Story Archives 2013

Rich-Wite People Store "Jack Spade" lies to get beyond zoning requirements so they can gentrify Valencia Street

            I sincerely believe a lot of indigenous culture has been gentrified from San Francisco, California. The people who are still around are scraping for money just to stay in the neighborhood they grew up in. Almost in every neighborhood from Mission, Potrero Hill, Hunters Point, Fillmore, and Chinatown has been taken over by people with a lot of money. In every one of these neighborhoods the elite is starting to take over, and poverty stricken people are being unheard, and unrecognized. They have torn down projects in Hunters Point while telling the tenants they can come back, but after the buildings are built they raise the rent ridiculously high so black people cannot afford to move back in. In any one of these neighborhoods people offer a lot of money to the tenants for their homes and then resell the land for a higher rate. Despite all of these horrible factors, as a poverty scholar at Poor Magazine when we had NewsRoom in August a man by the name of Andy Blue came and spoke of unknown problems the Mission District is going through from the inside.

            Andy Blue is a rare person because he identifies with having the white class privilege of passing through racism without a problem. He grew up in the Mid West and has lived in San Francisco for sixteen years. He discussed how, when he moved to San Francisco it was diverse and full of good people, but he also discovered the injustices of the communities. Andy consistently said everything he does is a learning process, and he is honored to have the privilege of working with people of color in all aspects of the dilemmas we as poor people go through.

            He has been a San Francisco schoolteacher and has volunteered in various campaigns including fighting the sit/lie law, which was viewed in part, as an attempt to criminalize right of poor homeless people to exist in public spaces of the city. A friend of his, Nate Miller, co organized the “Sidewalks are For People” days that involved thousands of people in more than one hundred events on the sidewalks around the city. He gestured and said “I knew we were doing something right when Poor Magazine became involved and did an amazing event art, music, and people power on the sidewalks are for People Day!”

            The major problem in the Mission District is Jack Spade. Jack Spade is a high-end corporate men’s clothing and accessories retailer based in New York. Jack Spade is the upstart men’s brand of Kate Spade, a high-end women’s designer with some one hundred eighty nine stores in the United States. Jack Spade is a rich company for rich customers who are happy to pay nine hundred duffel bags. This company wants to move into the Mission for the cool factor that the neighborhood can give to the company. They also see the high priced condos sprouting up all around the neighborhood and see a growing market for their $900 duffel bag, but available storefronts are few in the Mission and Jack Spade has its eyes on the location where Adobe Books was twenty-five years. Adobe book was a pretty special bookstore and community based. The store is a family room of sorts, for the neighborhood and people could hang out there for hours browsing the shelves and reading in the comfy old chairs. For some of the folks living in SRO’s along 16^th Street, this was a priceless sort of quasi-public space, like a public library branch without all the rules and with later hours.

             Jack Spade wanted the location for their fancy store and was happy to pay triple the rent so before long the buildings new landlord gave Adobe Books the boot and welcomed Jack Spade with open arms. In order to move in, Jack Spade needed to get permitted by the City’s planning Department. Voters actually passed a Formula Retail ordinance in SF, a few years back that is intended to make it more difficult for big chain stores like Jack Spade to move in to places like the Mission. Jack Spade presented that they only had seven chain stores and they were very little. This was the lie that allowed them to come into the neighborhood, and take over. They are putting these high-end expensive stores in which poor - people of color cannot afford. The whole law was to make sure family owned businesses could still remain in the mission as a culture. They are driving local stores out by raising the rent and threatening people to back off, or they will report them to immigration. Now since the rent is high, people of color are moving to Antioch, Sacramento, Richmond, and Oakland.

On October 9th a hearing on the appeal of the appeal of Jack Spade is scheduled,.Tune in to PNN for updates

In writing this article, I had many reservations about possible retaliation against my children from San Francisco Unified School District. However, if I do not say anything, more Black and Hispanic parents will continue to be harassed by the public school system. The problem is, 80% of Child Protective Services referrals are coming from San Francisco public school administrators.  Many of the reports filed by public schools are allegations of neglect. Under the Unified School District, public schools are protected by certain laws for reporting issues to Child Protective Services. Public schools are abusing CPS to force parents into the public schools' opinions on parenting. 

