Story Archives 2014

Until the bulldozer scrapes the landscape of this plantation,
I'll remain.
My phantasm in residence
Long after my body is unchained.

Strange to think I ever see
That day from where I'm sitting now.

But that's the illusion they want me to believe in--
That I'm never getting out.

I know better at some level
That I consciously keep submerged and hidden.
Lest the overseer see it in my eye,
And decide to kick my shit in.

My spirit must always appear to be broken.
My shoulders round in defeat.
No elbows out, or nose open in defiance
Compliance evident, Colonization Complete.

But as I said, My Ghost, My Ghost,
Will haunt this place.
Will always be here waiting for
The bulldozer that brings the smile back to my face.

Let me get one thing absolutely clear from the gate. I am NOT in the
habit of pulling the race(ist) card without being 100% certain of my
facts.

Here are my facts:
1) The Yolo County Sheriff's Department has discriminated against me
personally for taking a stand against racism. (Documentation
available)
2) The Yolo County Jail has disproportionate numbers of African
Americans housed in its high security sections, including myself (as opposed to medium security).*
3) The Yolo County DRC (Day Reporting Center) in-custody programs have
zero African Americans attending.**
4) Yolo County has maintained a policy of total discrimination against
southern Mexicans and does not offer DRC services to them at all in
custody. Northern Mexicans have free reign.
5) Yolo County Sheriffs do not offer female inmates the same access to
programs (DRC in-custody), nor do they house them in medium/low
security. The former female low security unit was turned into MORE male
housing years ago.

Inequal treatment, racial- and gender-bias are serious accusations, I
understand and respect. I fully expect that EACH of these items might
be explainable or seem reasonable in and of themselves, however they
represent IN TOTALITY a pattern, a systemic oppression, and evidence
of preferential treatment of one group over another. Welcome to Yolo
County Plantation.

* Michael Glynn is currently in Yolo County's version of the Pelican Bay SHU. He is allowed 30 minutes outside his cell per day, for shaving, showering, checking mail, etc.

** The DRC is Yolo County's attempt at a deterrent to recidivism. It is soaking up public funds as quickly as the prisons themselves. The county jail and the DRC are constantly wrangling for the same pot of money, and the county jail staff is notoriously resentful of the program.

*** Written by Michael Glynn "in the hole again" March 10, 2014

P.S. The personal oppression I mentioned in this: I chose not to
attend a DRC class on MLK Day to observe the holiday (I must stress
that DRC is NOT mandatory--totally voluntary!). For that I was
subjected to punishment which includes three days loss of "Good Time,"
meaning I do three days in the cell for Dr. King. I've got all the
paperwork for it, even my grievance forms accusing the racist sergeant
of being unfair and discriminating against me. Am I doing too much
fighting, here?

Here's a look at AB 109 from the real front line.

AB 109 is a law signed by Gov. Brown in 2011, ushering in "realignment" of the prison system. Under the law, responsibility for incarcerating people convicted of certain non-violent felonies has been shifted from the state to the county level. People imprisoned in county jails under the law are meant to be there for short(er) periods of time while they get efficiently "rehabilitated." The law was apparently passed to combat recidivism, though it is also a stop-gap against overflowing prisons.

County jail instead of prison for nonviolent offenders means many things. Some of them may surprise you. Remember that county jails are not equipped for long-term incarceration:
1) A lower standard of medical care than the (already sanctioned) state system
2) Less opportunity for the incarcerated to attend programs
3) Harsher overall conditions than state prison-sentenced inmates (No State Title 15)*

Not to put too grim a face on things, but the idea that something has been "fixed" by this AB 109 fiasco must be countered by some actual reality. The dog and pony show that county officials are calling the DRC (Day Reporting Center) has some serious issues to deal with before then can claim any real benefit to the community. From infrequent attendance of "in-custody programs" stuff to bootlegged study books, and exercises which aren't relevant to the participants, the claim of success is effectively just so much fantasy.

AB 109 was meant to relieve the state of its excess prisoners whom it was shown could not be housed in a safe and responsible manner, and has effectively worsened that situation.

Some of the things that "violent offenders" in state prisons still enjoy that county inmates who are doing just as much time do not:
1) Paid work: fire crews as well as kitchen work, support positions, janitors, electricians, plumbers, etc.
2) Conjugal visits. County visits are so limited that I'm not allowed to hug my mother and father let alone kiss my wife...etc. State inmates who qualify get 3 or 4 "family visits" per year.
3) Packages from approved vendors. Items like coffee, socks, etc can be sent to state inmates 4 times a year at reasonable rates. There's a monopoly in county jails and extortionate rates for everything sold (ex: Top Ramen for a dollar). Trinity Services is the name of the
company. Are they public?

