Editors Note: Min. William Brown Jr. is one of several power-FUL PNNPlantation prison correspondents. As currently and formerly incarcerated poor and indigenous peoples in struggle and resistance with all plantation systems in Amerikkka, POOR Magazine stands in solidarity with all folks on the other side of the razor wire plantation.

We, under the UNION OF THE UNITED K.A.G.E. BROTHERS WELCOME YOU to our COMMUNION. We aim to unite and unionize "the movement from within the belly of the beast to without." We hereby declare that we wish to unite the people of ALL COLORS, RACE, CREED, GENDER, AND/OR SEXUALITY.

We all have six inches of commonality, mostly dealing with prejudices and classism. Consequently, we think that true Civil rights of men and women alike, emanates from the laws of nature, that all human beings are created equal. However they are being capriciously taken by the usurpations from the powers that be.

These woes are being imposed on the proletariat class, regardless of race, or gender, the lower class is being oppressed through the passing of legislation aimed at keeping them suppressed.

Thus, we declare to put an end to all racial prejudices, conflict, and unnecessary waging of wars, both in prison, and in our urban streets in the United States of America. Many lives have been lost in this struggle, but not in vain!!! In San Quentin, all the way to Attica in 1971, California prisoners have banned together to Exemplify This Need For A Collective Push. Through a united front in a peaceful demonstration, Prisoners both Black, Hispanic, whites, etc. had participated in a hunger strike protesting inhumane conditions and unduly mistreatments in both PELICAN BAY and CORCORAN SHU i.e. Security Housing Unit, and A.S.U. i.e. Administration Segregation Unit, i.e. THE HOLE.

This Band of Brothers set aside the ongoing “Racial Wars” and came  together to declare an end to all waging wars that were being fought throughout California’s Prison Yards. This Solidarity Stance Soldidify’s that the “TIME IS NOW”!!!

As Bobby Seale’s entitled book captures: IT’S TIME TO “SEIZE THE TIME”!!! That is more of a metaphor, more than a saying, quoted by Huey P. Newton. When the doors of opportunity come, we must Seize The Time…

                                            UMOJA---( OO-MOH-JAH)

UMOJA is the Swahili term for UNITY. We have chosen to operate our collective under the name U.K.B. in order to reflect the emphasis we place on need for United Actions from a united front. This is a necessary need as we begin to address the problems facing our communities. We believe that any successful remedy will be a product of an united effort.

We also believe that everyone has something to contribute. Our sole purpose is to use the power of “Collective Action” to solve common challenges. We have NO ‘DUES,’ JUST DO’S!!! Thus, we are always looking for fresh ideas and constructive criticism.

                                           ***MISSION STATEMENT***

(1). To facilitate integration with socially conscious individuals (both imprisoned and/or free), as well as other activist organizations.

(2). To promote a greater dialogue and understanding amongst the activist community.

(3). To breach the walls (be it ECONOMICALLY, RACIALLY, RELIGIOUSLY, and/or GEOGRAPHICALLY), that polarize people within the activist community.

(4). To give a voice to the under-represented segments of the community.

(5). To birth, inspire, and/or support as many new or existing socially conscious minded organizations as possible.

(6). To SURVIVE!!! This means expanding appropriately as much as success will permit, and scaling back responsibly as tough times demand.

(7). To EVOLVE!!! This means that as new challenges and opportunities arise, new branches of (U.K.B.) will sprout to meet those needs!!!

(8). To construct Self-Help Study Groups (seeking out sponsors to volunteer their services).

(9). To keep and maintain a non-hostile environment.

(10). To gain back our; STRAW MAN BONDS…

                                        ----UNITED K.A.G.E. BROTHERS----

                                                      UNION GROUP…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT IS A K.A.G.E. BROTHER????A Prisoner or ex-convict who has embraced Self Change, in hopes for second chances. A  Man of REDEMPTION. Rather Southsider, Northerner, New Afrikan Nationalist, White Supreme Brotherhood, and all other Factions alike, we are KINGS!!!!

We are KINGS in our Minds….We are KINGS AGAINST Genocidal Environments!!!!                    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.K.B. REJECTS:

1. Apathy                                                                     6. Explotation

2. Passivity                                                                  7. Self-Destruction

3. Irresponsibility                                                         8. Blind Allegiance

4. Racism                                                                    9. Moral Cowardice

5. Ignorance                                                                10. Egoism      

                                                                                   11. Fruitless Debates

U.K.B. BELIEVES IN:

·        Combining faith and action to address society’s problems ONE GOD.

·        The family and community, and the community as family.

·        Putting the Welfare of the Community over the Welfare of the Individuals.

·        Collective Struggle, pursuing our non-racist victory  in concert with like-minded Sisters and brothers of every race.

·        Collective Struggle to create better living conditions for the most needy segment of society.

·        Being that unifying force which brings people together to exert focused energy on our common problems.

·        Showing by example how cohesiveness leads to the power necessary for people to determine their destinies.

