San Francisco, la nueva ciudad de Ricos & Privilegiados

[Scroll down for English]

La ciudad de San Francisco se esta transformando. Se están remodelando los edificios pero lo mas triste es que están dejando fuera a los pobres. Esto es el caso del barrio de la Misión donde están botando edificios viejos para construir nuevos edificios, condominios, para la gente rica con privilegios. Aquí, en la 16 y misión, van a quitar el negocio de Walgreen’s y los de mas edificios en la plaza de BART para construir condominios para la gente que tiene el privilegio de pagar precios altos. Esto lo han estado planeando desde 2008, en silencio detrás de la espalda de la comunidad que seria afectada por la construcción. En ese entonces la poca gente que sabia del proyecto no quiso unirse y organizarse.

Desde los 1980s hubo una guerra contra los inquilinos y la corporaciones e industria privada que quería botar edificios. Pero la gente se mantuvo en la Misión. La gente de ahora párese estar de acuerdo con la construcción de nuevos edificios. Hoy todos los vecinos están de acuerdo de que se bote estos edificios, algunos dicen que es porque les han prometido dinero en cambio. Pero yo no creo que les den a buen precio pues como todo en la vida prometen mientras logran ganar lo que quieren, y una ves lo logren o estén en el poder, se olvidan de las promesas que hicieron a la gente.

Yo pienso que también estas compañías solo prometen y una ves que termina la  construcción, no se acordarán de lo que prometieron. Pienso que solo están viendo a la gente como pescadito tirando el anzuelo pero ya no se puede hacer nada porque mucha gente ciega por un poquito de dinero esta acuerdo, aunque no se pone a pensar en largo plazo que la comunidad de la Misión esta siendo destruida por los ricos y privilegiados. Lo que yo no se es que va pasar con los pobres que todavía permanece en esta comunidad. Que pasara cuando estén rodeados con los ricos y privilegiados que no quieren a los pobres?

Es triste porque los que tienen el poder siempre ofrecen algo, para segar al pobre que esta hambriento, pero mientras ellos logran a ganar lo que se proponen. A las empresas privadas y compañías, no les importa los pobres ni lo que pensamos porque San Francisco se esta reconstruyendo para ricos.

San Francisco, the new city for Rich & Privileged

[subir a principio de pagina pare versión en Español]

The city of San Francisco is transforming. They are remodeling buildings but the saddest thing is that they are leaving out the poor. This is the case of the Mission District where they are demolishing old buildings to build new buildings, in specific: condominiums, for rich privileged people. In the 16th and Mission, they will remove the Walgreen's and other buildings from the 16^th BART plaza to build condos for people who have the privilege to pay high prices to live there. They have been planning this quietly since 2008, behind the back of the community affected by the construction. At the time, a few people knew of the project but they did not unite and organize.

Since the 1980s there has been war against tenants and corporations and private industry that want to demolish buildings. But poor people remained in the Mission.  Today a lot of neighbors agree with the development of these buildings, some say it is because they have promised these people money in exchange of their approval.

But what ever the price it will not be enough because these privileged people promise things in order win what they want, and once these people are in power they forget the promises made to the people.

I also think that these companies only speak of promises but once construction ends, they will not honor the promises. I think they're playing games on poor people that out of ignorance or necessity become blind people for a little money, although they are not thinking about the long-term community of the Mission is being destroyed by the rich and privileged. What I want to know is what is going to happen with the poor that still remains in this community. What will happen when they are surrounded with the rich and privileged who do not want the poor to be their neighbor?

It is sad because those who have the power always offer something to the poor to appease their hunger, but all the while they get what they want. Private companies do not care about the poor because they only think about is rebuilding a new San Francisco for the rich.

June 3, 2014

“DONT WORRY I AINT GONNA PISS ON YOUR BUTTHOLE NECKLACE WEARIN’ BITCH” -ODB, “Vapor trails”

With the huge influx of newcomers to San Francisco comes a new phenomenon of people who apparently don’t recognize those of us that have been here longer than them as human.

