I humbly accept the journalism fellowship on poverty (which means  $4,000. blud-stained dollaz for POOR Magazine so we can pay our looming insurance bill and keep our "papers" (501 (c) 3) etc.).. but in my acceptance I stand always with humility and love for all the houseless mamaz and babies living in our card-board motels, cars, and shelter beds, my PIC-plantation housed brothers and sisters "inside" for poverty kkkrimes like mine, my brothers and sisters who recycle, panhandle, and struggle and my brothers and sisters caught in the kriminalized jaws of these false borders that surround Pachamama, I stand wit my indigenous ancestors removed and displaced and i stand wit all peoples in poverty ALWAYS silenced in the kkkorporate and not really independent media...and i stand wit my mama dee- strong black indian wombyn for without whom there would be no me-

Big love to my Prensa POBRE and Bay View Newspaper famlia...who made this possible wit philanthro-pimp assisting... Mary Ratcliff, Sandra Estafan, Anna Kirsch, Vinia Park Castro, Carina Lomeli love n support from Tony Robles, Silencio Muteado, Leroy Moore, Vivian Thorp, , Bruce Allison and every Po' person who keeps on keeping on everyday in Amerikkka No Matta Wut!

Stay Tuned for the media series on poor families in resistance in Amerikkka

Winners of the Journalism Fellowship on Poverty

Marguerite Casey Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the foundation’s Journalism Fellowship on Poverty, which aims to increase the public’s and policymakers’ understanding of poverty through journalism. Winners will produce at least one in-depth story or short series illustrating how language, culture and race influence public attitudes and policy about poor people. Three recipients were chosen from among many outstanding applications:

Fellowship Recipients:

• Pam Dempsey – Urbana, IL
•   Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia – San Francisco, CA

Scholarship Recipient:

• Holly Martinez – Renton, WA

Fellows will each receive a stipend of $4,000 and up to $1,000 for travel costs; Scholars will each receive a stipend of $1,000 and up to $800 for travel. Check back here for links to the winners’ stories as they are published.

“Journalists can have a significant impact on changing the public narrative about poor people. It is our hope that these fellowships and scholarships will help put the issues of families and poverty front and center in the public debate and elevate the voices of families in policymaking,” said Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation.

Espanol sigue/ Scroll down for English

Julio 2012

Yo veo que como hay cosas buenas tambien hay cosas malas.

Desde hace mucho tiempo en esta ciudad a existido el Colegio de La ciudad. Beneficia  a mucha gente que venimos a este pais sin saber el idioma. Por eso, todo se hace mas dificil en el trabajo, en las tiendas y en otros lados.

Pero no solo beneficia a los inmigrantes.Tambien a los jovenes que por una o otra razon an dejado sus estudios pero despues quieren seguir estudiando. El Colegio de La Cuidad es muy importante porque es como un camino para llegar a la meta.

Es como un hogar de huerfanos  que no tienen a donde ir y se refuhian alli. 

Me duele que quieran cerrar sus puertas y quitar a todo el personal, como ejemplo los maestros cada dia hay menos.  Pero yo pienso que si nos unimos, los estudiantes y los miembros de la comunidades marchas y manifestaciones alo mejor logramos que no cierren la puertas, porque es lo unico que tenemos.

 Hace dos semanas se reunieron mas de 350 personas en el centro LGBT de una asamblea de emergencia para salvar el colegio de la Ciudad.

Desde hace cinco años que el Colegio esta sufriendo recortes tras recortes. Un ejemplo quitando los fondos estatales desenas  de millones de dollares an sido quitados de los programas y el salario de los maestros, y ademas an recortado dias de clases, los recortes que hacen afectan cada dia a las personas.

Me siento desesperada por lo que quieren hacer pues me parece que es puro rasizmo y no porque no haya dinero. Pues como hay dinero para la guerra y otras cosas malas que no benefician a nadie, ni siquera a la ciudad, mucho menos al pais. Yo siempre pense y pienso que el saber es mas y vale mas que todo lo demas. Porque entre mas ignorante avemos mas problemas tendremos y entre mas sabios avemos en el mundo, mejores personas vamos a hacer y mejor sera el pais,  pero si cierran el colegio de San Francisco, que aprendisaje abra?