·        The personal pursuit of ever-increasing levels of spirituality, humanity, genius, and social awareness.

U.K.B. ADVOCATES:

            1. The absolute equality of all people

            2. The development of self-reliance in people of color

            3. The Absolute right to self-defense

            4. A disciplined response to systematic oppression

            5. A responsible use of Social Agitation

            6. The mobilization of the masses, especially young people

7. Against Laws that create genocidal environments among a certain class of people by abolishing the 13^th Amendment

8. Bobby hemp 4 the Cure of Cancer Victims

9. Joe Mouth 4 Stop the H.A.T.E. STOP THE VIOLENCE

            10. Prison reformist- Adequate Resources for Prisoners

11. To create a union, venders etc. for Inmates, same as C/D’s Union in contrast to C/D’s owning (Walkenhorst-Capackage Vender).

“A CHANCE”

          FROM A KAGE,

       I CRAVE REDEMPTION.

                          I WANT BACK WHAT YOU TOOK FROM ME.

                   THAT WHICH YOU NEVER GAVE ME,

                                      THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET.

   “A CHANCE”

              YOU SAY I HAD A CHANCE,

      AT A RIGHTEOUS LIFE.

IN THE MIDST OF DRUGS, BROKEN HOMES, PIMPS, PROSTITUES AND GANGSTERS.

                                   IN A COMMUNITY BUILT ON STRIFE.

    (A CHANCE)

                          I BEG TO DIFFER

 FROM A KAGED LAND, OF BROKEN AND BATTERED SOULS.

    YOUR PRISON SYSTEM DESTROYS, WHILE YOUR ECONOMY GROWS.

              WE’RE CATTLE.

       (A CHANCE)

     IS WHAT I TAKE ON MY OWN

SO I STRENGTHEN MYSELF, “IN The Mental, Physical, and Spiritual zone.”

FIGHTING TOOTH AND NAIL, TO GET THE WISDOM BACK HOME.

A KAGE BROTHER’S CRY      6/28/05

10-3-14                                      (B.W.I.K.F)

Baby Mamas & Wives of Incarcerated K.A.G.E. Brothers Foundation:

The above proposed shall be conducted as follows!

(A). Obtain an all-woman staff, young and old, representing all walks of life. These ladies must have either a baby daddy, husband, father, son, etc. within the federal & state prison system.

(B). Obtain a home base for these ladies to meet and talk about their personal, family, job, and husband issues. Here they’ll bond while being pampered at the same time. Get their hair and nails done, eat snacks, watch chick flicks, and share resources.

(C). Obtain a big size family van. (Foot Note: Propose a deal with Ford or Chevrolet where they, the car company, can receive a tax write off for donating the use, or ownership of the vehicle).

(D). Open a P.O. Box for donations and mail.

(E). Open a trust account, as a kitty for of these women’s use, and assign one business minded and trustworthy person as C.F.O. (Chief Financial Officer).

(F). Operation of funds goes to: Aid these women with gas money, money for food, money for photo tickets per visits. Also for emergency purposes, such as rent, medical bills, school supplies, etc.

Footnote: Each female member will upstart this foundation by putting up $50 to $100 dollars as an entry fee. Any funds taken away from the account must be replaced within 60 days.

Responsibilities:

Each lady is a sister act, a support system for the next sister whom is faced with the same sort of conditions with having a male counterpart within the prison system.

                                    By-Laws:

(1). All ladies will agree to each other’s sounding board anytime they need someone to talk to or a shoulder to lean on. (Mutual Respect)

(2). All ladies will stay in contact with their incarcerated counterparts, write, send family & personal photos, give him moral support, assist him with his living conditions as relative as it might be to him. Meaning if it’s honest and serious.

(3). All ladies will make sure the fathers are able to have a relationship with the kids.

Any ideal that’s not contrary to the proposed is welcome. This is a branch of the K.A.G.E. Brothers of Christ mentor program.

Signed,

Min. King William E. Brown Jr. T-58106

P.O. Box 7500 PBSP ASU

Freedom_UKB@yahoo.com

Brownfamily3929@yahoo.com

(POLICE PITCHES)

    THE MOVIE

A Spike Lee and/or Michael Moore type of film.

DVD and/or movie proposal

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

                                                                                                 (Warrick Vs. Superior Court)

                                                                                                  [2005 35 Cal. 4^th 1011] 29

                                                                                                  Cal. Rptr. 3d2, 112p. 3d2

Title; POLICE PITCHES…

            Based on the history of America’s crooked/dirty cops to the top people of authority. This will highlight the atrocities from the start of the slave trade, to the very present. It will illuminate and expose the unprofessional misconduct (from the Oakland Ryders, the L.A. Rampart, New Orleans PD and NYPD to name a few).

            This will be more than a movie, a documentary showing actual facts & incidents of police abuse etc. crooked cops on trial and getting off despite overwhelming evidence of guilt, and criminal defense lawyers requesting the courts to do ‘police pitches’ motions on those crooked cops, but the courts deny the submitted motions.