I do not believe schools have the right to abuse those laws for the purposes of retaliation, discrimination or harassment against Black and Hispanic parents. 

Many public schools never notify the parents about their concerns. Parents are left in the dark about their own children, until Child Protective Services arrives at their doorstep. The scary fact is this is happening more often to Black and Hispanic parents. 60% of CPS referrals are on Black and Hispanic parents. Most of these are working parents, who love their children, volunteer at their child's school, make it to teacher meetings and so on. As a society, what is happening, it appears, is San Francisco public schools is on a witch hunt to put our children in the CPS system, and to put Black and Hispanic parents under investigation.

I interviewed many Black single mothers voicing their concerns with the San Francisco public school system.  They say they are afraid of speaking out on the subject, for fear of their children being removed out the home.

One parent told me her story. Nancy's children attended Lakeshore Elementary School in San Francisco. In January of 2013, Child Protective Services came to her home, accusing her 6-year-old son of not being registered in school . Nancy said she was confused because her 6-year-old son was attending school every day at Lakeshore Elementary. Nancy asked CPS who had reported those accusations.  The CPS caseworker responded, “The principal of the school called.”  Nancy said the caseworker accused her of being on AFDC welfare, and she responded that she is not on any cash aide. The caseworker was shocked by Nancy's statements. Again, Nancy was advised that the Lakeshore school principal had reported the information. The Unified School District set up a meeting about her 6-year-old son's truancy. When Nancy attended the meeting, she learned that Lakeshore Elementary reported her son had missed 46 days of school. Nancy was shocked. She said her child had attended school. Nancy had a meeting with the Principal and her son’s kindergarten teacher, just to find out the information reported to Child Protective Services was misleading. Lakeshore wrongfully reported the information to CPS. The case was never closed.  CPS still has an open case against Nancy. Twice a month a caseworker visits her home, and shows up to school parent meetings. Nancy is scared that her children will be removed from her home due to Lakeshore's false allegations.

Nancy's story is just one of many. I also have a story. I have two boys who attend Creative Arts Charter School. I thought Creative Arts was a great fit for my 8-year-old son.  Such a great fit that I wanted my 4-year-old son to attend the same school. All went well, and now both of my children are attending Creative Arts Charter School.

However, suddenly in February of 2013 Creative Arts made a decision to kick my 4-year-old son out of the school, due to his age. I fought and wrote letters to keep him in the school.  I received a call from the principal stating he could stay in Creative Arts, yet I did not expect the retaliation aftereffect.  I started receiving phone calls left and right about my 4-year-old son.  First about him not passing his vision test, so I had his vision retested, and my son passed the test done by a private doctor.  I received another call from the school counselor accusing my 4-year-old of sexual harassment.  I later found out the story was a lie, and the school counselor apologized.

In May of 2013, I was picking up my children from school at 1pm.  I asked my 8-year-old to pick up his now 5-year-old brother from class and meet me outside.  Apparently, there was a miscommunication between my 8-year-old son and the afterschool teacher. I found out through an email sent to me at 3pm, stating the following,

"hi there- son cannot take his brother out of school. He is too young.  Both boys are registered for After School and so are technically in After School the minute school ends until they are picked up by a responsible adult who is on your list of people who are allowed to pick up your children. Therefore, they are my responsibility from the moment school ends until they are picked up. Today when I saw them outside of school, I asked them where they were going and they said you were waiting for them up the street. I said you needed to come in to sign them out that they were too young to leave on their own. They ran away from me up the street where the construction is. There is no actual sidewalk there for them to walk on and so they ran into the street. They were very unsafe. Your children's safety after school ends is my responsibility until you or a responsible adult on their list comes to pick them up. Please let them know."

I thought, wow, what is this teacher talking about? I never received a phone call from Creative Arts on this issue. I was confused.  I never saw my children run into the street. I also wondered, if there were any questions about releasing my children, then why didn't anyone contact me from the school?  I thought the email was strange and alarming. The next day, I met with the Creative Arts principal.  He was making false accusations of hearsay from strangers and the afterschool care teacher. The principal admitted he questioned my son on who takes him to school. I asked the principal why that is a question, and furthermore why my son is being questioned without a parent present.