*CA State Title 15 is kind of like a Prisoners' Bill of Rights. The catch is that it only applies to state-run facilities, and not county facilities like the one Michael has been incarcerated in, and many others.

(Image from Huffington Post)

“They are 10,000 houseless folks in San Francisco and 30,000 vacant homes in San Francisco”

Uncle Bruce aka Bad news Bruce

Inspire by Felicia

The Houseless are always told what to do, and what Not to do

Where to sleep and where not to sleep

What time they need to go sleep and what time they need to get up

Where to eat, and what to eat

Where to sit  and when they need to go away

Which Line to stand and wait to get your GA
Where they can release and where is unaoppropiate?

When to come By, And when they need to call back

Which Meds to take and which are not ok

The Houseless are always told which benefits they get, and which ones are denied for them

Always told by Social Workers and Care Providers that sometimes don’t Care or Provide.

The Houseless Walk and live in the streets of the Bay Area, invisible to the people who don’t want to see them, who walk around and over them, to validate their individual happiness of the rotten Amerikkkan Dream.

The Houseless are still waiting for the Yes We Can, that Obama promise through out his campaign. For the Change that Sam Cooke sang, But nothing has change, the Houseless still gather by the river and the Bay in alleys where the Amerikkan Dream becomes nightmares.

Papa Bear The Panhandler reporter for Poor Magazine, who serve and fought in  Vietnam, and in the streets of San Francisco his whole life, who spoke truth to power of the abuse of Houseless Folks by the Sit Lie Law and the Abuse against Houseless Folks, from been power wash by city workers and enforcers, to the stealing and throwing his life time belongings to the Garbage. Papa bear went out fighting in the trenches of the streets of San Francisco like a true soldier, I only wonder if was really a heart attack that took him, or was it that his Heart was broken to many times by this cold city Call San Francisco.

But fucken Hipsters can sit at 16^th and Mission drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer blocking the side walk and no one seems to mind or care.

March 25, 2014

With the news of 6 SFPD Officers being indicted by federal prosecuters, the $50,000 question is: Are things back to normal in SF, or will more people than ever be arrested for alleged marijuana offenses, or have they had their fill?

I've been arrested more times than anyone since “Brownie Mary” in 20 years.

This leads to the question: Is this just part of the new gentrification, or a way to get some of the heat off of SFPD? After all, 6 members of this elite fighting farce have been indicted on federal corruption charges!

The weather hasn’t been fair enough to people-watch and find out.

With sunnier weather due, time will tell that charges will have been dropped and I have to “go through it” to get my money back. But I plan to do just that!

Stay tuned!

Later...
So I left off exactly a week ago today on this story. I went to 850 Bryant Street today to retrieve my money. The clerk I spoke to was very helpful but I didn’t have all my ducks in a row, so I'll have to go back.

What I found to be particularly alarming is that right before I went to check on my money, one of the previous arresting officers came in the restroom while I was there and left before me. I felt like I was being followed, but even more alarming is that while I was checking on my money an officer who I’m sure I had no previous contact with came out and stared at me the same way murderers have stared at me!

Money has been retrieved.

Time to occupy my time some other way other than hanging out at Dolores Park though. I can handle going to jail for no reason, but it seems like my time could be used more productively to find my way out of the nightmare San Francisco has become.

(All the PNN-TV Video documentation can be seen at this link

“We don’t want to hear Alex’s murderers,” People shouted intermittently into the air of the Leonard Flynn Elementary school auditorium. The standing room only Town Hall was yelling above the Po'Lice as they spoke  about the murder of young Raza organizer, City College of SF student and beloved sun de la mision, Alejandro Nieto.

“At approximately 7:11pm 911 dispatch received a call, “ A Latin male in a bright red jacket is pacing near a fence,” said Po’Lice Greg Suhr as he recounted the events leading up to the murder of this peaceful young brother. My version of this 911 recount,” There is a Brown man left in the Mission, how did that happen? He must be here to hurt me”

GentriFUKation killed Alex.Everyone in the meeting knew this. From the young children like my own sun who goes to that humble public school, to the teachers, revolutionaries and abuelas waiting patiently to speak. The shooters were the gangsters in blue with their clique etched in a copper and iron star that they display on their chests.