            We’ll expose the history & misconduct of the prisons (Pelican Bay SHU, Corcoran, Folsom HDSP, etc.) The connection within the ‘Blue &  Green wall,’ cover-ups, the faces behind the iron-fist and the velvet glove! ‘The good ol’ boys’ relations with the “White superior/supreme” courts. How the judges and D.A.’s used to be young skinheads and were brought up among klansmen and women as family members etc. Going from Hell’s Angels to D.A.’s, growing their hair, covering their tattoos, and attending law school. These men and women are groomed to become C.O.’s, police officers, and other governed bodies of influence.

            Expose the CDC Union and their governor’s pay-offs. The new legal (Plan-Tation) AKA Federal & State Priosn.

            This will lead to part two; (Movie: State Vs. Feds) [The difference between the two].

            Then, going into part three; (The discovery!) [Exposes all the dirt on the Rulers etc.]

(A UKB DOCUMENTARY)                                      Proposed By: P.F. The Fed Tyma,   CEO/President/General of the United KAGE Brothers

POLICE PITCHES & THEIR HISTORY:

There are three possible aims of punishment; Restraint, Revenge, or Reform. Capitalism only seems to succeed at the first two; The Retributive and vengeful “Justice” of the present system has been a total and utter failure. Attempting to reform people through coercion and force can never succeed. Arguments based on fear and terror are never convincing. The institutionalized murder of the ‘death penalty’ has never had the slightest effect on violent crime figures, it amounts to no more than revenge. Prison, if it achieves anything, tends to perpetuate crime with minor offenders who often go on to commit greater crimes. Why not re-offend, if nothing has changed?

Capitalism cannot solve the problem. It creates the conditions which lead to most crimes. The supposed system of justice amounts to a closed cast of judges and legal professionals. These are initiated into a tangled web of complex rules and regulations, where any concept of justice or fair play intrudes purely, randomly.

(WARRICK VS. SUPERIOR COURT)

                                                                                                [Pye Face, The Fed Tyma, UKB]

TITLE:

The black leather gloves, black leather coat, black click clack stumps. The black murder ones (AKA) Stay highs, shades. The afro sheen-shiny ‘fro, black fist held high in the East Bay. Grey skies and my black right to carry my black steel…

I am said to be a revolutionist in my sympathies, by birth, by breeding and by principle. I am always on the side of the revolters, because there was never a revolution, unless there was some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to revolute 4 me and mines alike.

                                                                                    Min. King William E. Brown Jur. (AKA)                                                                                                                       P.F. The fed Tyma                                                                                     United Kage Brothers                                                                                     The left for dead movement.                                                                                                International Union.                                  

                               For more Video Review upon Request: unda07@hotmail.com

RE: Min. King William E. Brown Jr. #T58106 P.O. Box 7500 PBSP ASU Cresent City, CA 95532

What is a Settlement?

How a grassroots, poor and indigenous peoples-led movement  in stolen amerikkklan remains Po'Lice and devil-oper free
by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, daughter of Dee, mama of Tiburcio/POOR Magazine

“I’m going to hurt you,” one of our long-time POOR Magazine family members stood in the doorway of our  humble office. It was a Wednesday. POOR Magazine, the poor and indigenous people-led, very grassroots, arts family has no programming on Wednesdays. So there were only four of us present, our brother who was under the influence of possibly many substances twisting his already trauma filled brain into places and spaces even he could not control, one of our disabled, houseless elders, my own houseless and under severe stress self and another family member who struggled with multiple mental disabilities. A scenario ensued which had nothing to do with our 18 year long -agreed to, co-created and held rules of respect, a long document with many iterations, which guides us through our mandate to Never call the po’Lice. He did not stop, substances like that don’t disappear or subside quickly from your bloodstream or psyche. Instead they tend to get worse by the second. Violent words were exchanged, followed by a move by the three of us who were sober, to circle around him and guide him slowly back out of the front door. This was just one of countless times our mandate to Never call the poLice was challenged physically, verbally and spiritually,

Not calling the po'Lice is hard, so hard that most people aren’t ready to do it. Relying on the white supremacist crafted notion of “security” which was set up hundreds of years ago to protect the stolen indigenous territory and the settler colonizers that stole it, modeled after the “slavecatchers” of the 1st part of the genocidal project known as the United Snakes, is what comes easy. Not calling them, EVER, is the deep, hard, frightening and ultimately most revolutionary work.

From Betty Jones in Chicago to Cau Bich Tran in San Jose - its not just the evil white supremacists or the benevolent gentrifiers that call the kkkops, its often us calling these paid killers on each other. In the case of many of the most tragic stories of death at the hands of the police,  it is us, the poorest, working-class, trauma-filled and most vulnerable among us that make a 911 call on each other because we often say to each other “what else can i do?”