This new breed of new breed of newcomers, the Stepford‘ciscans, will appear to be human in most of their appearances and mannerisms, except they either don’t respond when greeted by way of rudely and obviously ignoring us; or they stare at us as if we are some sort of oddity or subhuman specimen escaped from a lab that somehow can’t harm them, but at the same time it is an antagonizing stare.

The vast majority of them appear to be Caucasian but a fair enough number also appear to be of Asian , Latino and even some of African descent. The thing that is the most alarming about them is they appear to be people who would otherwise have good manners or display “proper etiquette” in everyday life situations.

I seriously feel like lifting their shirts up to see if they have bellybuttons! Unfortunately I know that wouldn’t end well for me, i.e. cops being called, beat down, death, jail or a combination of 2 or 3!

The best I can say and do is warn you, dear San Francisans: beware the Stepford ‘ciscans! Avoid them if at all possible, and for the sake of your own safety do not engage them !

(Photo by SFGATE.com)

Standing in line at an elementary school graduation. I look at the colors surrounding me.  The cars roll by with loud colors. The lyrics of lives lived or once lived blare from car speakers announcing their presence while the sky above whispers in its ever present blue. Trees that have stood for generations show their skin and limbs proudly like the survivors they are.  The people in line are mostly down home folk, Frisco natives or folks that have been in the city for generations--running in all directions, crossing streets, trying to make it before the light turns red, scurrying to get a place in line that is snaking the length of the street.  The parents and relatives arrive with stuffed animals and balloons to show their love for their kids and the achievement of education.  Pictures are taken and folks are excited and proud as the colorful balloons bobbing and hovering above their heads.

Women--mothers and grandmothers and aunties sprout up all over—all proud and full of smiles.  Some look like floats, big boned, big cheeked—outfitted in tight clothing that is like another skin, balancing on heels and shoes that glitter in the early evening.  Those mothers, whose lips are thick with sheen gleaned from the glint of sun that rests on the troubled faces of skillets, pots and pans; whose smear of kisses cover a child’s face and never comes out.  Those women whose bodies are filled with dreams and screams and laughter and tears and stories; those women waiting in line, waiting for their children to walk across that stage; those women whose voices hit the air and sing out, whose laughter cracks through the clouds and make the rain fall in every color.   With women like these, no rainbow is needed because the rainbow is wrapped around them and expands with their breath, laughter, dreams; giving birth to more breath, more laughter, more dreams and, of course, rain.

I can’t help but look at the youngsters ready to graduate from Elementary school and wonder what pictures, poems and stories await them.  I see all the children, all colors and backgrounds and voices.  I think about my own elementary school graduation.  I was a skinny little boy who’d broken his leg in a car accident.  I was hobbling around on crutches.  I remember those days in the city but those days are like broken reflections shed from the skin of a mirror.  I see the generations pass by me, faster and faster, and I look at the trees lining the street in silent celebration.  I see little boys dressed like men, neckties, slacks, hair greased sideways and upward and forward.  The little boys run about and the little girls are dressed like their mothers.  And the kids are on the stage in caps and gowns.  And the kids have names like Tiburcio, Akil, Octavio, Fazon, Valeria, Maifa, Maricruz and other names that are poems waiting to be born and sung into the San Francisco air.

The theater is packed and the kids give speeches that speak of the struggle of their parents to raise them.  Some spoke of their immigrant families and told their stories in English and Spanish, their voices rising like trees into the expanding sky.  And as each child’s name was called to accept their graduation certificates, the mothers, uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters released their own pent up dreams, rising from seats, not holding back.  In a chorus of affirming claps and declarations of pride and calling out of names that would be the envy of any church or arena, those parents and friends showed who they were—down home folks with booming voices and emotion that pour freely.  Their voices, their presence, their children are the meaning of San Francisco.  Their faces are the color of flowers that need to stay here.  Will these children be here, will they grow up here?  Or will they be evicted from the landscape in which they give color.  Will their faces be part of the mural that tells the story of our city or will there not be a place for murals anymore?

