Story Archives 2012

 

 

Day 2 of Healing the Hoods Weekend @ Homefulness opening ceremony included from above image Yoruba Chief Luisah Teish and in below image from left: Luta Candelaria, Corrina Gould, Luis J. Rodriguez, Tiny, aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, Mari Villaluna and Jose Cuellar. Photo Credit: Carina Lomeli/PNN

 

I am unable to find enough praise words that come from the deepest parts of my heart and soul in the one colonizer language i have been taught to express the gratitude i feel for the 2 day, cross-bay Healing the Hood weekend that happened this weekend, July 7th and 8th.So i will try to show u pieces of it.

"Our medicine is in us, it is with us in our minds and souls and barrios," said author and community healer Luis J, Rodriguez, to a crowd of at least 45 people who attended his morning healing circle on Day 1 in San Francisco. He told the group about his own experiences as a son, a father and a man of color, an indigenous man who is son of another indigenous man who seemed, as he put it, "to never show any emotion because it was so buried under so many layers of loss and struggle and codes of what men are supposed to be like". Luis sat with us, healed with us and spoke to us on both sides of the bay about his experience not only healing himself, but helping to bring the medicine of healing to other youth, adults and elders in struggle, in prisons, community centers, skools and organizations like POOR Magazine. He shared poetry, his writing and his soul with so many of us still living in plantation housing known as Single Room Occupancy Hotels (SRO's) projects and the cardboard motels, and then on Day 2 after a beautiful healing in our 2nd half of the day - he even showed us his belly, "I have several tattoes, he said, this is just one of the most important ones." After telling us that he rarely if ever has done this, he explained that this was an image of Coatlicue an indigenous image of great mother, Pachamama, called many different names in many different indigenous communties but that it always means our mother earth.

In addition to Luis there were cooking demonstrations by indigenous warrior wombyn, Ingrid DeLeon, Needa Bee, Luz Calvo,  Catriona Esquibel, and myself. On both sides of the bay trying to show indigenous peoples in diaspora across these false borders, and lands and struggle how to go back to our own knowledge, our own foods, our own mothers, off of Monsanto colonization of our food and as Luz and Catrona teaches on - how to decolonize our diets.

We went from food to a new teaching we are developing at PeopleSkool/Escuela de la gente @ POOR Magazine called Medicine from Our Mama- This weekend brought with love and scholarship and prayer and intention by Estrella Divina and Tanya Henderson and Earth Mother Iyalode  who skooled us on so many ways to heal ourselves that cannot be bought at Walgreens- but can be found in our environments, in our hoods and growable in our communities

We were blessed with the power, stories and work of youth warriors 67 Suenos who fight these false borders on Pachamama and brought their stories and helped bring so many others  Qi Qong and meditation by one of POOR Magazine's brothers - Aldo Della Maggiorra, a healer and poverty skolar, poet and drummer

Our opening prayer ceremony on Day 2 was a moment in herstory with dreams and songs and spirit brought by so many cultures, traditions and cultures, holding and embracing them all to honor where all peoples walk from and to, beginning with medicine from Ohlone warriors Corrina Gould and Luta Candelaria, followed by Pacific Island scholar, Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu, to power and words of  Yoruba Chief Luisah Teish, with words and spirit for all African peoples in diaspora and all peoples, to the beautiful flute of Jose Cuellar and then more medicine from our brother Luis J Rodriguez culminating in the beautiful danzantes;Kalpulli Coatlicue

All of this magic, this spirit, this love and this medicine was shared with poverty skolaz, youth, elder and indigenous skolaz from both sides of the bay and before each day was finished we closed with the first video shoot of Gheto Rider, a community ryme i started to help us heal our physical bodies from the many serious illnesses that are caused by our lives of not enough movement, too much stress, poverty, racism, violence and colonization. Poor bodies of color like my mama dee who never really moved her body because as  a poor wombyn of color who was never properly loved and always racialized and oppressed and only had access to cheap and colonized food and more stress and depression that any one body could handle.

There was also poetry and art and beats shared by Dregs1, Tony Robles, welfareQUEEN's, Po' Poets, Pamela Arrieola, Muteadoo Silencio, Mari Reprado, and so many more..
 
This weekend was for everyone, and this weekend was for my Mama Dee, my strong Black indian mama - for without whom there would be no me- who transitioned wayyy too young because in her very hard lyfe she was never healed.  this weekend was for her and all us poor peoples, indigenous and poor peoples of color who are struggling to stay alive-in this capitalist system controlled by corporations, perpetrators and plantations.

This Healing the Hood Weekend was brought to you by your poverty skolaz in residence at POOR Magazine, and co-sponsored by 67 Suenos, because we have been trying to heal our poor bodies of color in struggle for awhile and we knew it was essential to manifest our visions of a poor peoples-led,indigenous peoples led revolution. This is not the first and wont' be the last and we don't own healing just like we dont own land or dreams or voices or spirits or plants or medicine or love.. Healing happens everyday, just like pain and struggle and positivity and possibilities. But we launched this weekend  mostly to bring the beginning of spirit and medicine to the Pachamama community garden at  Homefulness.

 Please join us East Oakland neighbors, community and allies, Sunday, August 5th @ 12:30 for lunch and a community talk-story about what this we all want to eat and what we want to grow. Be this change, walk this with us, because without all you there would be no us.

The Amazing Medicine Poet, Healer, Father and Loco Hermano de Prensa POBRE!!!! showing his Tattoo of Aztec/Mexica goddess Coatlicue- @ Day 2 of Healing the Hood weekend @ Homefulness in East Oakland- photo courtesy of Rebecca Ruiz - compa de Prensa POBRE (To see Luis at the book signing and film screening events this week in the Bay Area- check the schedule out here)

The Po’Lice line was hard, boot to boot, helmuts to helmut, unmoving, bringing the threat of death with each gaze.. The opposing line was a circle and it was moving, with resistance. And strength and people power. We were mamaz, uncles, daddys, sisters and brothers in solidarity and. we wont stop fighting, we won’t stop walking, we wont stop speaking until this ongoing Po’Lice murder of our babies was over

 

These two lines were in front of the MUNI bus tunnel at 14^th & Church. at 6am on Monday, July 16, 2012 streets in  San Francisco which I have affectionately re-named (Stop and) Frisco due to the proposed Stop N Frisk legislation by Mayor Ed Lee. The line of resistance successfully stopped the MUNI buses from coming or going out of the tunnel for almost two hours.