“I am a friend and brother of Alex and I need to tell you that Alex wanted to be a probation officer, Alex respected the cops, so please respect the police,” said Eli Flores to the increasingly angered crowd.

“Alex was a peaceful, beautiful young man, he wanted to run for school board,” Guiliana Sorro, long-time Bernal Heights resident and organizer and widow of the leader and truth-teller Bill Sorro told me between tears at the Town Hall. 

“This was the weapon he was holding,” Suhr prevailed on through the intermittent shouts to recount the murder of this young leader by po’lice who allegedly mistook his legally possessed taser (Alex was an off-duty security guard with a license to hold that taser) for a “gun”.

“I used to be afraid of gangs with my two Latino suns, now I am afraid of the police shooting them,” a mother of two spoke at the Town Hall, holding back tears of a thousand lost suns.  

“At 7:14 the 911 reporter reported that the “suspect” was now eating sunflower seeds while resting his hand on the weapon,” Suhr added.

Alex, who was Buddhist, was meditating on the Bernal Hill. He was taking a walk he always took before he went on duty at a club. He was thinking. He was shadow-boxing. He was walking. He was alive while Brown in his neighborhood. The Mission. A neighborhood suddenly and rudely colonized by people who don’t understand our cultura, our traditions or our skin. Who see a Black or Brown man walking, convening or meditaing on something or somewhere they now have claimed as theirs for “jogging” or “picnicking”  and call us a criminal.

And then the kkkorporate media lies, crafted around, Euro-centric, Western Therapeutic Industrial complex values conveniently roll out to rationalize the cold-blooded profiling, and murder of a peaceful young man. “He was acting abnomal. He had a restraining order against him. He was struggling with mental health issues.” Multiple narratives rolled out since his shooting on March 21^st, all leading up to a vague profile of mental instability of this young sun.

As the mental instability profile rolled out, I thought of my own troubled soul as I used to take my infant sun up Bernal Hill to rest in some modicum of nature. I would cry up there. Cry about my houselessness. Cry about my very sick Black/Indian mama. I would pray in the Yoruba tradition, calling out my ancestors as I stood and built small oferendas to Orixas. Even my melanin challenged, wite-looking self, was at risk. I would get sideways glances from the endless onslaught of $300.00 athletic show-wearing yuppies. I clutched my sun closer and quickly descended, realizing that this once peaceful mountain, long ago stolen from the indigenous Ohlone peoples was, in fact, being stolen again, by the new colonizers who hold I-phones and state-of –the art headsets and heart monitors, leaving no room for us.

I am praying for Alejandro Nieto’s spirit journey, like I am for Andy Lopez and Kenny Harding Jr and Oscar Grant and Derrik Gaines and Idriss Stelley and all the young suns who continue to be killed for being Black, Brown and young in this stolen indigenous land the colonizers call Amerikkka. I am also praying for all of us mamaz, daddys, abuelas, abuelos, tias and tios, still left in our gentriFUKed hoods, barrios, streets and homes. Praying loudly and in stolen, policed and gentrifyer overrun public spaces. So please if you see me pray with me, cause I think together we stand a better chance of not being shot.

March on Saturday for Alex Nieto 2pm from Mission Cultural Center-

Please contact us through email at deeandtiny@poormagazine.org  or by phone at (510) 435-7500 if you would like to discuss this further.

At 16th and Mission
People sit on benches
Of metal, not wood

Riding those benches
Watching the world
Go by as the pawnshops
Disappear with the dreams
Stuffed inside them

Riding the benches,
Those ex-players
Ex-disciples
Ex-scholars
Ex-heroes
Ex-sons
Ex-daughters
Ex-fathers
Ex-mothers
Ex-radicals
Ex-mentors

Cuban brothers
Whose tongues
Are paved as black
As the street under
Their feet climb
Palm trees

Looking out over
Mission
Street

And the cops
Look up at a Cuban
Brother up in that palm
Tree and say, hey
Get down from there!

And the Cuban
Brother looks down
And smiles
A necklace of
White

I ain’t goin’
Nowhere, he
Says,

This is my home

And the cop
Takes out his
Nightstick, beating
The skin of the
Tree

And the Cuban
Brother laughs and
The tree shakes coconut
Bombs on the cop’s head

And that palm
Tree shakes, bends
A permanent sway
In the Mission Street
Wind

It moves like
A long legged
Lady down 16th and
Towards, 17th, 18th
19th…

The people on benches
Get up and dance,
Shaking the ground
Under their feet on
Mission Street

Where they
Belong

© 2014 Tony Robles