June 10, 2014

“What he made a reality through that bookstore, was a forum where people could come together and be challenged to raise the right questions about political, religious and social
issues,” said San Francisco Supervisor Amos Brown, of Marcus Bookstore co-owner Raye Richardson. Brown added that Mr. Richardson “made a sterling contribution of great substance in that he developed many young scholars.”

Marcus Bookstore has been the best bookstore ever and it has a lot of history with the Ethnic Studies Department at SFSU. In the sixties there was a big protest to form a department to teach Black Studies the way African Americans on campus felt like they were supposed to teach. They had a list of demands and many things came out of the protest: the Black Student Union, the Cesar Chavez Student Center, the La Raza major, and the Asian History major. I think the strike at SFSU was connected with the Black Panthers and the fraternities and sororities. Most of my teachers sprouted from this revolution to make the first Ethnic Studies program in the United States. I sincerely believe the struggle for justice in academia is still going on, especially after the closing of Marcus Bookstore.

Every teacher in the Ethnic Studies program makes the students buy their books from Marcus Bookstore. We kept their bookstore running because it is one of the first black bookstores in the nation. While the bookstore is being threatened with closure, I am hurting because I am an Africana Studies major, and I feel I got robbed!

Dr. Ramona Pascoe’s September letter of protest to the Governor's office, who had called upon State Troopers to squash the protesters in 1968, says it best: “Today, all around our nation, the compelling argument for cultural sensitivity and cultural competence has been recognized as critical to our diplomatic success in meeting our neighbors in the global community with whom we share a global economy. Today, we are united. Not unlike the American Revolution, the Battle at Gettysburg, or the historic Civil Rights Movement, change comes through challenge. Will you or Maria please join us? Will you send us a letter of commendation for our achievement? Can we bury the proverbial ax?"

There will be a news conference to support Marcus Bookstore. It is an opportunity to note the courageous actions of student strikers and their supporters; heal breaches that remain; highlight the victories achieved by the strike; make sure that the strike is more than just a footnote in history books; and to call the United States and the world to be vigilant of civil rights and social justice.

How can we keep social justice if they denigrate everything people of color have fought for at SFSU? Evidently the cycle of violence has not stopped, as can be witnessed in the writings of a lot of the Black Studies teachers, who have fought for their classes, and written a tremendous amount of books about their experience at SFSU when they were students or young teachers. I do not know what is going to happen, but now I don’t think it is a white or black problem, it’s the poor against the rich. I think Marcus Bookstore is a closed statement, because of its history.

The generations after us will not understand the struggle of the striking students involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther party. Every elder at SFSU in the Black Studies Department consistently reiterates that we must keep the movement alive and follow those before them, to turn to greater accomplishments. After finding out how many teachers have left SFSU and the Black Studies department, other younger generations will not get the opportunity I had to spend time with our elders, who’ve made it happen for all the students at SFSU, especially students of color.

I think it is absurd to close the bookstore. It’s like closing down one of the only things Black people owned.

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">Krip-Hop Nation (KHN): color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:IT">Hello One Son. color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">I came across your Hip-Hop color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">song, Janessa feat Tia off your EP, BRILLIANT for your daughter who has cerebral palsy but before we get to that your bio says you are Finau Entertainment CEO, Hip Hop Artist, Apollo Legend, Poet, Activist. Break down each one for jus & tell us how you continue in those she's today?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: Finau Entertainment is a label that me and my wife Seini spearheaded Finau is my daughter's middle name, I've released my five projects (A Poor Man's Testimony, The Voice: From Bama 2 Baghdad, Microwave Age, Canvas, and BRILLIANT) on this label. Helvetica;color:#222222">   mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">I color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">use the term Hip Hop artist, because I represent Hip Hop culture  color:#222222">matter of fact I Am Hip Hop and I use rap and spoken word as an artistic expression, some people don't look at Hip Hop music as an art form because nowadays artist settle with being simplistic so our music has become disposable. Helvetica;color:#222222">   mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">I always try to be poetic and give the listener something to digest after the listen, I also color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">enjoy performing spoken word because you can't camouflage there's no beat to hide behind it's all about your words. Apollo Legend comes from a successful  color:#222222">performance I did at the Famous Apollo Theater in 1997. I use Activist because I'm working toward a better tomorrow, I try to invoke change for the better through various means whether Hip Hop, Spoken Word, Interviews or Blogs I talk to the youth about the hidden hand that manipulate our ignorant, for every puppet there's a puppet master we get so caught up in color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">the show that we don't see the strings. Helvetica;color:#222222">    