So what else can we do?
Our ancient ways of protecting and loving each other, circling around each others children and mothers, listening and being guided by our elders and ancestors and walking more slowly with intention, prayer and purpose have long been left in the road of hamster-wheel driven success, survival, displacement and the ache of what we have been told we must have and but can’t seem to attain.

So the first answer is to do everything this white-supremacist society has told you not to do. This requires a deep mental and spiritual process of decolonization, prayer and intention which does not happen overnight or easily but rather through a long process of internal work and coalition building. This requires you to very likely “give up” the things that you have been taught will provide you with safety.

US Independence Kills
Then unpack and discard what I call the cult of independence, "bootstraps" and individualism. as well to resist the capitalist push to own things as a measure of happiness like cars, mama earth, clothes and jewelry.

The 3rd answer is to move back home, If your home is safe, if your families and your communities of origin are alive, help them and yourself resist the idea that you should be as far away as you can from the people who made you, who love you and who depend on you. The isolation caused by capitalism-inspired individualism can lead to mental health crises as well as setting up personally unsafe lives. As well, your families need you and your young self and your strength and love and connectedness to help them prevent mental health crises. American style independence kills.

And finally, your families are your elders, they can support you in moments with partners who go get abusive. (*If your families are unsafe then the intention of creating, being a part of a chosen family is extremely important for your survival and thrive)

The 4th answer is to not so much to give up personal safety, which for women, trans-women and children is not a possibility, but to understand deeply and spiritually that the “safety-bringers” aren’t safe. Once this is clearly recognized it will prompt you to speak, collaborate, and coalesce with your neighbors, community, friends and/or families of origin or chosen families to begin accountability circles. , i.e., spaces where we hold each other accountable for our actions. This is a much harder step and requires a long journey with your families and/or communities.

This idea is nothing new. It is actually very old and its what we did as people before we had slave-catchers to “take care” of everything that “scared us”. This is how we walk and live as a poor and indigenous people-led organization at POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE, following and learning from the Black Panthers and MOVE Africa before us who refused to engage with the state agencies in place to kill and incarcerate us.

We launched POOR Magazine’s No Po’Lice/CPS calls mandate when we poverty and disability skolaz began fighting for justice with La Mesha Irizarry over 15 years ago on the case of her sun who was killed by San Francisco Po’Lice after a 911 call for help. POOR Magazine family member and race and disability scholar Leroy Moore, Mesha, myself and many more folks worked for years on mental health training for po’Lice, but lo and behold as we see now with the tragic case of Mario Woods, mental health training doesn’t really stop the paid murderers who are trained to kill us from killing us. So many layers of settler laws and post-settler protections continue to support them in their murderous ways, not to mention the kkkorts that support them once they kill as in the horrible cases of gentrification inspired murders of Alex Nieto and Amilcar Perez Lopez. Once you are in their jails, prisons and behind their razor wires you face more chances at their hands of murder such as the murder of Sandra Bland and so many in SF County jail. 

This is why, we as a group of displaced, poLice harassed, colonized, incarcerated and profiled, disabled poor peoples of many nations, colors and cultures  knew we could NEVER engage with the people who see us as the people to test, arrest, incarcerate and evict. We realized that we needed to create a way to hold each other with love but also discipline. The discipline launched by my strong Afro-Boriken mama who took no mess from no-one and held us together as poor people because she could smell a threat, an issue, a struggle a mile away, her coming from a long line of curanderas and ancestor talkers. 

After my mama passed we launched a series of circles. Our elephant circle is where we poor mamas daddys, uncles and aunties decide core issues at POOR. It is also where we tweek and re-tweek our rules of respect which we all created and are all accountable to as it demands respect of and from all of us, no matter what nation, generation or spiritual tradition we walk from. We also launched our Family elders council and Inter—generational councils which holds our family to these principals and our core values determined in our Manifesto for Change and Declaration of Interdependence as well as our 35 page Peoples Agreement which we crafted at Homefulness to hold us to our values and principals at this sacred landless peoples movement we have created in Deep East Huchuin Ohlone land with the permission of Ohlone Peoples. There are many nuances to these circles and age alone does not mean someone is an elder.

We are not just challenged by land-stealers and the family members we love, but by our fellow community, poverty and disability skolaz who have threatened us with all manners of abuse which would lead most people and organizations to the mans kkkorts and killers. We are constantly tweeking and re-tweeking what it means to be people in trauma facing our own trauma and other people in trauma, who don’t solve things by dialing those three frightening numbers or ever stepping into those kkkourts to “resolve our conflicts.

There are other organizations like Critical Resistance who are working on this same issue with powerful anti-state movement building and a group of folks in Oakland working on a first responders “app” which is a powerful idea.