 Me duele que lo quieran hacer porque los inmigrantes en este pais necesitamos aprender a hablar el idioma ingles. Porque somos mas los inmigrantes que trabajamos en restaurantes Oteles o Construccion o en cualquier cosa y si no sabemos ingles sera mas difícil para todos.

Le pido a Dios que no cierren el colegio, gracias.

Ingles Sigue/English Follows

Klee took action on August 13, 2011 to address Arizona Snowbowl ski area's clear-cutting of 74 acres of rare alpine forest and the laying of 14.8 miles of a waste water pipeline in furtherance of a US Forest Service and City of Flagstaff supported project to spray artificial snow made of wastewater effluent on the Peaks, which are held holy by more than 13 Indigenous Nations.

The state prosecutor was seeking 12 months probation, restrictions barring Klee from going onto Snowbowl road, and community service. Defense attorney, Matt Brown of Brown & Little, P.L.C., argued on Klee's behalf.

During the sentencing hearing Klee responded expressing that restricting his ability to go onto the Peaks, including Snowbowl road, would place an "undue burden" on his religious freedom.

Judge Grodman stated, "I think that your motivations for protesting were genuine and heartfelt," he then offered the option for Klee to do community service in assisting with a Northern Arizona University class called "Investigating Human Rights."
"If you would be willing to participate in that class, assist in that class, I think you'd have a lot to offer the students, that would be the entirety of my sentence," stated judge Grodman.

When issuing his sentence, the judge expressed that he was unaware until recently, that Klee had made the documentary, "The Snowbowl Effect." Judge Grodman stated that he had used the film in a class he taught years ago.

Klee was also ordered to pay restitution to Arizona Snowbowl in the amount of $99.24 for construction worker's wages Snowbowl claims we're "lost" due to Klee's prayerful action.

“How can I be 'trespassing' on this site that is so sacred to me? This is my church. It is the Forest Service and Snowbowl who are violating human rights and religious freedom by desecrating this holy Mountain…” said Klee in a previous statement, “Their actions are far beyond ‘disorderly’.”
"This experience has shed light on what my ancestors, and all those who have gone before me in the struggle for justice and dignity, have faced. This experience cannot be isolated from the larger context of 500 years of colonial aggression. Our ways of life are being attacked by this 'justice' system, the Forest Service, and by those who value money more than life and ecological integrity."

"Indigenous Peoples in the United States have no guaranteed protection for our religious freedom. When our spirituality and cultural survival is threatened, what choice do we have but to take a stand? If Congress and the Obama administration don't take immediate action to address this critical issue, more and more people will put their bodies in front of Snowbowl's destructive machinery." stated Klee.

In August 2011, The Havasupai Tribe, Klee Benally, and the International Indian Treaty Council, filed an Urgent Action / Early Warning Complaint with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), on the desecration of the Sacred San Francisco Peaks. CERD Chairperson Alexei Avtonomov responded to the complaint with a letter to the U.S. in March 2012, “The Committee requests information on concrete measures taken to ensure that the sacred character of [the San Francisco Peaks] for indigenous peoples are respected, including the possibility of suspending the permit granted to the Arizona Snowbowl, to further consult with indigenous peoples and take into account their concerns and religious traditions.”

Since June 16, 2011, nearly 30 people have been arrested during protests or other actions addressing Snowbowl desecration and eco-cide on the Holy Peaks. Most have taken deals offered by state prosecutors which have resulted primarily in community service, with about 8 cases still pending.

In a previous statement Klee affirmed, “The struggle to protect Dooko’osliid (San Francisco Peaks) continues, we must defend our ways of life and the natural law. As long as our hearts beat with an understanding that our actions are for future generations and cultural survival, then this struggle is not over.”