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">I never heard your CD, Poor Man color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:FR">’ mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">s Testimony. color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">Tell us about that project & why was it well receive in Japan?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: To understand that project we have to flashback to 2003, when 50 Cent debut was highly Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">anticipated color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">I chose to color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">release A Poor Man's Testimony on the same day he mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">released Get Rich Or Die Tryin, I wasn't able to promote worldwide but for one month mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">regionally I mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">had my commercials run in conjunction with his on BET, MTV, and VH-1. The concept of the project started with the title color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">and cd color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">cover which was split in half with two pictures, one being dated 1555 showing myself as a slave in the fields plowing, the other picture was mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">that current time of 2003 showing me as a construction worker giving the concept of mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">as times change some things remain the same. The songs take your on a emotional roller coaster dealing with life struggles, and finding your way through the maze. One of the songs on the project was Lone Star Livin which I recorded for a soundtrack, that was the song that got the attention of playerzball Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">from Japan who interviewed me for his mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">Hip Hop site. It allowed me to expand my fan base and keep in contact with old and new supporters.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">In you other project, Microwave Age you dealt with Hip color:#222222">— mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:NL">Hop culture. Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">Can you expand on the meaning and message of that project inside and outside of Hip-Hop?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: In one of the lyrics from Crossroadz I said "We in the Microwave Age, where we want everything ready made" This is not only true in Hip Hop with the fast food rap you hear on the radio, it's true in society. Everything from your IPhone to using text terms (LOL,OMG) mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">deals with the Microwave Age concept, kids will complain that the internet is running slow, but they never had to go through the steps of writing and mailing a letter. As we advance in technology we lose certain color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">characteristics like looking a person in the eye and interacting with that individual. I felt the need to address my concerns as well as deal with the cause that effects us today. Helvetica;color:#222222">   

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">Back to your song, Janessa, tell us story behind that song & how is Janessa today?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: When I was in Iraq, I wrote a poem about my daughter which eventually became the song Janessa. It was years later that I let my friend/producer Khalid Salaam (Green Tea Musik) Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">hear a ruff draft of the song, he composed the track and Tia and I collaborated on the hook. color:#222222">   mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">The song deals with her struggles with cerbal palsy and how she continues to color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">defy the odds I also color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:FR">touch color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">on the doctors color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">negligence at birth color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">which caused her to almost lose her life. My goal was to tell her story, and hopefully educate those who are ignorant mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">about people mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">with special needs. Today Janessa is doing well she still has the same everyday struggles, that's why I'm blessed to have my wife be a stay home mom to assist with her needs.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">As the founder of Krip-Hop Nation (Hip-Hop/musicians with disabilities) & a Black activist with cerebral palsy, I was touched that a father, Hip-Hop artist & a Black man had the courage to put that song out. color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">Tell us what kind of reactions have you received from that song?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: The reaction and support thus far has been good, especially with fans and people who've heard me perform the song. I've learned that oftentimes support comes from the ones you least expect.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">As a Black man in Hip-Hop with a daughter with a disabilities have that change the way you view Hip-Hop? mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">I asked because Hip-Hop especially mainstream Hip-Hop have a history of taking shots toward people with disabilities.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: Having a daughter with a disability not only changed my outlook on Hip Hop but life in general. My wife and I was young parents, and having a disabled daughter helped us to mature faster then most,  color:#222222">I also mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">think society as a whole is ignorant toward people with disabilities, I'm familiar with some of the lyrics that take jabs at people with disabilities or the comedians that often do the same, I'm definitely not a fan of that, but sometimes if you don't know you want show, so that's why I applaud you for your efforts with Krip-Hop Nation  color:#222222">we need more platforms to educate. Hopefully for those who have taken jabs in the past hear a song like Janessa, or learn about your movement and better Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">understand our plight.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">I always notice that disability national organizations/charities use a lot of famous Hip-Hop artists to push their cause or do a benefit but their efforts sometimes don mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:FR">’ color:#222222">t touch people with disabilities & don color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:FR">’ mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">t highlight the talents of people with disabilities that are doing things. color:#222222">  color:#222222"> "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">How do you see giving back to the disabled community including Hip-Hop artists who are disabled?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: I understand a mainstream mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">artist using there celebrity to bring more awareness to a cause my only thing is to make sure you're passionate about the charity and it's not just business as usual. mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">I think a person has to start within his or her means, if you know someone with a disability and you really want to help you can assist that individual personally. Also lack of monetary value isn't always a reason not to get involved, you can always volunteer your time.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: It would be kool if you do a video for your daughter color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:FR">’ mso-ansi-language:FR">s song.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: That is definitely in the works, but I want to be able to involve others who share the same struggles. As an independent label supporting my music color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">allows me the means to expand on the song with a visual expression to match the vocal expression. color:#222222"> 