POOR Magazine poverty skolaz created the PeopleSkool program to help folks begin the long process of decolonizing their minds from the settler colonizer lies of separation, independence and “safety”. PeopleSkool sessions happen twice a year in BlackAugust and January. In addition, we are planning a No Po’Lice calls workshop series - the first one will be held in Huchuin (Oakland) at the 1st Congregational Church on Sunday July 15th 3-6pm. If you would like to register for this one - please email poormag@gmail.com. If you are unable to attend in person we will be holding more workshops across Mama Earth to coincide with the release of POOR Magazine's Peoples TextBook: Poverty Scholarship - Poor Peoples Theory, Art, Words and Tears Across Mama Earth. Let us know if you would like to set up a workshop and/or book reading in your city, hood or barrio.

As revolutionary mamaz and survivors of po-Lice, case manglers, non-profiteers, prisons and government crumbs we also work as revolutionary social workers with each other to help, protect, care for/caregive, heal, support, and peer educate our fellow mamaz, babies and elders, not ever calling CPS, (Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services) no matter how much the system would encourage us to. This is also VERY complicated and takes both poverty skolaship and strength to realize but we believe this is necessary to truly realize the often spoken but rarely understood concept of the "village".

We are still working on a way to support our fellow sisters and brothers from domestic violence trauma and crisis and this is in progress. 

Not Kkkop calling isn’t easy, it seems so much “easier” to dial 911, but then again,  its not “easy” to “die” either.

Recently the Government of Saudi Arabia executed outspoken Shiite Muslim clients Nimr al-Nimr, a harsh critic of the Saudi government and royal family.

The Saudi Royal Family is nothing more than a puppet government put in place by the west and is the closest allies of the apartheid state of the Zionist government of Israel.

Al-Nimr routinely spoke out against the the harsh and unfair treatment in Saudi Arabia of the Shiite ethnic minority by the predominantly Wahabi government and population.

Al-Nimr routinely advocated the overthrow of the Saudi Government.

Immediately following his execution sectarian violence erupted including an attack of the Saudi embassy in near by Iran a Shiite majority nation.

Saudi Arabia immediately severed diplomatic ties to Iran, Kuwait and Bahrain also severed ties with Iran. These nations have mainly Sunni majorities.

Israel and Iran have been bitter enemies since Israel achieved statehood in the mid to late 20th century have called for its annihilation and vice versa.

Iraq, which is predominantly A Sunni Muslim nation is politically controlled by a Shiite minority after being set up to do so by the U.S. at the end of the second Gulf war, also had harsh words for Saudi Arabia.

Recently Barack Obama sign new gun control laws by way of executive order and on the surface it would appear that much of it is good but as we peer beneath the surface we begin to uncover the facade.

During his speech to uncover these changes he began to cry supposedly for the children killed in the Sandy hook elementary school slayings.

Those of us in the struggle know they are no more than crocodile tears.

Where are his tears for Palestinian and other children killed and maimed by US manufactured weapons and assistance?

He also claimed his new bill would also help prevent gun violence in the inner cities by expanding back ground checks andlicensing by and for gun dealers , but unfortunately whenever new gun control legislation is introduced local and state governments tend to write harsher laws penalizing thoughts arrested with illegal guns.

The real problem with such measures is the vast majority of mass killers get their guns by legal means and will continue to do so.

Part of the new measures would make it more difficult for those with a prior arrest record to purchase guns, when most mass shooters don't have any.

The new measures also will allocate$900 million for mental health services. The vast majority of mass shooters are white males and use the insanity plea as their defense when most either don't fit the legal definition of insane or have every intention of carry out their killing sprees can generally afford mental health treatment and would not seek it anyway because they another reason for killing other than being mentally ill.

Obama's new gun laws are nothing new the mass shootings will continue and the new laws will have the greatest impact on poor people especially those of color who generally carry illegal weapons because they are cheaper easier to access they live in a war zone and are chiefly used for self defense.

The impact on their lives will be higher incarceration rates and more deadly encounters with law enforcement.

Welcome back to Krip-Hop Nation Breaks Down Lyrics Series in this issue we talk about Dravius Oneil’s song  “Police Abuse the Disabled” Written by Dondravius Ellis aka Dravius Oneil

WeSearch Policy Group (WPG) Data Release 2016
UnHoused residents of San Francisco Data Collection
2015- 2016

Tent City WeSearch Statement Demand summary (see below for detail):
SF Mayor Ed Lie and Supervisor Scott Weiner claim they want "homeless people" to "go away" for the multi-billion dollar plantation sports event called The Superbowl. We the houseless, displaced gentrFUKed, evicted, criminalized, disabled and now living on the streets in Tents, Cardboard motels and tarps are demanding the return of thousands of dollars stolen by "sweeps" of our medicine and belongings as well as open land that we can set up our tents or build our own housing - this would be modeled after the Homefulness project - a poor people-led solution to Homelessness

Who are the POOR Magazine WeSearchers:
Data Creators/Collectors: 86 un-housed San Francisco residents dwelling in tents, sleeping bags and cardboard on Duboce, 14th st, Trainor, Cesar Chavez Freeway underpass (*Separate document includes data collectors/creators from Oakland behind Target, on 7th street railroad tracks and behind Peralta street: *Note this is a small sampling of the thousands of un-housed people residing in San Francisco
60% are women ages 24-40
30% are  Peoples of color from all 4 corners of Mama Earth
30% are men
10% trans & non-gender-conforming
60% became houseless after displacement from long-time homes and neighborhoods
80% are living with untreated psychological disabilities
70% are people living with physical disabilities