TAKE ACTION NOW: www.ProtectThePeaks.org

This letter is what I emailed to "School of Natural Wonder: Vision Quests - Wilderness Rites of Passage". I encourage everyone who thinks that selling our ceremonies is ok to go to their site and leave them a message. (www.schoolofnaturalwonder.org)

To: "School of Natural Wonder: Vision Quests - Wilderness Rites of Passage".

My husband and I are both Native American elders. An ad for the vision quests you run showed up on an Indigenous news website I was reading. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt here that you don't understand how disrespectful what you are doing is to traditional Native American people.

A bit of contextual history for you: It was illegal for Native Americans to conduct our ceremonies and/or pray in our traditional ways until 1978 when the American Indian Freedom of Religion Act was passed by the federal government of the United States. It was illegal for us to pray and conduct our ceremonies before that time. Prior to that time through the early 1950s, Native American children were stolen from their families and taken to mostly Christian run boarding schools. They were abused in every way children can be abused and many were murdered in these schools. The same happened in Canada and tens of thousands of graves of these children are being recovered there now due to activism by Native people and our allies. These children were beaten for speaking their language, for praying in their ways, and for attempting to do traditional ceremonies.

Fast forward to the early 1980s, just a few years after the NA Freedom of Religion Act was passed, to the New Age Movement. This was the beginning of non-Native New Age people learning about our ceremonies. Some of them were people who we thought were trusted allies who then went on to sell our ceremonies to people who have what one spiritual leader called "leaky vessels". We have seen so many non-Native "leaders" and "experts" selling our ceremonies and we find it to be more than offensive and disrespectful. These actions are a violation to Native traditions.

Traditionally, Native American medicine people, ceremony leaders and holy people do not advertise their skills. There is no monetary charge. Yes, there is an exchange and oftentimes that exchange is money, but there is no set fee. Our medicine people and holy people do not advertise what they do. There are ways that people find out within the community, both Native and non-Native, but there are certainly no ads or websites like yours. Our medicine people and ceremony leaders have earned the right to do what they do through years and years of learning. To be one of these special people is an honor, a duty, and a profound responsibility. It is not something taken on lightly.

The only comparison I can make is if one of us decided to pretend to be a Catholic priest, to take confession, to give mass, to give communion. Obviously these actions would be extremely disrespectful. How do you think the Catholic Church would react to that?

I encourage you to think about what you are doing. You are not honoring Native American people. At the very least, you should seriously consider taking out the words "vision quest" and "purification lodge" and using other language. What you are doing is extremely offensive to us. Please stop.

Sincerely,
Pennie Opal Plant

To me I've always say, "Fire has a spirit about it." This fire was caused by a light strike the night before. The sky was filled with cloud but only a small amount of rain feel upon Mother Earth. Into the storm you could hear the thunder making noise and hearing it striking so close.

Waking up the next morning. Looking around I didn't see anything until late afternoon. It was then did I see a whiff of smoking on the mountain. Then the winds came bring the fire to life.

I've seen fires before as it moves about on the ground in search of something. This is what I call the spirit of the fire moving at it own pace.

The fire happened in the Spring Creek area of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation on June 28,2012 at approximately 4:45 pm as seen from my house. My house is approximately 5 miles away, as I watched the crow fly away from my home.

The winds begin to pick up as flames could be seen from there a fire shooting upwards about 20/30 feet into the sky.
As, I drove closer to the fire on county roads on the reservation. A small helicopter arrived on the scene in about
20 minutes to combat this fire. Soon a spotter plane was seen circling the fire for observation for more planes and
helicopter to arrive on the scene.

As a much more bigger plane arrive you can see the red slurry chemical agent dropped on the fire in a series of drops. After these drops were made another helicopter arrives on the scene. Sucking up water from the Allison Ditch dropping water in key areas of the fire.

Due to the success of the fire retardant the plane only dropped 3 times and travel back to base mostly back to the Weber fire in Mancos, Colorado. Approximately 6 engines from the US Forest service arrived on scene stationed at Bayfield, Colorado.

By night fall the fire which could have gotten away was put out by all working together....

Note: The people of the North Cheyenne in Lame Deere, Montana are in need of supplies due to their fires.