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">What do you want people to take away after listening to the song, Janessa.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: I just wanted to tell her story, and hopefully touch those that can relate directly or indirectly and bring awareness, also to let people with a disability know they are not alone, or forgotten.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">Has your activism change because of you daughter & if so how?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: Due to my upbringing I've always been conscience and aware, color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">but my daughter having cerebral palsy definitely changed my activism because during the time she was color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222;mso-ansi-language:IT">diagnose color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">my wife and I where privates in the military, and mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">we experienced doors being shut when we was pleading for help, this taught Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">us a valuable lesson. color:#222222">   

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN:  color:#222222">From my research knowing that many times when fathers (Black color:#222222">… "Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">)find out that their sons/daughters might be disabled they nine times out of leave that relationship leaving the mother to rise that child, What is your advice to fathers especially Black fathers who just found out that their newborn has a disability?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son:  color:#222222">I would say there's a difficult road ahead but you and your wife (or mother of your child) don't have to take that journey alone, God will be with you and always get a second or third opinion. Do as much research to educate yourself Helvetica;color:#222222">  mso-hansi-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">and try to reach out to others who might be dealing with similar situations. I recall not having a peer to talk too, none of our friends or family was dealing with a child with a disability that also made me and my wife bond even stronger, because it felt like no one else could relate to our struggle.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN: mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">Any words to the Hip-Hop community about disability & your views on it?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: Some people treat the disable like the outcast of society, like they don't belong. Compassion has become an afterthought only to be exercised when it happens close to home but we see the stares and hear  color:#222222">the whispers please mso-ascii-font-family:Helvetica;color:#222222">  color:#222222">understand this, just because you're disable it don't exclude you from being a person.

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">KHN:  color:#222222">What is in your future & how can people get in touch with you?

"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#222222"> 

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">One Son: I'm continuing to push my EP BRILLIANT which includes the song Janessa, you can reach me on

"Arial Unicode MS";color:#222222">Bandcamp: color:#222222">BRILLIANT, by ONE SON

Uncle Anthony still walks the streets of the San Francisco.  The landlords and real estate folks can’t get rid of him.  He walks with his leather baseball cap cocked to the side.  His movement is the vibration of blood and bone that makes the sky quiver.  The story of his life is burned and carved into his cane that rests at his side; like an old friend, supporting him, offering a bit of rest as he holds his own upon the rooted foundation of the city that gave birth to him.  Uncle Anthony with the dark shades framing Fillmore Street eyes and Fillmore Street visions.  Fillmore Street is written in his skin and in his walk and in his talk.  Uncle Anthony, in his mid-60’s, still looking young, still looking good.

