Action Network and its programs, go tonbsp;a href="http://www.sfsan.org"www.sfsan.org/a--Tony Robles, Co-editor, POOR Magazine and Memoir Writing instructor, Senior Action Network)/p p nbsp;/p p strongDark Streets/strong/p p For I have walked along dark streets,/p p And I have known peace and safety./p p I have walked through vast canyons of concrete,/p p And known the courtesy of a nod and the comfort of a smile,/p p When a twenty changes hands and we lie together doing close, intimate things./p p I have walked along dark streets,/p p Through vast canyons of concrete,/p p And known the excitement of a moment/p p And the happiness of an hour./p

pPresently in S.F., there are 30 thousand abandoned units of housing. From this amount, we only need ten thousand to house all the homeless in San Francisco County.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;/p p At 5:00 pm, on October 10th, Homes Not Jails are conducting a walking tour of these abandoned units that can be used to house families, elders and the down-trodden citizens who we call ournbsp; homeless population. This tour will verify, and bring to light, one-tenth of these, which cover a one mile radius.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;/p p Come out October tenth to the Civic Center Plaza at 5:00pm. Some of these units will be made available for your occupation upon inspection.br / nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;/p p To you capitalists out there who say this will be a burden to you, It will not. This will give 3 million dollars back to the city of San Francisco, to be used for the growing list of needs being denied, due to the current lack of funding./p

p nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" I wrote this poem in 2002 now its 2011 and I still cry out Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 24.0px Times" bBrown Broken Bodies/b/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but Irsquo;m not Paul Robeson/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" surrounded by Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brutality Bullets paints Blue on Brown skinnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Bruises oozingnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brothers canrsquo;t run anymore/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Bones snap by the swing of Batons/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Four wheels equals wheelchairs/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Broken Bodies are one thing/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but Brown Broken souls are deadly/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" No rehabilitationnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" now he is weak physically and mentally/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Manhood has disappeared/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Heads hang down low/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" He is still youngnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but he feels looks old/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" holding Brown Broken Bodies on my Back/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" while Broken souls fills up my heart/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" giving me a heart attack/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Wheelchairs, crutches, canes and schizophrenic minds/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" ex soldiers now are ex residentsnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" living on the outskirts of their communities/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Picking up faces from the ground/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but for what!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to see more oppression/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to hear racist comments/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to feel systemic blows/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to stare down the burl of a gun held by a black blue uniform/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to beg for spare charge/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Mother nature looks better than manrsquo;s societynbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" with books entitlednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Why We Canrsquo;t Wait Here I Stand/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but even on span data-scayt_word="MLK’s" data-scaytid="1"MLKrsquo;s/span and Malcolm Xrsquo;s B. day/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Bodies are being abusednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Going back in time so where is Harriet Tubman/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" cause wersquo;ve dug up Masta and now hersquo;s in the White House again/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Both George Washington George Bush are a lot in common/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Finishing the King Alfred Plannbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" James Byrdrsquo;s Broken Body didnrsquo;t create domestic war/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" But Broken Bodies in New York and Washington are being usednbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" to send more bodies into battle/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" creating more Broken Bodies and mindsnbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Here I stand!/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" shouting on an isolated island nbsp; nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" sending out an S.O.S. to the motherland/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Marcus Garvey I want to go home/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Even in Africa Brothers Bodies are Broken/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" A disabled world nation/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" and Irsquo;m their spokesman/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but the world wonrsquo;t give a mike/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" so I write with my brotherrsquo;s blood/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" They speak to me when it is quite at night/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" My book is a flood/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" of their wants, needs, anger and talents/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Brown Broken Bodies might be scattered all over the world/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" but their thought patterns are unified/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" fornbsp; a seamiest to sew together/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" creating a warm blanket, cradling and nursingnbsp; newborns/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" and covering cold Brown Broken Bodies/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" Leroy F. Moore Jr./p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'" 5\02/p p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 16.0px" 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;/p