Theft of Belongings:
    •    100% of un-housed residents have experienced countless incidents of the theft of belongings by DPW/SFPD sweeps in a one year period. (see below) including but not limited to Medicine, Clothes, technology-phones, iPads, chargers, etc
    •    60% of un-housed residents experienced loss of personal effects /belongings with a value of over $2,000
    •    94% were unable to retrieve belongings from the City
    •    100% were unable to replace belongings due to poverty
-Dollar Amount of Belongings Theft from 86 people:
$109,000

Sweep Documentation of 86 Participant WeSearchers:
(below includes ticketing and arrests)
January 2015 thru January 2016

January -March 2015
-24 sweeps of individuals reported on Duboce st
-22 sweeps under 101 freeway - Cesar Chavez   
-12 sweeps of south Van Ness
-23 sweeps of trainer street behind Office Max

March 2015-May 2015
-28 sweeps duboce street
-27 sweeps under 101 freeway
-8 sweeps of S Van Ness
-15 sweeps of Trainer st

May-august 2015
25 sweeps of Duboce at
23 sweeps of under 101 freeway
10 sweeps of S Van Ness
16 sweeps of Trainor

August -November 2015
46 sweeps of Duboce st
33 sweeps of 101 freeway underpass
18 harassment, arrests, seizures S Van Ness
45 sweeps of Trainor- (Tickets increased)

November 2015-January 2016
121 sweeps of Duboce
 47 sweeps, ongoing harassment, seizures of 101 underpass
45 seizures, 13 sweeps, 26 arrests of S Van Ness
52 sweeps, harassment calls, seizures and 10 arrests of trainer st

Demands of UnHoused Resident WeSearchers:
    ▪    -$109, 000 returned for loss of belongings
    ▪    -The Immediate cease and desist of all sweeps, harassment and arrest of un-housed people for the act of sleeping or sitting while homeless
    ▪    -Open and safe liberated land in Yelamu Ohlone territory (San Francisco) to set up tents and run a safe tent city or an abandoned building to build a poor people-led, indigenous people-led, self-determined housing, garden and healing project to build Homefulness - a poor & indigenous people-led solution to Homelessness. ( modeled after Homefulness in Huchuin Ohlone land (Oakland)

The WeSearch Policy Group (WPG) is a project of POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE- a poor and indigenous people-led, very grassroots, art-based movement. Please credit POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE WeSearch Policy Group when re-printing

Leroy F. Moore: Jr.: Thanks you so much for agreeing to do an interview it means a lot to me. You are the son of a great Folk/Blues artist/activist, Josh White Sr. What have you learned from your father musically and social justice?

Josh White Jr.: Dad used to say if you don’t believe what you saying, then those you are singing to won’t believe you and when you are going to sing, make sure your every word can be understood.

Leroy F. Moore: Explain your music and how you come up with topics of your songs being a social activist?

Josh White Jr.: All one needs to do is listen and observe and if you can’t find your own words, there will be writers out there who will and you will have a source to hold on to.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: You have a song that I use in my workshops because it’s a true story of a Black blind musician, CORTELIA CLARK. Please explain his story and why you wrote this song to us.

Josh White Jr.: I was and still am a big fan of MICKIE NEWBURY who wrote the song and from the first time I started to learn C.C, I thought of my old man about his beginnings.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: As a Black Disabled researcher, journalist and music scholar, I was excited when I read the book Josh White: Society Blues about his life. That is where I learned that he was a guide to most famous Blind Blues artists all through the South. Did your father share with you some of these stories?

Josh White Jr.: Leroy, he never talked about the blind men he led. There were 66 different blind black street singers my old man led. From the age of 7 to 16 and a half, none would teach him how to play. So he would pick up the guitar of whomever he was leading at the time when they would go off and do whatever they were going to do without their guitar and dad would play it in whatever tuning it was in and with his own raw talent he found his way.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: I have always had this dream to walk your father’s path that he led blind Blues artists throughout the South. Did he ever share to you his path that he set in the South?

Josh White Jr.: Dad never did. The one story he did recount was watching the hanging of three young black men. I know whenever sang Strange Fruit, he was singing from the eyes of 7 years old.

Leroy F. Moore Jr. From the DVD "Josh White: Free and Equal Blues." he explained about how the streets were full of blind men artists back then. In your view what was the attitudes back then and how did the industry treat Blind Black Blues artistes back then compare today?

Josh White Jr.: In the early 1900s there were many Black blind street singers all across the south and they were not begging, they would stand on the different streets and EARN a living. The record industry had their pick of Black blind singers to record.