Uncle Anthony, San Francisco born and raised.  The real estate speculators can’t get rid of him.  They see him walking down the street and watch out of the corners of their eyes.  What is he doing here? They ask.  While the speculators can only speculate, Uncle Anthony can only remember.  He can’t forget the faces of the people of his life, the faces of the city; the faces of the mothers and fathers who have passed on, the faces of the children and the children of children that are pressed into the mural of his mind. 

He talks to people that have touched the landscape of his life, remembering their words, their voices, the way their faces expressed what was in their minds.  He remembers the silence, the simmering spaces between dates and places that go unspoken.  He remembers the loss of skin, bone, voice—he sees in the shadows what remains.

The roots pulled from the ground whip across his mind and body like the wind as cranes go up into the sky, claiming the air we breathe, with no memory, no mind, no music—only the drone of sameness, of decay whose veneer is blinding. 

Uncle Anthony says he “don’t like San Francisco no more”.  But still, he can’t get away from it.  Fillmore Street still lives in his skin; the Mission and Chinatown and Bayview and Lakeview—all those places—still alive in his mind.  All the faces and names of  his life in the city are carved into his cane, the only thing offering him comfort as he goes from place to place in a city that no longer wants him.

© 2014 Tony Robles

In the spring of 1994 my older sister told me about the EZLN (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional also known as the Zapatistas) uprising in Chiapas and their declaration of war on the country of Mexico and how for thirteen days they held San Christobal de las Casas, the capital of the state. This Mayan uprising came on New Years day 1994, the day that the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect. NAFTA did many things, from relaxing environmental policies to removing Article 27 from the Mexican Constitution that provided land repatriation to indigenous people in Mexico as well as negative impacts on Mexican farmers who were affected subsidies for imported corn. Learning about the Zapatista movement changed my life; it was amazing to hear about their struggle to stand up to the government who had been ignoring the needs of Indigenous people for too long. It was an incredible thing because it happened at a time when the idea of armed struggle was considered something that would never happen again. I was a senior in high school at the time and had spent the last couple years reading about Third World revolutionary movements from the 1960s and had come to accept that revolutionary armed struggle would never happen again, that type of change was a thing of the past. But learning about the Mayan rebellion from the south gave me a new understanding of the world and helped me see that another world is possible.

Over the next few years I read the communiqués written by Subcomandante Marco the spokesperson for the Zapatistas and learned about their struggle and how they put their weapons down to negotiate with the government. During this time I came to understand how our histories were intertwined, as a Xicano living in the U.S. I definitely live a different reality, I have all the comforts that come with living in the first world, like housing, food and the right to an education as a youth. We do have one thing in common, our ancestors have been on this land since time immemorial and although we’ve gone through a process of detribalization my family has indigenous roots in Turtle Island. This commonality was something that many Xican@s here in the U.S. understood, and the Zapatista uprising became something of great importance in understanding their indigeniety as people whose ancestors had been through a process in which their indigenous culture was destroyed along with being displaced from their lands. The influence of the Zapatistas helped create a Xican@ Indigena renaissance along with a solidarity movement that inspired a dream for autonomous communities.

For many years after their uprising the Zapatistas the idea of autonomy was something that inspired people to dream about taking back indigenous lands as the Zapatistas had done during the uprising. The dream grew in the early 2000s when they removed themselves from the process of negotiation with the government that kept seeming less promising every day, the Zapatistas stopped making demands and instead created 5 autonomous Caracoles (Snails) with their form of horizontal self-government or good government as they describe it. Through these Caracoles the Zapatistas organized health clinics, schools, community banks and independent media projects and each has its own autonomous health clinic and primary and/or secondary school. The creation of these communities in 2003 helped fill a space in the imagination of XIcan@s of what autonomy could be like in a country where the government is trying to destroy your existence. This idea of autonomy in the Xican@ community has manifested in different ways, I remember going to Regeneración, a cultural space in Highland Park during the mid 1990s where Zapatismo was a guiding principle for the space. For Melanie Cervantes and me, it inspired us to create our collaborative Dignidad Rebelde, named after a phrase the Zapatistas made popular in their communiqués that emphasized the dignity they were taking back through their movement that inspired our use of temporary autonomous spaces where we come together with community and make art for the people.