 

“We pay you, and you kill us,” Tracey Bell-Borden, one of many justice fighters fighting against the ongoing police terror of our neighborhoods chanted as she walked back and forth in front of the po’Lice line.

 

“We are here to celebrate the anniversary of one year of my son Kenneth Harding Jr’ s murder by SFPD,” fierce mama and revolutionary freedom fighter, Denika Chatman spoke to the crowd of almost 100 people who gathered to honor Kenneth Harding and all young black and brown warriors who constantly face state-sponsored police terror for the sole act of being a young person of color in Amerikkka. Denika went on to relate the ways in which the MUNI transit police practice blatant racial and poverty profiling of poor peoples of color communities like the BayView and the Mission with a massive and unequal police presence on the buses of these neighborhoods.

 

“Our children are being stalked and murdered in cold blood by this ongoing police harassment and it cannot continue,” Cephus Johnson aka Uncle Bobby, Oscar Grant’s uncle and a powerful leader against police terror in the community walked the line, speaking, not stopping, with the truth.

 

“All of us are under attack, and this is murder, “ Toussaint Dubois, from Labor Black and Brown, walked the line with his real talk.

 

As we spoke, the police gangsters stood, eyes glazed as they are trained to do, as though we were animals they were taught to kill on sight, clutching and unclutching their helmuts, the threat of attack present and constant.

 

As I, a poor mama saw them, I shuddered, I tried to hold my head up, to not think of the many times my melanin challenged self faced their hate, because I am the daughter of a poor wombyn of color, because I am the child of a houseless and hated family, because we didn’t have the money to pay for a roof over our heads for most of our lyfe in Amerikkka. I shuddered as I walked, and yet I walked for Ramarley Graham, Oscar Grant, Kenneth Harding, Amadou Diallo, Annette Garcia, Idriss Stelley, Alan Blueford, Derrick Gaines, Rahiem Brown, and every single victim of this ongoing occupation called the police.

 

At approximately 7:30am the police occupiers shifted their stance, giving the final threat of attack. We, the people, the fighters for justice not JUST-us, moving with humility, peace and liberation, began to march, still chanting, still walking,  because we mamaz, daddys, uncles, sisters and cousins and community members won’t stop until THEY stop, the killing, the stalking, the harrassing and the profiling of our babies, our communities and our spirits.      

 

Co-editor's note: The Following series of poverty journalism or what we at PNN call Revolutionary Blogs are from the multi-lingual multi-racial, youth, adult and elder poverty skolar students in POOR Magazine's PeopleSkool Summer Revolutionary Youth Media Education (RYME) program, We are all speaking from our personal experiences with poverty, police brutality, racism, profiling and border fascism. We are speaking for ourselves as poor peoples, indigenous peoples, migrant peoples, and revolutionaries, because mainstream media lies about us and so we must tell our own stories in our own voices. This is our un-pimped, off-plantation form of what we call We-Search (Poor People-led Research) about the new Stop N Frisk proposal put forth by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, a racist piece of legislation that has made me, Tiny, re-name The City: (Stop N) Frisko- Please listen. Please spread the word - Stop N Frisk will only cause more po'lice stopping and killing!

This Legislation Does NOT help- It HURTs

by Travis, Youth Skolar/ RYME @ PNN 

When I heard about the proposed legislation, stop in frisk (proposed in San Francisco by Mayor Ed Lee) it reminded me of a memory. I was coming home late from a party one night.  On the way home a couple people gave me nervous looks or covered there purses as I walked by.  However, they were not the last to judge me.  As I made my way home minding my own business a police officer stopped me and asked what I was doing out so late.  Questioned me for a while and attempted to intimidate me and then finally let me go.  This legislation would not only allow, but encourage this kind of behavior.

This legislation does not help the community but instead hurts it.  It would lead to people of color mistrusting both the police and the government.  Instead of trying to make neighborhoods safer by racially profiling their residents, they should heal and attack crime at the source.  Rather than harrassing young black and latino men they should give us jobs.  They should give us an educational opportunity to escape our impoverished environments.

 

The Perfect Target for Stop N Frisk

Phillip Standing Bear/Indigenous Youth Skolar- RYME@ PNN

I am Phillip Standing Bear, descendant of a revolutionary generation from the days of Crazy Horse and Black Elk, who were the first to try to stop the colonization of other people’s lands. Everything about me (as I have been told), my demeanor, stance, look and walk all point towards a revolutionary individual, who would be the perfect target for San Francisco’s proposed “Stop-and-Frisk” legislation.

 

Being a young light- skinned native made me a target in my own homelands of Pine Ridge, SD. One day, coming back to the emergency shelter from Sioux Nation grocery store. I was stopped by the tribal po’lice for being young and “out-of-place” as he put it. Regarding the fact that he thought that I was one of the local ranch boys, he tried to harass me and say he was going to take me  “where I belonged”. Without any knowledge of who I was or where I truly belonged, I backhanded him and ran as fast as I could back to the emergency shelter.

 

With any po’lice law having to do with arbitrary decisions, comes stereotyping of an individual. As Eddy Zheng, Project Manager at Motivating Youth to Succeed, said “Instead of Stop-and-Frisk, let’s Stop-and Educate.”

 

If instead that tribal officer had been educated on who I am or where I came from, he may not have had the motivation to try and harass me.

 

 

Soy Pobre/Soy Inmigrante/I am Poor- I am an immigrant

By Nana/Migrant and Poverty Skolar

 

Scroll down for English

Hola soy Nana, soy Latina, soy inmigrante, soy una mujer de 23 anos, soy lesbiana, soy

un ser humano, soy el ave en la jaula del zoologico, soy igual a todos los demas aunque

piensen que no. Soy aquella mujer que camina pensativa y angustiada ante la amenaza

de la posible aceptacion de la ley Stop And Frisk. Posibilidad que me afirma una vez

mas que no estamos haciendo historia, que los derechos no han avanzado, solo estamos

viendo como el gobierno nos pone en un circulo en el que el Americano de color siempre

sera esclavisado, visto como una “especie inferior”, haciendo de lado que somos todos

iguales.