Lyrics by  Dan The Rapperman aka Danny Spencer.  Read below & listen (For the video go to http://youtu.be/YGB8yMQIbOE)

In my life
All I ask
Is for people see the man
Behind the disabled mask,
I wanted to make friends
Like any other guy
But people only see the chair
And I can’t understand why,
They never listen when I’m talking
That always seems to be the way
Just cause I slur my words
Don’t mean I’ve got nothing to say

Verse 2
I may be in a chair
And my body might keep on going tight
But don’t assume we’ve got nothing in common
Coz you never know we might
Don’t shout at me as if I‘m deaf
Or feel sorry for me as if I am sick
I am just a disabled person
And that don’t mean that I am thick
So don’t judge before you meet me
Don’t think you know who I am
Just come over and introduce yourself
And meet Dan the Rapperman
(Chorus) In my life all I ask is that people see the man behind the disabled mask x2 there you go Buddy

By Dan The Rapperman aka Danny Spencer

My heart and eyes watched young Olympian Gabby Douglas with desperation. A  painful craving that reached deep into my overwhelmed, poverty-stricken and sorrow-filled soul.

From the first minute young, strong, beautiful and black Gabby appeared on the Disney production, known as the 2012 Olympics which I have affectionately re-named the PimpLympics, my eight year old son and I have been glued to the screen, coughing, hacking and guffawing through an onslaught of kkkorporate public relations lies from BP oil ( who destroyed the water of the entire Gulf Coast where so many young people of color live, fish and try to swim, McDonalds ( who makes so many of our poor young people of color at –risk of diabetes and heart disease with their fat-filled, GMO created food),  DeVry University (with its overwhelming quickly mounting tuition debt and seemingly easy access for so many young folks of color) and thousands of other corporations too many to mention, so we could  cry, scream, dream and root for Gabhy.

And then when Gabby won the first all around gold medal last night, I cried, deep, sorrow-filled and yet elated tears. I cried first for her mama, who raised such a strong, powerful young wombyn and was so proud right now,, then I cried for my mama, a young mixed race (African-Taino-Roma) girl who always wanted to be a singer, a gymnast, a long distance runner, but who never was cared for, or watched or even loved enough by anyone in the orphanage she was raised in to get that chance and instead was experimented on, hated, racialized and left. Then I cried for all the other young people of color and specifically young Black people (cause Race does matter), who I work along side, teach and learn from who don’t even think they can move their poor bodies of color enough to become the next Gabby Douglass. Who might, because of Gabby, dream that dream, if even for a day, and reach up beyond the intentionally limited choices ever offered to them.

So then, with a momentary, silly smile and a tear-soaked face, I went to bed. And then I woke up. And I realized, that they got me. Disney, Devry, Dow, BP and MickeyD’s hooked me in. It was Obama all over again. For a minute of critical thinking-less reality, I believed it. The Princess and the frog had been re-cast, this time using live characters. And I believed. I believed we could flyyyyyyy.  All of us , out of racism, poverty, the insane and disgusting prison industrial complex, racist occupying armies known as the po’lice and the plantation of Amerikkka. Meanwhile, the revolution of John Carlos and Tommy Smith, who I had posted about in the beginning of the pimplympics, floated down my face-crak timeline with the simple corporate ease of Zuckerburg getting another billion dollars for some nothing thing he just did.

Gabby is a beautiful young, dark-skinned woman, her mama is a powerful and strong single mama, who did an amazing and beautiful job. Everything that I know about their process to get this medal is based in determination and focus which all young people need and should gain strength from  Additionally, race and racism in Amerikkka is real, the lack of young peoples of color images that are positive is serious and the ways that poor children of color and adults are fetishized and portrayed as gangsters, thugs or just not seen at all is equally serious. My mama knew this when she sent my witegurl looking self out to rent apartments at 12 with a lie about how I was 25 and making $60,000 a year, because she, as a low income mama of color would be automatically seen as suspect and a “bad” tenant and not rented to when we were living in our car houseless in AMerikkka But the frightening thing is the narrative of the young Gabby Douglass was the narrative necessary to move the kkkorporate lies along. And in the US- her story was perfect in terms of bootstraps, Horatio Alger based capitalism perfection.