More recently in East Oakland Poor News Network (PNN) moved in the direction of the Zapatistas and their experiment with autonomy and bought a small plot of land with a duplex on it. The name of this space is Homefulness, the house and land both needed some work but it was great start but most importantly the plot of land is big enough to expand on. The property was purchased through an equity campaign, which raised $134,000 that allowed for the land to be paid for outright. The idea of an equity campaign was seen as an alternative to a capital campaign, the difference being that through equity sharing, not tied to financial resources it will create a permanent and lasting solution to houselessness for families in poverty who have been displaced, evicted, gentrified and destabilized out of their indigenous lands and communities.
Homefulness operates as a sweat equity project that strives to provide permanent co-housing, education, arts and social change projects for houseless and formerly houseless families and individuals. Hearing about these projects reminded me of the Caracoles the Zapatistas have built. I had the opportunity to visit Homefulness during the ribbon cutting ceremony on March 6th, the day they officially unveiled the plans they had for the land to the community and threw a party to celebrate the occasion. I was lucky to have Tiny (one of the main organizers of the PNN) show me around and give me the history of the process they went through to acquire the land and how they were in the process of rebuilding the garage into a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) for Joe one of the PNN members. Tiny also told me about the work they were going through to build a series of 4-10 permanent housing units on the property, this was a way of making the most of the relatively small piece of land of building to create a community where poor folks are able to have a place to call home.

One of the things that differs from PNN’s Homefulness and the Zapatista Caracoles is that in hopes of creating something long lasting the group opted to buy a property rather than just take over or a piece of land that could be potentially taken away destroying all the work the group invested. This is something that has happened to other groups, an example of this is the South Central Farm in Los Angeles where community members came together on a piece of land to create a community garden and grow food for the community but was later displaced by the land owners and had to move outside of the city to continue their project. Through the “legal” acquisition of the property this situation is something that Homefulness is trying to avoid. Although there is an understanding of the relationship Homefulness enters with the government as landowners, this is something that under the current system of governance cannot be avoided in such a project.

At this point in time, taking over land and declaring autonomy is not something that is entirely possible to sustain over a long period of time, so PNN decided to create Homefulness as a way to have an autonomous space that can survive under current political conditions. I think of this as “inching” towards another way of relating to the U.S. government, as I read in one piece I found on their informational board:  
“We also imagine this as a first step, this inter-generational council will respect its elders so that leadership…will be returned to our indigenous communities of color like those of East Oakland to improve our situation and stop our dependency on the Capitalist system...Instead we look to a system based on self-determination and the power of responsible indigenous communities.”

This then is one of many steps toward creating a completely autonomous community, something that has no legal connections to the U.S. government, a place where people are able to exercise their right of self-determination when deciding their future. This is the dream for many indigenous people throughout the Americas, to have a place where they can determine their own future and be responsible only to themselves. This Autonomy is something that the Zapatistas have been experimenting for 11 years now and started sharing in 2013 through their Escuelitas in Chiapas where they have been inviting organizers, artists and educators to share what they have learned. Seeing what Homefulness is doing in East Oakland inspires me, it gives me hope that one day we will have many of these communities throughout Turtle Island.
 

In Landmark Decision, U.S. Patent Office Cancels Trademark For Redskins Football Team

By Travis Waldron June 18, 2014 at 9:49 am Updated: June 18, 2014 at 12:57 pm

CREDIT: AP

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled six federal trademark registrations for the name of the Washington Redskins, ruling that the name is “disparaging to Native Americans” and thus cannot be trademarked under federal law that prohibits the protection of offensive or disparaging language.

The U.S. PTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued a ruling in the case, brought against the team by plaintiff Amanda Blackhorse, Wednesday morning.

“We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be cancelled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,” the board wrote in its opinion, which is here. A brief explanation of how the Board reached its decision is here.