Things became clear that the afterschool teacher was covering her ass for some reason, and accused my children of being unsupervised.  I explained to the principal, and the afterschool teacher that watched my children leave safely. So what is going on? Funny no one could answer that question.

After the meeting, I believed the misunderstanding was cleared up.

A week later Child Protective Services came to my home. I was advised that Creative Art Charter School called, making accusations of neglect and concerns about me being a single parent, and my children's clothing attire. I was greatly shocked. I have never neglected my children.  This was my 8-year-old's second year at Creative Arts, so why all of the sudden the accusations of neglect? The CPS caseworker shocked me with the details, which all were false. Funny, in the report Creative Art Charter School said, "oh the parent is nice."  I realized this is in retaliation for the letter I sent in February 2013 to keep my 5-year-old in the school.

What's even more interesting is that I spent the summer getting my children up to grade level.  However, my 8-year-old slipped two grades behind. I realized my child did not understand the concepts of reading, math and so on. I'm glad I caught it in time.  Both of my sons are smart, so I will advise the public schools to focus more on teaching and academics than calling CPS on parents.

No parent should have to go through this type of retaliation.

*Co-editors Update: Today, After a beautiful resistance of community and family the elder Lee Family and their disabled adult daughter were evicted from their family home.The San Francisco so-called progressive sheriff never stopped this from happening. 

The Lee Family Eviction

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia

As i stood in front of the Lee family eviction protest, cluttered with art, color, life and resistance I reflected on the deja-vu-sorrow of it all. I had been here so many times in my not so long life in the Bay Area. From Grace Wells to Lola McKay, From the I-Hotel to the Fill-No-More from Derek Cato to MamaHouse I & 2. Eviction, to last weeks Urban Green eviction in the Mission of 98 year old Mary Phillips,  displacement, removal and  death clings to the pictureresque skyline of San Francisco like blood dripping from a knife.

As someone who was evicted and made houseless as a child, there is nothing like the terror of eviction on the psyche of a child. For elders that pain means death. There are countless elders us poverty skola revolutionaries at POOR Magazine have advocated, fought for and as well stood along side organizations like the Tenants Union, Just Cause and the Housing Rights Committee to resist their removal. There are countless others who never had the strength to fight back, who like so many families we work with, just end up giving up.With nowhere to go, facing houselessness at 60, 70 and 80, they give up on life itself.

In the case of the Lee family,  like most of the other cases of elder and family evictions, they are a humble family, living as their cultural deep structures dictate, taking care of their disabled adult daughter at home, where she needs to be, where any of us indigenous peoples, not completely colonized into the cult of independence would have our families and loved ones.

But these acts of love and inter-dependence arent quantified into an "investor portfolio", profit margins, tax incentive, right-off  neighborhood "improvement plan"  "clean-up", or just plain wrong-headed real estate snakkking.

Since the days of Justin Herman and his subsequent destruction, devil-opment and removal of working class, communities of color, elders ad families from the now Fil-No-More aka Fillmore district, the removal and evicton of  international Hotel in a once thriving pre-gentriFUKEd Manila-town in the 1970's, the endless redlining, poisoning and po-'lice harassment, murder of black and brown Hunters Point, Bayview and Mission district communities, San Francisco has been removing, evicting and causing the death of elders in exchange for profit for decades.

Throw in the Original eviction, i.e., the genocide of Ohlone 1st Nations peoples and you have a bloody legacy of profit over people in the alledgely beautiful City by the Bay  

There was alot of excitement from activists, organizers and progressives, about the election of Ross Mirakirimi. He was going to be the sheriff who changed things, who upset the set-up.

We at POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE weren't so sure about this promise so we invited him to our indigenous News- making circle, Community Newsroom. Several of us previously evicted, post-gentriFUKEd and already houseless poverty skolaz asked him the hard questions. "Will you stop an eviction," was one plaintive request.

At first he skirted the issue. We pressed on. And then he made a commitment to stand with us all, to not let us down.