Poor people of color like me and my mama and all of the folks at POOR Magazine are told everyday that all we need to do is work hard, stop being lazy and we will get ahead. And yet so many of us, work so hard, are extremely focused and we still oddly never “get out” much less get ahead, whatever that even means anyway. This obsession with “productivity” hard work as defined by corporations and US capitalist values, has nothing to do with loving or caring for our ancestors, our elders, our mothers, our brothers and sisters incarcerated and in struggle and ultimately with our Mother Earth.

“Gold metals, you can’t eat those, the children in my Harlem neighborhood can’t eat those, said by John Carlos in 1968 when he and Tommy Smith, took off their shoes and showed their black socks and put their black gloved hands in the air for Black power, liberation, poverty and black peoples, poor peoples self-determined futures .

So then I go back, and think about the millions of dollars stolen by the London mayor and pimplympics committee from crucial government services like the funding of disabled people services pointed out to me by my brother in struggle Leroy Moore of Krip Hop, the ways in which EVERY single city who brings these large corporate sport events to their towns like the Olympics, the Superbowl and the World Cup immediately begins displacing, evicting and sometimes even killing their poor residents in the case of the ShackDwellers Union in South Africa facing rubber bullets when they refused to leave their shanty towns or the 400 poor people tenants, mostly of African and South Asian descent of East London evicted to make room for a 2012 Olympic stadium so vollyball could commence in shiny new corporate splendor.

Or the not –kkkoporate digestible Damien Hooper, aboriginal boxer who was stripped of his ability to compete because he made the brutal “mistake” of wearning a t-shirt of the aboriginal flag of this peoples.

So then I go back again to the beautiful and proud face of Gabby and Cullen Jones – one of the first African –Americans that I have seen in the Olympic pool- at least in my Olympic herstory. Go Wid yer baaad selves and even if you don’t get up at the end on your collective podiums and raise the black power fist or rock the African Peoples Unity flag on your t-shirts. I’m going to claim your wins back for the people. Your glory wasn't won for Dow chemical, your wins didn’t get me or Tiburcio or Tony to go to DeVry or think differently about the violence and murder of BP oil, or the sick food of McDonalds, rather you brought the spirit of hundreds of years of African peoples liberation into the eyes of the world for just one night and the Orishas heard you and the ancestors upon whose shoulders you were standing on heard you. And the thousands of poor young children of color saw you and felt you and for that one minute 45 seconds, became you. Ase’ Damien and Cullen and Gabby Douglas,- this mama is so proud of all of you.

Opt Ed – August 1, 2012

Safety for people with developmental disabilities is a critical concern. The most recent legislation, S-618 requiring school bus safety precautions for adult students with developmental disabilities is a small part of the safety conversation.

The continued lack of support for safe community long term systems has created a crisis for poor urban families with developmental disabilities who live in neighborhoods frequented with gun violence.

Brenda Gillison of Paterson explains although she can teach her younger children to lie on the floor when they hear the sound of gunfire, she cannot teach her 21 year old daughter with developmental delays to do the same. She also talks about how over the years her neighborhood has changed to violence. After a particularly dangerous night she said “because of my daughter’s limitations, me and my kids are going to die in this apartment.”

A large part of the problem in developing policy for poor, urban families with developmental disabilities is the long standing attitude that disability is worthy of safety nets, while safety nets for poverty is met with opposition. It would follow that poor families are being looked at only from poverty perspectives therefore the intersections of disability needs are not being met.

David Wittenburg of the Urban Institute in Washington, DC states “I have generally found, in news outlets and at research conferences, other programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and food stamps tend to get far more publicity in serving low-income adult populations than disability programs. As an economist, this is a very interesting phenomenon given the amount of money we spend on the two major Social Security disability programs, which include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Disability Insurance (DI) —the expenditures on those programs are more than double the amount spent on TANF and food stamps combined. Yet when it comes to disability programs, we often think of them as separate, and a key question is why are we thinking of these programs as a separate component of the safety net? And I think part of the issue is, at least when these programs were set up, policymakers considered the population of people with disabilities somehow different and separate and deserving of cash support from other low-income populations.”