Leroy F. Moore Jr. Your website says you’re a social activist. Tell us about your social activism and do you think if your father was alive would he be involved in this moment of heighten police brutality? And have you wrote a song about police brutality?

Josh White, Jr.: Anything that is inhuman… from coal miner’s plight to really any human injustice. I live with do unto others as you would have others do unto you as opposed to, do unto others BEFORE they do unto you. For years I went with a buddy and created music with incarcerated boys. We put music to their writings they gave us from their journals. From two different universities I’ve gotten honorary degrees. When I did the one man show of my father’s live in Lansing, Michigan, that year May 23, 1983 was declared Josh White, Jr. day in the state of Michigan. There are a few more, but this should cover what I am about. If my old man had lived to a 100, he would have been in the forefront of social change.

Leroy F. Moore: How did blind Blues artists get a hold of your father back then and was there other guide persons at that time?

Josh White Jr.: I’m sure it must have been word of mouth, from blind man to blind man. He wasn’t the only lead boy.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: You started performing with your father at four years old so you like your father must of saw the good side and bad side of the music industry especially back then being Black. Please share a story from your childhood that sticks out.

Josh White, Jr.: Let me tell you what my old man used to do, and that I will do today considering the circumstances. Since I was 4 I have sung to white people so most of the places worked again were in a white community. So either at the gig or when going to a joint to eat you always back into your parking space so if you need to leave in a hurry, it is just one move and you’re gone.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: I’m a poet and songwriter and also involve in Black Disability Coalition where we are creating Black Disability Studies and I do believe that story telling is huge using your father’s and your song/s can bring a positive imprint on not only Black disabled/non-disabled but all students. Tell how you use story telling in your school presentations?

Josh White Jr.: All I do is first; carry my old man’s book for all to see. Secondly, I start out with the song “hard time blues” about the southern black man’s plight. Thirdly, telling them about the old man being the first black man to sing at the white house. Four, being one of the first black men to be put on a United States 2postal stamp. Five, the first black singer to have a million seller, the song, “One Meat Ball” Six, his first tour in Europe with Eleanor Roosevelt and lastly, the first black musician for whom Ovation Guitar makers built a Josh White model with his signature on the head stock.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: I truly believe that the struggles of Blues artists are what many Hip-Hop artists went through when Hip-Hop started. What can the founders Hip-Hop who are getting older becoming disabled learn from your father and founders of the Blues?

Josh White Jr.: I am not sure about the word disabled. If you are already a performer there is no reason to stop. Some of the best singers I have ever heard couldn’t get out of their wheelchairs. There is no reason to stop performing; there will always be ears out there to hear.

Leroy F. Moore Jr. I wrote a poem about your father leading Black Blind Blues men throughout the South. How can we pass down this story to others?

Josh White, Jr.: I am not sure but if get in touch with my manager he might be able to direct you. HIS NAME IS DOUG YEAGER,  I WILL EMAIL YOU HIS NUMBER.
 

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: Doing research on blind/disabled Black Blues artists, I realize that there is a lack of Black blind Blues women. What are your view and did your father ever led Black blind women who were Blues artists?

Josh White, Jr.: Good question. I could mention Bessie Smith and other female blues singers but the old man never spoke of them and I checked with a good friend of mine who had a blues show on NPR for years and he could not remember any Black blind women street singers, it might have been too risky.

Leroy F. Moore Jr.: What is your next project and how can people stay in contact?


Josh White Jr.: Just go to my web page, JOSH WHITE JR .COM
 

Leroy F. Moore Jr. Any last words?
 

Josh White Jr.: Thank you for being interested, and if there is anything else, let me know.

PEACE JWJ

Side by Side 

chair frames and baby toys, 
jackets, toothbrushes coffee cans and pillows
wrapped up in paper made of memories…

“These businesses around here have called the police on me 15 times just today, for just being here, in my tent. I don’t do drugs, I’m not panhandling, I am not bothering anyone. Actually, Im the same as you, I just don’t have a roof." Partice x, Unhoused born and raised San Franciscan resident, who up to six months ago was housed in the Bayview before her rent was raised beyond what she could afford on her $12.00 per hour salary, and now lives in a tent on 14th street was one of 85 WeSearchers collecting data on how our unhoused live, “In a desperate attempt to get housed, i have started another job, i am trying to save money, but it truly seems like I will never be housed in the Bay Area again.

nylon homes buried under lives made of storms
these aren’t the storms of rain and thunder 
sleet or hail- these rain drops include sheriff’s boots
and eviction notices,

I first met Partice when our POOR Magazine family launched our Tent city WeSearch Data project in three locations in the Mission; Duboce street, 14th st & Trainor and all along South Van Ness. We as poor, houseless and formerly houseless folks at POOR Magazine launched this WeSearch (Poor people-led research) because many of us live in these tents or have lived in the cardboard motels, as my mama used to call them when we were houseless throughout my childhood, and we are tired of the lies constantly perpetrated about us without us.