 

Cuando pienso en este proyecto de ley inevitablemente siento que me afectaria al poner

en riesgo mi integridad fisica y personal; la mia y la de todos aquellos con quienes

comparto quien soy. Siento terror de pensar que un dia camino al trabajo algun policia

racista va a venir a solicitar mi ID, mi permiso para vivir aqui, cuando el haber nacido

deberia ser el unico requisito para caminar donde mis pies deseen. Que un dia corriendo,

alguien me senale de ser sospechosa solo por tener un “bronceado natural” y me haga

sentir menos, es ya un ataque a mi integridad, es ya una injusticia, es ya arbitrario.

 

No quiero ser tonta, pero tampoco eceptica de pensar que algun dia, ojala muy pronto

todas estas leyes, ideas de estupidos capitalistas dejen de atacarnos, y se vuelvan en

nuestro lado. Que ojala un dia se caigan las fronteras, las diferencias, los racismos, los

prejuicios. Que algun dia, ojala pronto me dejen salir de la jaula en la que me hallo, por

que asi la jaula sea de oro, no deja de ser haula, porque asi pueda entrar al mall no dejo de ser atacada, porque asi sea libre no me dejan correr. Quiero sonar que pronto seremos un 100% igualitario y no un 99% al que quieren terminar de hundir.

 

English follows

 

Hi I am Nana, I am Latina, I am a migrant, I am a 23 year old woman, I’m lesbian, I am a human being, I am a bird caged in a zoo, I am the same as everyone else even if you don’t think so. I am that woman walking thoughtfully and in frustration against the threat of accepting the law Stop and Frisk. The possibility of affirming once more that we are not making history, that our rights are not moving forward, we simply see that the government puts us back in the cycle where the American of color will always be enslaved, looked at as “inferior species,” putting aside the fact that we are all the same.

 

When I think of this law inevitably I feel that it would affect me and put my physical and personal integrity at risk; mine and all those with whom I share what I am. I feel terror to think that one day as I walk to work some racist cop will approach me and ask for my ID, my permission to live here, when I was born it should be the only requirement  to walk where my feet say. That one day while running, someone will single me out as suspicious soley for being ”naturally brownish” and make me feel like I am less, this is an attack on my integrity, this is unjust, this is arbritrary.

 

I don’t want to be dumb, but I also do not want to be skeptical and think that one day, hopefully very soon all these laws, ideas of idiotic capitalists will stop attacking us, and come to our side. That one day the borders fall, the differences, the racism, the prejudgements. That one day, hopefully soon they let me free from my cage, even though it is made of gold, it remains a cage, because when I walk into the mall I am still attacked, because even being free they do not let me run. I want to dream that soon we will be 100% the same and not 99% that are being driven under.

 

 

I am more than any profile could hold

By Ayat/PNN Poverty skolar

 

I am who I will to be. I am far more than the information any profile could ever

hold. I am a father, poor scholar, revolutionary, a Black Seminole, and son of an every-

generation-before me freedom fighter. I have witnessed and held the voter card held by

my great-great grandmother, dated 1837, at a time when people of color didn’t vote and

simply being a person of color put you at risk for being detained and taken off the street

if you couldn’t prove you had an master/owner. The proposed stop frisk law would take

us all back to that time in history. Imagine taking a walk through your neighborhood

with your son/daughter, speaking about life, sharing thoughts and enjoying the day. Now

picture an officer stopping you because he feels a ”need to”, consider if you were asked

for I.D., both of you stopped and asked all the disrespectful questions. Not the “normal

questioning” but the dehumanizing ones saved for a time when the officer’s discretion

calls for it. The asshole’s procedure that asks. . . “is there a needle in your pocket”, “do

you have any drugs on your property”, then patted down and asked to wait while dispatch

run a check on your names for warrants, violations or unpaid tickets. Truth is that this

happens already. On a daily basses we the poor are put through this and worse “at the

discretion of the officer”. Now those who we elect for our benefit want this nightmare to

be a law or a proposed norm.

 

In today’s society, being a person of color can and has been a roadblock to making

it home to your family. I knew yesterday that I would risk my life for my children’s

future. I say today that it is very likely I will have to risk my life, and may loose it,

for the benefit of all our future: which is the very lives of our children live today.

All our children. All over the U.S. the people are crying from oppression and calling

for a change. This goes especially for the brutalities we suffer from those who are

here to protect us. And the answer we get is the legalization of the alienating, racist,

dehumanizing acts from the police. If you are still waiting for change instead of helping

to “BRING IT”, if you are in support of the “stop frisk proposal” you may as well wear

the badge that killed Kenneth Harding, Graham Marley or Oscar Grant.

   

I see alot of racism everyday in this country

By Ingrid DeLeon/Poverty and Migrant skolar de Voces de Inmigrantes en resistencia de

PNN

 Scroll Down For English

 

Mi nombre es Ingrid de leon

Madre de 4 hijos y luchadora de la pobreza

Vivo en San Fransisco porque pienso que es un lugar santuario.

Pero me da miedo con la ley que quieren aplicar en esta Ciudad

Como la ley parar y esculcar, yo se que solo es una propuesta de ley

Pero como en los Angeles  y en Nueva York  asi empiezan.

Lo malo es que avemos muchas personas que venimos ullendo de nuestros paises

tenemos tanto miedo  y solo aqui   en San Fransisco

Nos sentimos seguros en este momento.

 

Pero si pasan esa ley , mi Corazon se aselera de miedo que si me ven  mal bestida o por cualquier otra cosa me van a esculcar como si yo fuera una ladrona. Me da miedo no solo por mi sino por toda mi rasa Latina porque la mayoria no nos bestimos con ropa de marca  o sea con traje  de bestir nos bestimos umilde mente porque tenemos familias que mantener o por el trabajo que tenemos que hacer. Los trabajos que los latinos hacemos no lo hacen los gringos, yo lo se porque los latinos no nos rajamos por un trabajo pesado.  Qreo que si esta ley pasara mucha gente se quedaria enserrada en su casa.