A recommendation for safe housing for families with developmental disabilities would be multiple housing agency partnerships with the Division of Developmental Disabilities. The partnerships would assist at risk families, who struggle with poverty and disability, for safe housing.

Families can no longer wait because they are in additional danger when they cannot teach their child with a disability to lie on the floor when they hear gunfire. Families can no longer wait because they need to be safe. Families can no longer wait because not to assist with both disability and poverty is unacceptable.

Jerome Harris of NJ is the Chair of the National Black Disability Coalition. He can be reached at www.jharris@blackdisability.org

I remember the days when my mother would tuck me in at night with a sad look on her face, almost to a point of crying. I never did ask what was wrong because I had an idea, but knew that if I went further I felt I would’ve broken her. To this day I still don’t know what makes her sad. I only know one truth to her that I fear on the daily, the idea of losing her child.

As a survivor of the institutionalized system of foster care and group homes, I wish to point out the inhumane ways of brainwashing our young children of color into believing that their parents were horrible creatures’, as one therapist put it, that didn’t deserve to keep their children.

My mother did not have the mental capability to fully raise me in a “proper” manner. She had the physical capability to provide a home, food, and put me in school. But she had problems to deal with on her own. She had her ways of dealing with those problems, which was usually drinking.

The fact remains that many children get taken from their parents all he time due to poverty, forced diasporas, police brutality, and straight up racial profiling. 1.“Native American families feel the brunt of this. Their children make up less than 15 percent of the child population, yet they make up more than half of the children in foster care.”

This is a perfect example of assimilation in the united ‘snaaakes’ of amerikkka. Assimilation is a psychological way of stripping one’s identity from them. Many would say otherwise but to those who can empathize, you know the feeling During the days of forced assimilation
in the boarding schools, my mother was beaten, raped, and many other unspeakable deeds occurred. My mother struggled with that since she iived in the days of “kill an Indian, save a man” days.

I have been told many times that families, especially those in diasporas, need the right people behind them. We’re talking lawyers, doctors, and expert witnesses. My father was an expert witness for the Indian Child Welfare Act. He has saved many native children from what
goes on in the system. We need those who have that compassion and determination to save the children from the system or we change the system.

Now as a young single Lakota Sioux father and understand the fear of many parents that have been through what I have. I plan on putting my heart and soul into raising my daughter in a traditional and humble way. Maybe one day she may save a few children from the forced
diaspora of ASSIMILATION!

I remember a few months back when I had a difficult experience trying to get a pair of new shoes.  My shoes were so worn down that they developed large holes on their soles.  This happened during the winter and often times I would walk home in the rain and ended up with nasty wet sox on my feet. With food and other expenses I did not have enough money to buy a new pair.  It was definitely a big hardship not to have enough money to travel comfortably by foot.

            There are plenty of youth in the bay area that are too poor to afford basic necessities.  It’s sad to say that so many of our youth cannot have their basic needs met.  Over 15 percent of people in san Francisco are living below the poverty line.  Across the bridge in Oakland, a staggering 25 percent of children live below the poverty line.   These children do not have good food in the fridge or access to an education.

The youth need these necessities to have a healthy and fulfilling childhood. They need food in the fridge in order to have energy to focus on school.  If youth live in poverty then they are forced to hustle to have enough money just to get by.  The youth SHOULD have enough money for school supplies, food and clothes.  Parents should not have to spend their valuable time fighting for welfare.  Instead it should be easy to obtain for parents, allowing them to give their children the opportunities they deserve. Politicians need to stop serving the needs of the wealthy and give some money to those who are ignored by the rest of society.  Especially the poor youth who need money as children to grow up and raise their kids successfully. 

My story of not having enough money for shoes is one of many.  However, my story can give you an idea of what it is like to not have enough for your basic necessities.  It is societies duty to take care of youth in poverty and give them the same opportunities as those who have money.