This is that moment Ross. Show us if you have a brave heart. Stand up to this endless murder of our peoples, of our elders, of our town. Or perpetuate the legacy of murder that seems to be a permanent fixture in this stolen Ohlone land the original land-stealers/ colonizers called San Francisco.

*The other Huge fight now is for the Urban Greed (Green) Building on Delores Street- for more information on that go to the Facebook Page Eviction Free Summer

The demise of the historically black Fillmore district should have been a wake-up call for all of the residents. Snobby joggers and bikers who refuse to obey traffic signals flooded the Fillmore by the masses practically overnight. Even some of the events hosted by public schools became pricier to accommodate those with stolen privileges. Politricktians are in bed with devilopers, selling out every piece of stolen, native land to the greediest, heartless bidder.  So with the possibility of public housing becoming private, where does that leave the people who have been in this neighborhood for generations, such as my family and myself?

Out in the cold, begging the bikers with false entitlement and looking to snooty joggers for mercy and maybe the hope of THEM sharing THEIR land, which they had stolen from us and the natives, The Ohlone nation. For many of us revolutionary freedom fighters for humanity who refuse to live on our knees, this will not be the case.

As of right now, The Mayor’s office of housing is acting at warp-speed to push through a proposal to HUD called Rental Assistance demon-stration (RAD) Which will ultimately mean the privatization of all the last shreds of public housing in San Francisco.

The mayor’s office and housing authority have been holding a series of last minute, so-called “community” meetings in the public housing “projects” that will be bought and sold right from under us, claiming they will be improving our lives and communities.

This will have a direct, devastating impact on the poorest San Franciscans who are a majority of people of color who are already under attack and threat of displacement due to racist and classist housing policies and gentrifukation efforts by big businesses and corporate non-profit and for profit housing developments moving into communities like Hunter’s Point, Western Addition (literally!) and the Mission.

 "They are selling public housing stocks off to private investors as mortgages, which means they can't guarantee what private investors do with their investments" said Paul Boden from the western regional advocacy project (WRAP) who has done research on the destruction of public housing for poor peoples in the US to get some truth beyond the acronyms.

This underhanded tactic would lead to an exodus of evictions and displacement of the people who have been on this Ohlone land for generations, just for the land to be stolen again. We become the victims of white supremacy and classism once again... With nowhere to go, and nothing to show for "investing" in our hood after all this time.

Poor folks and those of color put your shields of "just us" on and unite, because the battle has just started.

Poverty,indigenous,landless, gentriFUKed and removed elders, disabled and families in struggle are putting an urgent call out to all conscious lawyers and law firms to join us in making "Herstory" by representing a "class" of us current and former residents of public housing units in San Francisco suing for our equity. This is meant to change the conversation about historical and current examples of gentrification, displacement and "negro removal" that have happened for generations to our poor, Black and Brown  communities and result in the poverty, instability and genocide of our communities of color.

Listen to this interview with Jake Technique, Sound Producer & Musician who worked with Public Enemy and more.  He said that musicians with disabilities have to be more professional for the industry and talked about his experience as a disabled music sound engineer back in the 80's and now.  His Cousin is now a lead manager and does production for Public Enemy.  Listen!

We talked about:

His work with Public Enemy, Coalition for Disabled Musicians, a Band of disabled musicians called Range of Motion back in 1990's, his recording studio back in the 80's, music today compare to back in the day, disabled women in the music industry, his work today in movies, the changing of the industry and what it means for him now-a-days and more...  Below is his bio on http://www.candomusos.com/profile-jake-rinaldo.php.  Listen to the audio interview.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">In the Best Kept Secret the filmmakers come together through interview to create a seemingly reflective film about a high school graduating class of students with autism from JFK High School in Newark, New Jersey.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">While the film provides unseen, unheard voices, it leaves a questioning audience wanting more dialogue about the intersections of race, class status and disability.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

color:black;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Leroy Moore, a Black disabled activist and independent scholar said, “first look I was excited to see Black people, Black disabled people being the main subject of a film dealing with inner city living, poverty and dealing with social service systems.  We don't see that in film!  It was great to get a father's voice in the film because 9 times out of 10 you don't ever see the father.”