 Yo beo mucho rasismo cada dia en este pais

Y no megusta nada la idea de esta ley porque la gente ba vibir como ratones escondiendose del gato en esta  bella Siudad

Espero que no se aga realidad la ley parar  y esculcar porque si pasa esta ley el rasismo asia la gentee de color  seria peor

 

English Follows

 

My name is Ingrid Deleon

Mother of four children

Fighter against poverty

I live in San Francsico, because I thought this was a sanctuary city.

But I am filled with fear about the law that they are trying to pass in this city/.

Like the law Stop and Frisk, I know it is only a law proposition. But like in Los Angeles and new york this is how it starts, and the bad thing is that there are a lot of people that come here seeking refuge from our countries and we are very scared and here in San Francisco we feel safe … until now.

 

If this law passes , my heart speeds up from the fear that if they see me not well dressed or for whatever reason they decide, the police will want to frisk me as if I was a thief, I am scared not just for myself but for all my people of color, because the majority of us do not dress with designer clothes or have fancy suits, we dress humbly because we have family members to care for or for the jobs we have to do. The jobs that us Latino people take the many white people will never do, I know this because we never give up regardless of the difficulty of a job. I think that if this law passes, a lot of people will keep themselves looked up inside their own home. I see a lot of racism every day in this country and I do not like the Idea of this law, because people will end up living like mice hiding from the big cat in this lovely city. I wait and hope that this “Stop and frisk” law does not become a reality, because if it does the racism  toward the people of color is going to get worst.

 

A Target

By Maria Machetes/Poverty y migrant skolar de PNN

 

Scroll down for English

 

Como afectaria mi vida si la ley de “Te Paro y Te Esculco” llegara a ser promulgada

como una ley…

 

Como mujer de color Latina indigena inmigrante del barrio de la Mission en San Franciso

tengo el derecho de longebidad como para poder decir y senalar que la policia es un

elemento del gobierno que nuestros ninios pequenios ya temen, las mamas cuando los

miran serca se sienten nerviosas y nuestros jornaleros actuan ansiosos sin saber que o

cual sera la reaccion del policia al rededor de nosotros. Cada vez que una patruya pasa

o un policia aparese se vuelve obvio que la opresion es injusta porque ellos se quieren

sentir heroes pero la realidad es que los vemos y sentimos como antagonistas de nuestra

comunidad y no como aliados, porque entre el gobiernos mas nos emprobrece mas los

convence de que nuestra pobreza es delincuencia y no consecuencia de la oprtesion

ejercida por cientos y cientos de Colonizacion.

 

El nerviosismo cuando un azul aparese es inegable. Todo lo que nos representa como

cultura paresisera ser parte de la lista de “discrecion”, han venido practicando esta

ley desde antes. Recuerdas en el 2008 aqui en la Mission, nuestros ninios marchando

pidiendo a la policia que ya no Marginen y senalen a sus papas como criminales, nuestros

ninios pintaron en Dibujos imagines que representaban a los policies locales golpeando y

detenedno y disparando a sus papas y mamas, marchamos de la plaza 16 a la estacion de

Policia , Yo y muchas familias nos vimos afectados para siempre por los experimentos de

practica activa , usaron nuestro barrio para “Practicar una possible ley” nos maltratan y

abusan mientras practican para que nuestra reaccion de enojo haga parescer a los demas

que la le yes necesaria porque paresiera que ser pobre biene con el sinonimo de enojado!,

practican con nuestros padres y hermanas como si fueramos animals, despues de practicar

les dap or aplicar la ley! Aplicar , Practicar y Editar , mientras la policia aplica y practica

esta possible ley nootros la vivimos con la piel y todas las caracteristicas a discrecion

que por mas discretas que las quieran plantear siguen siendo las mismas por las que nos

dividen y nos hacen sentry mal, existir , ser pobre, no ser limpiamente blanco obvimente

academico, siendo yo la mujer Latina inmmigrante lesbiana despapelora y actista que

soy estoy en la lista discreta de sus perfiles discretos , esta ley no me afecta me margina,

me exclaviza , me hace la presa del cazador, la calle es el bosque , yo soy la caperucita

y ellos son el lobo disfrazado de abuelita!, me afecta a salir a la calle pues paresiera que

estan esperando a que salga para meterme a la carcel, bajo discrecion de su miedo a que

yo posiblemente sea delincuente, discretamente se calla que la lista para ser un possible

delincuente es muy paresida discretamente a la lista de ser inmigrante, human of color,

radical tinker o solo alguien diferente a la supremasia Facista que nos rige discretamente”

 

Es pore so que esta ley por mas que ha sido Practicada y Aplicada ya en la Mission y

en otros barrios de San Francisco tendra que ser editada por NOSOTROS y no por uds

que discretamente no son parte del Perfil , so no patare hasta dejar claro que aquel que

no esta con nostros esta en contra de nosotros, si yo soy un delicuente por discrecion

aquellos que no ayuden seran asesinos conocidos y nosotros delicuentes discretamente

encarcelados. Por el bien a discrecion del Pueblo! Esta ley no pasara a pesar de que

practiquen con sus nuevos Poli skoolas en nuestros barrios! Tu conmigo sino entedere

que estas con el asesino.

 

English Follows

 

How the “Stop & Frisk” possible law will impact my daily Routine my regular life?

 

Like a Women of color, Latina decendent, indigena light skin from the mission in San

Francisco , I have the right of longevity, to have the power to speak

about the [ractice of the police in our barrio. The Police is an element of the government

that I not trust or feal secure , because I see with the years the damage that they seed in

are barrio, kids live in fear of them all the time.

 

Women feal nervous around them to, the day labor man in the corner is always afraid and nervous about the police presence, if

the police appear, the energy gets low & every one get nervous , even when your not part

of their supposed target, we get nervous about them. You can notice that response when

your driving your car in peace & suddenly you are close to a Polica Patrol , your body launguage

changes and we start driving with anxiety & fear of possibly breaking the law!.