“The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed with our clients that the team’s name and trademarks disparage Native Americans. The Board ruled that the Trademark Office should never have registered these trademarks in the first place,” Jesse Witten, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said in a press release. “We presented a wide variety of evidence – including dictionary definitions and other reference works, newspaper clippings, movie clips, scholarly articles, expert linguist testimony, and evidence of the historic opposition by Native American groups – to demonstrate that the word ‘redskin’ is an ethnic slur.”

“I am extremely happy that the [Board] ruled in our favor,” Blackhorse said in a statement. “It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans. We filed our petition eight years ago and it has been a tough battle ever since. I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed. The team’s name is racist and derogatory. I’ve said it before and I will say it again – if people wouldn’t dare call a Native American a ‘redskin’ because they know it is offensive, how can an NFL football team have this name?”

The Trial and Appeals Board rescinded the team’s trademark protections in a 1999 ruling that was part of a case filed in 1992. A federal court later overturned the ruling on appeal due to a technicality that the plaintiffs say has been fixed in this most recent case.

The team will appeal the case, according to a statement from its attorney, and it will be able to keep its trademark protection during appeal. Further, losing the trademark would not force the team to change its name — as the PTO pointed out in its fact sheet about the case, the Trial and Appeal Board “does not have jurisdiction in a cancellation proceeding to require that a party cease use of a mark, but only to determine whether a mark may continue to be registered.”

The absence of federal trademark protection, however, could limit the team’s legal protections to state and common laws when others use their name, so others can’t just start marketing new “Redskins” merchandise. Still, it could potentially cost the team — and, because of the NFL’s revenue-sharing model, other NFL teams — money. In the previous case, the team’s attorneys argued that losing trademark protections and the exclusive right to their brand would cause “every imaginable loss you can think of.” For that reason, targeting the trademark has long been thought of by opponents of the team’s name as the easiest avenue to changing it.

The team is confident that it will prevail on appeal.

“We’ve seen this story before. And just like last time, today’s ruling will have no effect at all on the team’s ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo,” team attorney Bob Raskopf said in the statement. “We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned on appeal. This case is no different than an earlier case.”

June 17, 2014

America’s oldest and longest-standing war in history is waged on its own civilian populace: The War on Drugs.

The War on Drugs began in El Paso, Texas, at the beginning of the turn of the last century. City ordinances outlawing "drugs" were written to target Mexicans. They were prevented from using what was then known to white Americans as "Indian hemp," known to the Mexicans as “Marie-Juana,” and now known as marijuana. There were no laws against immigration at the time, so the best way to oppress Mexicans in the newly-annexed state was to attack this activity.

As time progressed, other substances were added to the prohibited list. The War on Drugs wasn’t labeled as such until the Nixon administration. As in all wars, suffering cannot be measured in quantity... but the War on Drugs has created the largest prison crisis the world has ever seen. In spite of having one of the lowest population densities by total land mass, the United States has the most prisons and prisoners on earth, including China and India combined....which is two thirds of the entire earth’s population!

The most tragic casualties of the drug war are the children, who often have to go without parents due to incarceration, but counted amongst the most severe are also those who suffer physical injury. Baby Bou-Bou is one such severe tragedy.

On May 28, 2014, while serving a no-knock warrant, Habersham County GA deputies tossed a Flash grenade into a home at 3 AM, without verifying if the suspect or any children were in the home or not. Wanis Thonetheva, the suspect, had allegedly sold $50 worth of methamphetamine to an informant one day earlier. The Flash grenade landed in the crib of a toddler, directly on his pillow. Bounkham Phonesevahn, also known as “Bou-Bou,” sustained 3rd degree burns on his tiny body and a deep chest wound. He was rushed to nearby Grady Hospital where he is in critical condition in a medically induced coma. No drugs or weapons were found and the suspect wasn’t even on the premises.

The next day he was arrested for possession and released. Rather than apologizing, the officer responsible blamed the inhabitants of the home and claimed they were no better than domestic terrorists! Federal and State investigators have become involved, investigating the possibility of the baby’s or his family’s rights being violated. The War on Drugs must end if for no other reason than the sake of the children.