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">However, Moore has many observations.  The transition process is a really big issue with 99% being about a job but he states in between there is a lot of alone time which leads to possible depression and suicide. He points out there was a lack of socialization, students reacting to each other, visiting one another and all that goes along with friendship.  “Transition is about getting services but should include disability culture, history and pride, even in the classroom. Life skills are one thing but being empowered about life is another thing.”

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">He is concerned that many of the parents are looking for babysitters and believes the teachers work means nothing if not followed in the home and also would have loved to have seen adults with autism as mentors.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Moore reflected from his childhood in the section that talked about what your kid can't do.  “Damn it’s the same today.  How can we feel empowered when out of the gate is "can't?"

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Cheryl Green, a white disabled anti-racism ally and documentarian commented, "I thought it was a decent film in some ways. As long as you agreed that the film was about the teacher and not about those young men, then it was good. Sadly, they advertise it as being about the young men.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">But I still got a lot out of watching it. What I could not bear was the interview with the film maker and one of her producers. I thought their comments were from their experience of being privileged and entitled, which left some of their comments self-contradictory.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">As I listened to the description on the point of the film I thought "I bet that's not what the families you filmed think this film was for.” It reminded of a lesson I learned as a white documentarian that I must be careful not to reinforce that I am the expert, and helper and doer and the black person as interesting token subject who gives me points for superficial multiculturalism.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">“I don’t think the filmmakers have the first clue that the families they documented live in different circumstances are relevant.  I have learned as an outsider coming in, I must check my privilege at the door.”

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">What stood out for me, a single Black parent of an adult daughter with significant impairment, with a long memory of my ancestry, was the disparity in values.  The young men appeared to be directed in janitorial and fast food services, while the white people with disabilities attended an arts and culture program. This practice is all too common in the Black/white disability divide. 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Like Cheryl, I wonder if the filmmakers saw what they were showing.  Like Leroy, I wonder if the teacher and families understand the students have the right to be all they can be.  And I wonder if mankind understands that it is not ok for people with disabilities to aspire to be janitors and clean-up workers for fast food companies.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">However, had it not been for the Best Kept Secret there would not be this discourse.

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> 

mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Best Kept Secret mso-bidi-language:AR-SA"> http://www.pbs.org/pov/bestkeptsecret/full.php#.UkLjc7HD8qQ

As off-plantation poor peoples in resistance, we are activating with desperation, immediate and long-term need and never pimped liberation. We are already there every week sharing food from the garden and making street based media for our Street Newsroom.

Homefulness isnt based on a grant guideline or a lengthy capital campaign that becomes a Non-profiteer business of its own. We are just folks, in struggle and resistance, making it happen.With humility and love. Always.

Ase-O, Ometeotl, Semign Cacona Guari, Ahooo...

For all of you who helped to make this happen though your donations of time, work or dollars, so much Love, gratitude and prayers to you. If you weren't able to be here this time, but want to help us see this happen, consider making a donation at this link

Original Artwork by Jose Villarreal for Indigenous Peoples Day

Editors Note: Jose is one of several power-FUL PNN Plantation prison correspondents who was involved in the Hunger Strike to end all solitary confinement and the in-human treatment of all of our incarcerated brothers and sisters.

Revolutionary Greetings! I have temporarily stopped my hunger strike- for now. There are many things and efforts taking place here in the SHU. Some people are going on strike for a week or two while others are jumping back in for the long haul; some are jumping in alone, while some are doing so in groups and this will continue so long as the state continues to refuse to end this torture.

            It should shock the conscience of the planet that people will die because a state would rather continue to torture humans than to save lives. The heart of our 5 demands is to end the torture in these concentration kamps, but these demands are in odds with the states’ goals. We know what their goals are, we prisoners know them well and the state is determined to carry out their deadly program at all costs. But we need the public to understand what the states’ intention is; we need people out in society to understand what these SHU’s are all about and why the state is making such a fuss over keeping “business as usual” even when word is getting out about their dirty little secrets.

            The people should take a minute to notice why is it that some of the best prison theoreticians, the most honorable prison revolutionaries, selfless acts, organized strikes and activism deriving from the SHU? California leads the U.S. in the prison boom- it is ground zero and SHU prisoners are tortured by the thousands in solitary confinement, but the SHU is the spot where it seems the most transformation is taking place, where prisoners are learning and shedding their old bourgeois, individualistic ways so why the torture?