 

It is realy sad to see the gap between the true feallings & the reality, Police’ man or women

they want to feal like heroes, but they are not , their pimps fake the truth for them, they only

have the suit to think that they are heroes but their definition of justice only serves a few.

 

 

Apparently the police decisions and stereotypes about migrant peoples is part of their list of “Discretionary law"

this p[articular “Discretionary Will” is practiced in our communities withoat telling us that they are

practicing and it is a part of "Law enforcesment. Did you remember in 2008 when we march from

the 16 street Plaza to the Mission Police Station? Did you remember our youth from the barrio  speakin for

us, representing us during that peace walk? The young people draw images of the Police violating

the rights of their fathers and mothers freedom to walk withoat harassment just because

the Police needs to have a possible motive. We are not your motive, justice should be your motive.

 

Me and a lot of other families in the Mission will be seriously affected forever by   

experimental practice of this proposed law. Now they already mistreat us , violate our basic rights , they probe us in our communities, they use our barrio like

laboratory to practice unfair laws.  Then when we finally react to their

violenr and discriminatatory practice they use our anger to supposedly prove that being poor is

a synonymous with violence and bad behavior.

 

They practice their unfair police tactics in a real scenario like the mission, they use

me and my kids and my parents to practice their new discretionary targeting plan , so after they

use us like animals, they pretend to make us part of the solution , using other words to cause

the segregation of societies like “Stop & frisk” pretending that the police has the power

of psychic and telepathic power to determine who is a good law enforcer & who is a law

breaker.

 

Practicing, apply and editing, by the police applying the practice of their possible law!

 

We like Poor People pay the bill.  They edit their law to make it seem better after they

mistreat us. Target us ,  Me as a lesbian or like a women of color, of like indigena who practice medicine, or like Latina activist

who don’t bealiave in criminalicing poverty, if this practice of harrasment come to be a

law I will be so afraid just to go to the streets , beacuase all that who I am is part of the list of possible targetsI will feal like caperucita Roja in the Forest! & the

Police is going to be like the wolf dressing like grant ma! .

 

This Possible law is already being practiced by the Police in the barrio. It is already applyied

in the pass years, so because im poor women color, a lesbian , inmigrant I have the possibility of 5 times being arrested just for my existence in

this area.

that is why i say who is not with us is against us & is literally killing us jus because we are the ones

who are poor.

 

Profiled for being Poor

By Bad News Bruce /Elder and Poverty Skolar

 

I am BRUCE ALLISON 6th generation native of `San `Francisco ,12th year experience with houselesness, force veteran, and survivor of the `Vietnam war.

 

The stop and frisk proposed legislation will be used to profile houseless folks for the act of being poor, in areas where they would say you don’t belong.

 

When I was houseless I was in the Marina,San Francisco sleeping in a park, a cop wakes me up, and says” What are you doing in this neighborhood, give your ID, grandpa….I was not doing nothing bad…I was getting some rest…the cop replied “why are you not in a shelter or a old folks homes, you have no business in this neighborhood.

 

I got out my phone, and call Newsom phone. If did not had call him, I would be arrested…as 90 percent of my comrades are…and are put in seniors home better know as `san Francisco jail #2…

 

If they pass this law other veterans, can be shot by the police by not having the proper training to deal with veterans with PTSD or battle fatigue..

 

 

Espanol sigue/ Scroll down for English

28, Junio, 2012

Hoy dia se esta queriendo adueñar de los paises

Asiendo golpe de estado en muchos paises, por ejemplo en Honduras y en Guatemala y en otros paises que no voy a mensionar aqui. Y lo mas resiente que hiso fue en Paraguay el 22 de Junio del 2012. Lo logro despues de 23 intentos que no lo habia logrado desde el  29 de Junio del 2011.

Lugo fue quitado de la oficina por acusación en la parte del parlamento por un "ensayo político"

Agentina,  Brasil, y Uruguay los sosios de Paraguay del bloque de Mercado comun rejional dijeron que quisas Lugo balla al encuentro como  un imbitado de onor  es  el acuerdo  de Argentina,  Brasil, y Chile. 

Segun los ligesladores Lugo fue sentensiado a dejar el cargo segun  la camara alta  de los legisladores.Y Benesuela dijo que iba interrumpir la benta de petrolio en ese pais, Tambien El Reino Unido dijo que abriria sus puertas de la embajada en el Paraguay.Y todo esto desperto el rechaso general de los mandatarios de Latino America  y el señor Federico  Fanco el presidente segun el congreso  rechaso  la expulsion del Reino Unido. 

Pero esto no se bale poner a un nuevo presidente sin que la gente lo eliga , y no creo que la gente este de acuerdo la forma en que lo isieron porque  mucha gente no sabe como y porque fue.

Que lo distituyeron a Lugo y muchos simpatisantes  de lugo que estaban en la plasa del congreso cuando supieron que sus presidente abia sido destituido enpesaron a protestar y poreso la policia los alejo con gases lagrimojinos  para segun ellos ebitar trajedias.

Pues a Lugo lo  responsabilisaban por la muerte de 7 campesinos y 10 polisias  y desenas de personas eridas segun porque  el presidente Lugo ordeno al egersito a desalojar a unos campesinos biolentamente.

Y por eso lo distituyeron a pesar que llebaba 3 años y 10 meses en el poder y tenia que entregar la presidensia el 15 de agosto.

El congreso desidio destituirlo apesar que en el senado tubo 39 botos a fabor y 4 en sontra y en la camara baja tubo 73 votos a su fabor y un encontra el presidente  Fernando lugo se despido de la Presidensia presidensia  abandonandola

Y en seguidas tomo posesion el vise presidente Federico Franco ahunque Venezuela el Ecuador y Argentina / Bolibia no reconosen al nuebo presidente. Costa Rica le ofresio asilo al ex presidente, segun es lo que disen pero deberian de explicar major las cosas y desir la berdad.

Y todo esto fue hecho por Monsanto.

 

Ingles Sigue/English Follows

June 28, 2012 

 

Today I found out that Monsanto is a group of people that are taking over everything and starting to be owners of what the land produces.

Today they are starting to invade countries.

 Creating military coups in many countries, for example in Honduras and in Guatemala and in other countries that I will not mention here.  This was recently done in Paraguay June 22, 2012. They achieved after 23 intents that they weren’t able to since June 29, 2011.

Lugo was removed from office through impeachment on the part of parliament through a "political trial".

Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay the neighbors of Paraguay and the block of common regional Market said that perhaps Lugo should see the encounter as an invitation of honor.

According to the legislators, Lugo was sentenced to leaving his high position in office. Venezuela than said that it would interrupt the sale of oil in that country.  Also the United Kingdom said that it would open its doors of the embassy in Paraguay. And all this awoke the rebuttal of the general proxies of Latin America and Mister Federico Fanco the president, as it seems of the congress refused the expulsion of the United Kingdom.

But this is not fair, to put new president without the people’s choice, and I do not believe that the people are in agreement with this because many do not know why and how this happened.

When Lugo was impeached, many sympathizers of Lugo that were in the Congress’ square got word that their President had been impeached, started to protest. The police had to throw gas bombs at them since according to them, it would keep from violence escalading.

Well Lugo was held responsible for the death of 7 peasants and 10 policemen and dozens of people, since supposedly President Lugo ordered the military to displace some farmers violently.

And that’s why he was impeached to even though he had three years and ten months in power and he had to hand over the presidency August 15.

The congress decided to dismiss it even though the senate had 39 votes for and 4 against him and in the lower table he had 73 votes to his favor and one against him. President Fernando Lugo dismissed himself of the Presidency abandoning it.

Following Lugo, Vice President Federico Franco took over. Even Venezuela, Ecuador, and Argentina / Bolivia do not recognize the new president. Costa Rica offered sanctuary to the former president, is what they say but they should explain major things and tell the truth.

(Photo: POOR Magazine family (With Vivian fighting for the rights of all of us poor families in Amerikkka)

In 2006 after nearly four years being homeless and living five years in public housing in Oakland, CA, I moved with my children from East Oakland to the University Avenue Cooperative Homes (UACH) in Berkeley, CA, a non-profit affordable housing cooperative that was founded by low-income Berkeley residents in 1982 with a tenant-run Board of Directors. UACH was an affordable housing cooperative with HUD funding that requires only 30% rent cost. This allowed me to have the sole ability to afford a place to live with my children, even at times when I may be unemployed. I felt secure with this housing and although I was not crazy about The John Stewart Company managing UACH, the on-site manager has always been good with all of us tenants at UACH.

In addition, UACH was a cooperative that we were supposed to be paying into with ‘shares’ as part-owner of the co-op, however this program is no longer in existence as of July 1st, 2012. Why? UACH had quietly been ‘sold’ to a Berkeley-based non-profit organization called ‘Resources for Community Development’ (RCD), who has already began to change everything in a very arbitrary way. At the end of the day, it is really not in the best interest of the tenants at UACH at all.

In October 2011, when I received a formal letter from The John Stewart Company, saying that UACH’s 20-year HUD funding was going to expire and that they would be offering us tenants the option of being given a Section-8 voucher. Me and the other tenants didn’t know nor hear anything about RCD purchasing our housing cooperative until the transaction was already done. RCD quietly bought UACH in January 2012. All of us UACH tenants would not find out about the RCD buy-out until RCD sent us a letter around June 1st, inviting us to attend a ‘meet and greet’ meeting with them at our housing site on June 16th.

At the June 16th meeting, (which was not much of a ‘greet’), representatives from RCD addressed us tenants with a very passive-aggressive approach, telling everyone who was in attendance that they (RCD) had to make a very quick decision by both July 1st and 25th to get ‘tax credits’ from the Government/HUD to rehabilitate all of the housing infrastructure at UACH. They also told us that our original lease is no longer valid, that UACH, who obviously went defunct, as University Homes Incorporated went belly-up after they were unable to come up with money to pay back a 1.8 million dollar balloon loan that UACH had since 1982. A representative from the City of Berkeley was in attendance, doing his best to convince us that this transition was a great opportunity for us. What he didn’t tell us is that the City of Berkeley only pays $1.00 a year for the parcel our housing cooperative sets on. RCD also told us that we would have to deal with UACH to get back any of our ‘shares’.

How can any of the UACH tenants get back their ‘shares’ (money that tenants invested into UACH, as everyone was told that they were ‘part owners’ when they moved in, including me…) when UACH no longer exists? We also were told that we would have to pay a ‘new deposit’ as well. We were also told that there would be a lot of construction done on all of the UACH units with some units needing more work, so we would be temporarily displaced out of our units for any amount of time from 15 days to 4 months. However, I heard that it would be more like 6 months. Also, all of us tenants, who would be temporarily displaced would be required to live in semi-sleezy hotels along San Pablo Avenue and still have to pay full rent costs, which my rent is nearly market-rate these days. In addition, our tenant-run Board of Directors was forced to dissolve. We have lost all of our cooperative tenant rights now. We were also told by RCD that we are no longer a ‘cooperative’ any more. We are now just ‘tenants’.

This has become a nightmare for me and many other tenants at UACH. We feel disenfranchised and disrespected, not being given due process in a timely manner, so that we would be more informed on this issue. I feel like I have been hit in the face with hot oil. I am also very concerned about some of the other tenants; very elderly communities who have lived here for many years and the severely disabled communities who are unable to physically hold and/or read the letters and continuous 72-hour notices RCD keep taping to our door knobs. Many of us tenants find RCD’s continuous ‘visits’ to our units invasive. I suspect that RCD might be violating ADA laws, as many tenants were not present on that Saturday morning on June 16th, with only ten of us present at that meeting. There are over 140 tenants living at UACH in Berkeley.

RCD, UACH, The John Stewart Company and the City of Berkeley are keeping everything secret from the media. RCD claims that the dissolution of UACH in Berkeley is not connected to the recent issue with Berkeley Housing Authority’s co-ops being bought out. RCD is one of the local Bay Area-based non-profit housing development companies that is setting a new trend in the way affordable housing is defined. I work in Berkeley as an Advocate, helping very low-income communities with housing resources and I can truly say that RCD, along with The John Stewart Company and Affordable Housing Associates make it very difficult to house very low-income communities.