            Someone out in society who is unfamiliar with the prison kamps or the injustice system may be a little confused as to why those who are clearly bettering themselves are being tortured more than any other prisoners. Just so you’re with me now, those who continue in the same old mentality may be left alone on the prisons general population but those who transform, become conscience and attempt to better themselves, their nation or people in general, these are the individuals who are tortured. It’s a very simple explanation and this is because these SHU’s (read concentration kamps) were built primarily for the revolutionary, the conscience, the prison activist or jailhouse lawyer. In classic co Intel pro style these kamps were designed to neutralize the enemy of the state or as the state puts it “persons of influence”. This is what it comes down to, this is the bare bones of what we are facing and what this prison struggle is all about whether some participating strikers even realize it themselves but this is what we are truly up against here.

            Our development as people within these dungeons goes against state interests, and one quick example to prove this is when SHU prisoners here in Pelican Bay released the call to “end all hostilities” between all nationalities. According to what the sate claims the Pelican Bay SHU holds the state of California’s “Gang Leaders”. The state isolates prisoners here stating their “power and influence” on other prisoners and youth out in society. That said, when these same prisoners issue a call to end hostilities, such a call should carry weight since according to the state this is where “power and influence” exists, so why wouldn’t the state publicize this call for peace? The state has huge resources in corporate media, so why wasn’t this call broadcast on every evening news program? Why didn’t we see it on the front page of every major corporate newspaper? After all coming from so-called “gang leaders” this call would save thousands of poor lives right? The reason the state is attempting to not just make this call go away, but to punish those and possibly assassinate those who initiated this call for peace and the end to hostilities is because it goes against the states’ interests, plain and simple.

            The ruling class will not stand by while poor people are transformed and mobilized to empower the people, they will target these people and neutralize the look to history and back in the 70’s when the national liberation struggles peaked, groups like the Brown Berets, the Black Panthers and the Young Lords party who were transforming and mobilizing poor brown and black were targeted and neutralized. The “persons of influence” were served prison or the morgue. When prisoners in Attica transformed and mobilized they were neutralized and gunned down. Today as California prisoners are transforming and mobilizing. Many of us will also be neutralized by the state whether we are starved to death or by other means, but the state will do all it can to teach us a lesson for disobeying the lash. But at this point we see nothing that can be worse than torture!

             One of the ways the state is retaliating at this time is once those who go a certain amount of time without eating they take away all your property and then re-house you. When this happens, the prisoner is unable to communicate with the outside world via letters. You are unable to write letters because you and everyone else in your pod have no paper, envelopes or stamps because all your property is bagged up in some storeroom. Even if you would get this material somehow you have no address book to write anyone outside of prison. This extreme isolation is used to further our torture and makes it difficult for our outside supporters to know what’s really going on. But those prisoners who are not moved and who do have their property it is important that we write to our friends and family as well as outside supporters in order to explain what is occurring in this kamp, while countering state slander against our beautiful struggle. We have the ability to be a voice when this privilege is currently out of reach for those in some in all boxer underwear and nothing else in their cell, held incommunicado.

            Recently on a local radio station it was revealed that over 20 prisoners who have been on continuous hunger strike since July 8^th to Folsom Prison which also has a SHU. The SHU at Folsom is used for medical, as it is close to U.C. Davis hospital. This tells us that these men who have been moved are suffering life-threatening symptoms and that should they die the prison would not want the publicity of 20+ prisoners dying in Pelican Bay SHU. This is another misstep because we will make sure the truth is told! What was also learned from the radio is that the four main representatives here in the SHU who signed the “agreement to end hostilities” and who were our prison negotiators have been taken out of the SHU and moved to the Ad Seg (ASU). The ASU is usually used to house people waiting for a bed to open in the SHU. What’s unique- and horrifying in this case is that the prison not just moved these four men to ASU without property, without even a pen to write with and left unable to write letters or communicate what is occurring to them. What’s more before they were moved whole pods were emptied out in order to house four men.