RCD has set a ‘minimum income’ requirement at nearly all of their housing sites with rent costs starting out at over $750.00 a month. This excludes most poor communities, who are unable to afford that type of rent cost on very limited income. This is not affordable housing. I do not know what other rabbits RCD will pull out of their hat next, as they have shown disregard for us tenants at UACH, many who have lived here since it was built in 1982. Berkeley is definitely on a trend of GENTRIFICATION and CLASS GENOCIDE, making all of their so-called affordable housing ‘unaffordable’, inadvertently discriminating on low-income communities of color with forced displacement through draconian policies to profiteer on, such as the recently proposed ‘Sit & Lie’ law in a so-called liberal city (Berkeley). I do not feel welcomed here anymore… Affordable housing in Berkeley is nothing but a myth of ‘lies in disguise’.

 

The different ways that poor peoples of color are "moved" out of The City

The city that sits on water almost all alone, except it is connected but not connected in so many ways. Once you cross the Bay Bridge or the infamous Golden Gate Bridge, which isn’t gold in color but reddish orange, or travel across by ship or ferry boat. Whether you travel by rail system, bus or car you enter into a whole different world that is connected yet not connected to the United States. 

This city is known all over the world as an attraction that is one big tourist Mecca, steeped in history a mysterious city it is and most intriguing, it seems to envelop you in, almost as if a spell is being cast over you to lure you in. It is one thing to visit but it's quite another thing to live here. It is a city that has it's own set of laws aside from those of the entire state and the country as well. I realize that with every city within a state have some laws that are different but not like SF. 

One of the things I like about this city is the transit operations it's like no other by far the best I've seen but there is so much about this city that I dislike like the fact that the city doesn't do much to encourage you stay but will go over and beyond to not only encourage you to leave but will bend over backwards to help you leave. The project has a name and it's been operating since the mid nineties but here recently have been really enforcing it, it is called OPERATION EXTERMINATE.

What is Operation Exterminate? It is a plan to rid the city of all African Americans, Mexicans, other peoples of color and what they consider poor white trash by any means necessary. If you have a house they encourage you to sell, if you own a business they make you an offer you can't refuse. If you are home/houseless they help you find someplace else to go whether it's the east bay, south bay, North Bay or anywhere but SF bay is fine by them. Who are the them's? The powers that be in the city, and the ones with serious money.

Yesterday I was on the bus and saw a sign posted in one of the neighborhoods that stated: WILL BUY YOUR HOUSE FOR CASH gave a number to call, that's what I mean by encouragement. I was on the train the other day and overheard a conversation between two women and a man and one of the ladies stated that the city offered her a quote on her house and she took it, the other lady was waiting on a quote for her house but the man took the cake, they wanted his house and business that had been in the family for over 30 years in the Bayview District, so with the offer they too took the deal and moved to Texas and though they are doing fine they were still encouraged to leave their native home.

Then there are people like me who have been homeless since coming to this city 14 months ago, the only thing that was offered to me and my family was a shelter bed and pretty much nothing else, but the minute I chose to leave the city I have been offered first and last months rent and security deposit anywhere in the United States of Amerikkka other than San Francisco. One place even offered to transport my furniture free of charge to myself and provide a ride for me and my family out of the city. Although I am happy to be leaving I don't get why you want to spend more to get rid of people than to just offer a way for everybody to stay. The question is what is really going on?

 

The injustices that Housless individuals face in the country of AMERIKKKA, especially the individuals who "defend"  this countries' "freedom"

Okay let me get this straight SFHA (San Francisco Housing Authority) list is closed indefinitely right? There is no room left in the shelters, there are no drop in centers that take families anymore and definitely not for men, you now have a law that you are enforcing called the sit and lay law that prohibits anyone (houseless) from sitting and laying in a public place. Though I understand how it makes the landscape look and how it lets the tourist and everybody else know that there is a real problem with houselessness in this city but by the same token what's a person to do who is either facing or already houseless? The real question then becomes what the heck are we suppose to do, where are we suppose to go?

One might say go into the SRO's (Single Room Occupancy's) but then you have to ask how does one pay for it when you don’t have enough money or no money at all.

Like so many that I have talked to on the streets, they are either waiting on their SSI or pensions to start or they have been denied of services. The system comes up with all kinds of crazy reasons why they can't give you what you need or what you worked for when you were fighting for the freedom of this country so that we all could be safe, like Papa Bear who fought in one of the most horrifying wars that brought men back negatively different, some lost their minds, limbs and lives. Most have referred to the Vietnam war as HELL and they come back home and have to end up panhandling or begging on the street corners holding up signs of cardboard boxes for spare change that in most cases is thrown to them as if they are dogs hungry for crumbs.

I know with me and my family we stay in these Residential Hotels and we are grateful that we are able to sleep on beds and no longer on bus stop benches, no longer riding the buses all night because we've got no where else to go, no more mats on cold concrete floors with one thin sheet and blanket to cover you. In these hotels you stand the chance of being food for the spiders and bed bugs and in some cases having to share a bed with mice. These are not things I've heard only but rather what we have experienced. Even though they won't rent to us (it’s suppose to be for single people) they will let you do the 28 day thing which might I add is really illegal but you let it slide because you don't want trouble so you deal with it and keep on living the best way you can.

For those that don't have that option they are just crap out of luck. If the police catch you sleeping in an alleyway or on the street they arrest you, why? BECAUSE IT'S AGAINST THE FREAKIN LAW TO BE HOMELESS! What kind of mess is that? When you've got hundreds of empty abandoned houses and apartment units there shouldn't be a problem with finding adequate housing for people who don't have a place to live. Where is the compassion, where is that sense of community the one where you help your fellow man/woman in need, where did that go?

Everything is not about money though it seems that way. The economy is jacked up and most people don't have money or they don't have much money, especially not enough to afford a place in the city. It's crazy because you can't afford to stay and don't have enough money to leave so what do you do?

Would you rather that your Amerikkan dollaz went toward getting people off the streets by putting them in jail which is going to cost you more than helping out in ways that would teach skills to get a person back on their feet, would give them an opportunity to better themselves and to have a sense of pride.

Watch Papa Bear on PNN-TV @ POOR Magazine's Community Newsroom in August-

 

Is San Francisco really as compassionate as they say they are?

That's the question at hand along with a few other questions like how much out their way do they go beyond the giving Holiday's to people in need? Are people only in need during the fall months (October - December)? I can answer that and so can you. If you take the time to walk down Market Street, which is one of the most popular and well-traveled streets here, in the city after dark and during the day as well you will discover people in need and a great many other well traveled or not so well traveled streets. 

If you go into these shelters and drop in centers you will discover people in need, if you go into these residential hotels you will discover people in need, if you visit the main library you will see people in need and if you take the time to visit just a few of the agencies here in the city you will discover people in need the point is there are a great many people in need of different ways, just so happens that I'm referring to food right now. As I am currently writing this article my family and I are in need of both food and a place to live. I don't just go around interviewing other people, I live the articles that I write.

After being in a meeting and hearing one of my fellow colleagues quote that if you went into a store that you frequent on a regular basis and had no money you couldn't even get a loaf of bread to feed yourself or your family? That was the question she asked and the response to her question was that she didn't think so.

 I thought about what she said and to some degree I disagreed with her not because I didn't want to believe her but because of what I had experienced. There are some compassionate people and businesses here. Nonetheless it piqued my curiosity and I decided I would find out for myself just who was compassionate enough so I went out one day going to the market for two reasons, one to buy drink and to find out if they would give to a family or person in need.

 Before I got there I went into an eatery and asked the employee the question...if I came into your establishment and told you I didn't have any money but my family is hungry would you give us a meal?

She looked at me with such sorrow in her eyes and told me that if she was the manager she would, but unfortunately she wasn't at liberty to make that call. She told me I would have to return the next day to speak with the manager with that I thanked her for her time and exited the fast food restaurant that would mean that if me and my family were destitute at the time we would based on her answer have gone hungry that night and the question then becomes how many in a days time can say they were turned away because of policies?!

I left and continued on my way to the store. I went in and grabbed a shopping cart and walked over to the manager. The look he gave told me that he wasn't going to make me happy and he proved his expression, though he was professional he was rude and short with me while I was talking to him a little boy walked up as though I wasn't standing there and he proceeded to help him like I was a nobody. I waited until he finished and tried to continue my research but before I could finish my statement he cut me off twice and finally told me to call the corporate office, when I asked for the number he quoted it to me instead of writing it down, I think it was 1-877-SAFEWAY. If there had been another store within walking distance I would have left but I stayed. I think stores like that feel as though they can treat you any kind of way when they're the biggest chain in the city. Maybe it was just that one but it was a total turn off to me and it proved that both Mari and myself are right.

I have been in an eatery when I had nothing to feed my family and talked with the manager and was given food to feed my family but never in a store. I've stayed in a couple of hotels that let me and my family in on a promise to pay once I got money, I have met strangers who have been nice enough to put me and my family up, I've met people who have been kind enough to feed us when we had nothing, so there are some but clearly not enough.

I would like to see many more show compassion in this city, poor people will help each other on a daily basis before rich people would help the poor at anytime other than Thanksgiving and Christmas. I shudder to think that when I have money you're smiling in my face but the minute I have nothing you look at me and treat me as if I carried an odor or something. The inhabitants of San Francisco’s level of compassion on a daily basis have got to change.

I don't think God allowed you to be rich, well off or wealthy just so you would harbor it or be a show off of what you have accumulated off the backs of the others or have inherited, He gave it to you so you'd have a better life and so you would share with others.

 

Many young youth of color have been targeted by po'lice brutality and internalized racism. The "see a n*$#@a, kill a n#%!&a" way of thinking has many of our communities terrorized by our own kind. Then add racist police brutality and now we have a nation saturated with blood thanks to the hateful, hypocritical, thieves that this nation has called our honorable rulers.

To bring my people here as slaves, noting that we are second-class, and to make it lawful to hunt us down and colonize our minds into the "n#!%a mentality" has been one of the european's greatest accomplishments.

Travon Martin's case is all the more difficult because in amerikkkas' eye's Ron Zimmerman is REALLY a hero for killing this young black man. 

His bail was a slap on the wrist (his bail was later revoked, not because of Travon's murder, but for lying to a judge about his finances). How many innocent blacks and others of color that have been slaughtered just for being a person of color? let the "other" media tell you, the ku klux klan have only killed 3,400+ blacks in this country. No mention of the massacre of my Native brothers, the original owners of this land, nor any mention of my brown comrades that because of racist, false boarders are forced to jeopardize their lives and leave their families for a slice of amerikkkan pie. 

All of their blood seeps thru the seductive hands of amerikkka, so it is safe to say this land and it's "rulers" have consumed the lives and spirits of MILLIONS! There are no REAL laws to protect the citizens of color here in this country, because WE are all suspects. 

Laws like "stand your ground", "stop and frisk" and  "justifiable homicide" were not meant to make us safer, but to control people of color by threatening death to those that resist and attempt to resurrect the people. We also have a lot of community terrorists that looks like us, act like us, because it IS our own folks! Why is our black an brown folks dying behind red or blue, when we are fighting for more green from the whytes to live like human beings? We have street soldiers who will kill innocent children, mothers and fathers and brag about their contributions to such internalized destruction on facebook! To get shot at in the western addition is all too common, whether you are a "gang member" or not.

My neighbor, Taz is NOT in a gang, she helps out in tha hood, and takes care of her family, but Tuesday night, she, and another neighbor got their windows shot out (no one was hurt) and I myself just bumped my knee trying to duck. This is not the way anyone should be living! And if we are not being threatened with gunfire, we are being threatened with evictions left and right because the internalized "overseers", would rather get a manicure than to see if the tenants' paperwork is done correctly! We as the "peoples' people" are in a helluva fix and fight.

And it is really sad to see members in the community act worse than the po'lice, or in some cases worst than the ruthless "rulers" themselves.