            To get an idea of what ASU looks like, there is a long hallway and as you walk down the hall there is four “wings” on the left side and four wings on the right side. Each wing is a unit which has around twelve cells and prisoners are held in these windowless cells with nothing in them but a mattress and a sheet. What the prison has done is place these four men in a unit or wing along and one of the men in each of the four corners of the ASU. Each wing has a door so that even if one would yell at the top of your lungs the other wing would not hear; you are essentially sealed off from ­anyone even your fellow prisoners.

The reps are being tortured in this was as they hit the 60^th day of hunger because this is history repeating itself. These are men attempting t negotiate to resolve the strikes and find solutions with the state and they get this treatment. These are the men who sent the call to end hostilities in an attempt to end decades-long wars and an attempt to save countless future lives from poor on poor crime and for this they are tortured in this way. These men are attempting to transform and mobilize poor people in these kamps who have been cast off from society and for this they are singled out to be neutralized alone in the four corners of the ASU. What is taking place in the ASU is the state heightening psychological warfare to the max where an entire unit is emptied in order to house one person! This is an attempt to instill a sense of helplessness in these reps and highlight isolation in their minds in order to inflict the most damage. But what these bourgeois officials cannot grasp is this is not a game and people are ready to die for this and because of our understanding of who and what we are up against we are that much more determined to win. State officials are paid to do this but we do this to survive! The best way to describe this is how US military were in Vietnam being paid to fight while the Vietnamese people were in it for their very survival and this was why they were successful.

            But people should understand this is a protracted struggle and will take different forms and will continue for some time but we have made a leap forward and will continue to transform and mobilize these kamps from the inside out!

Peoples power siempre!

Jose H. Villarreal

(Editor's note: The elder who is the subject of this article, Arturo Noriega, took part in a housing rally in the city's South of Market Area (SOMA) yesterday (10/9/13) protesting the gentrification, high rents and evictions in the neighborhood.  He is currently homeless.  He has worked tirelessly to obtain housing, doing all the necessary things in order to secure a place.  Mr. Noriega took part in the SOMA march, called, "SOMA Time and the Livin' Ain't Easy Walk of Shame", that was organized by housing rights groups and tenants from throughout San Francisco.  Mr. Noriega took time to participate in the rally, despite being run back and forth in a bureaucratic maze that is extremely frustrating, to say the least.  Below is the story of his current struggle to obtain housing in a most hostile city for tenants and potential tenants.  Arturo is pictured (in blue cap) in upper right hand corner of picture speaking to reporter)

A San Francisco man who was approved for section 8 housing at Trinity Place in the city’s South of Market area (SOMA), a hotbed of tech sector fueled evictions and gentrification, finds himself in a frustrating and demoralizing bureaucratic maze that is keeping him from securing the housing he needs to come out of his homeless situation.

Arturo Noriega is currently homeless.  He is a San Francisco resident who has been extremely proactive in trying to obtain housing.  He enlisted the help of the Bill Sorro Housing Program in July in applying for housing at Trinity Place, located on 1188 Mission Street.  Mr. Noriega completed all of the necessary paperwork with due diligence.  His application was submitted, which included his financial information, and was submitted into a lottery, to be among other applicants looking to obtain housing from a limited number of units.

The developer at Trinity refused to honor its binding section 8 agreement that is has with the city.  This prompted the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community development to get involved.  Communication ensued between the attorneys and representatives from both sides which resulted in, supposedly, a resolution of the situation.  However, the situation—in fact—did not change, as Mr. Noriega finds himself in a confusing bureaucratic maze and is still homeless.

Trinity Management has advised Mr. Noriega that he needs a co-signer on the lease as well as a credit check.

If Mr. Noriega’s financials weren’t sufficient, or if there was a question regarding it, then why was he approved for a unit in the first place? 

This has been a demoralizing nightmare for Mr. Noriega, who has honorably and exhaustively worked to secure housing in order to get himself out of homelessness.

Our message to Trinity Properties, Caritas Management and The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development: Do right by Mr. Noriega.  Stop messing around with this man’s life and give him the unit that he was promised.  Or is it that you don’t want section 8 tenants, that you are banking on him to give up out of frustration?  Give the man what you said you were going to give him.  You ought to be ashamed.