“We aren’t conducting anymore sweeps for the Super Bowl, not any that i am aware of,“ said Sam Dodge from Mayor Ed Lie’s office to multiple news sources who were inquiring about the increased Super Bowl arrests.. The recent statement from the Mayor’s office was rebuked when POOR Magazine held an emergency press conference at Duboce and Trainor streets on Thursday to release the WeSearch data. At 11am in the middle of the press conference not one, but two DPW trucks rolled up on Duboce and began seizing belongings and throwing them in their trash truck.   

POOR Magazine launched this WeSearch effort because not only were so many of us unable to afford to live under a roof in San Francisco and Oakland, but because our lives, our temporary homes were being targeted for arrest, seizure and police harassment more than the usual harassment we always get living outside, in preparation for the pending plantation, corporate sports game called the Superbowl. 

this thunder is made of the sound of your home bouncing on the pavement
the lightening is a po'lice flashlight shining on car windows
and hail filled slices of
foreclosure ….Outside by Tiny, Po Poets Project

“Just in the last week, DPW (Department of Public Works) has taken my belongings and thrown them in the trash over 20 times, if i leave for even an hour everything i own will be gone,” William P explained in his WeSearch report, “what if someone came in your house and took all your stuff while you were gone, I am not living in this tent cause i want to be, this isn’t fun you know,” he concluded. 

WeSearch is a concept I created as a poverty skola who has been researched and pimped multiple times for “studies” about poverty and houselessness. WeSearch is led by us, the usual “targets” of big “research grants” i.e., the poor, disabled, indigenous, houseless, incarcerated/criminalized, institutionally schooled youth and/or ghettoized  elders rather than an academic institution or a non-profiteer who only gets “involved” in researching and studying us when there is grant money, endowments being offered or a school project with a grade.  

There are so many untold stories of how and why people become un-housed. Loss of a job, a partner, the onset of an illness or a crisis, but most of the time, in the Bay Area, its because of a greed-inspired landlord raising rent, evicting for profit so he or she can house the droves of 20-30 something wealthy, mostly white people streaming into town for the Tech industry. When I was a child with my mama our hosuelessness was caused by another little murder of the soul as she called it, losing her job and already being fraught with the trauma of her life as a mixed race, unwanted orphan who barely made it into adulthood, she became disabled after her last job loss and was unable to work, We moved in to the cardboard motels and our car when we had one. and stayed there for over 10 years. Crisis like that doesn’t just go away and it certainly doesn’t go away by being arrested. 

One of the many findings revealed from the WeSearch data is that over $109,000 in personal belongings were seized (read stolen) by DPW and Po’Lice from 85 unHoused San Francisco in the the three SF locations over 2015-16 and $62,000 from 45 un-Housed Oakland residents in 3 outside locations. These are things that are never returned notwithstanding the claims otherwise by DPW and the Mayors office. From jewelry to blankets, to watches, bikes and technology, once its pulled onto the recycling trucks, its gone. And then even more tragically, when poor peoples valuables are stolen by DPW and Po’Lice, it is not considered theft. That somehow just because folks are unhoused we don’t have the right to privacy, to have momentoes, or anything valuable.When me and my mama lost precious family photos, we never saw them again. Its why i now only have one picture of my mama and one baby picture of me.When me and my sun were evicted from MamaHouse for a $700 rent increase, three low-income single parent families were scattered. It took several years to be re-housed safely, and none of us have truly recovered.
  
The other factor thats very important is that from San Francisco to Salinas, so-called public space under 21st century settler colonial laws is no longer public. True, it was never really public, since the beginning of the theft of this 1st Nations territory ( Turtle Island) from Indigenous peoples and the theft of African peoples to work on it, this land has NEVER been free. English settler laws always incarcerated people for being poor and disabled before they even landed on Turtle Island, so the colonizers brought those same laws and institutions here and perpetrated even more. but now they have become deeper and harsher. With the advent of Sit-Lie, Stop and Frisk and Business Improvement Districts, there is a constant attack on our poor bodies who end up without a roof. And as well, contrary to the perception being held in place by these anti-poor laws in the US, just like in global south countries, there are millions of houseless families, elders, children and single adults,  , we just aren’t “allowed” to be seen, because the anti-poor laws which are all raced and classed depending on your melanin, your age and the price of your clothes, don’t allow us to be poor and houseless in public.If you are waiting in line for a new iPhone at a Mac store or a new product at a Best Buy, you can camp, sit, put your backpack down or lie on the sidewalk or in parks for days. 

In the end the WeSearchers created 3 simple demands, including land to build Homefulness in San Francisco ( Yelamu Ohlone Territory) modeled after the houseless peoples land liberation movement in Deep East Huchuin Ohlone land Oakland and the return of the $109,000 dollars lost to theft of belongings and the immediate ceasing of this insane arrest and seizure policy. the cry was simple, “ Ed Lee and Scott Weiner, Give Us Land or We Aren’t Going Anywhere.

“You can’t come in,” the oddly butler-esque dressed sheriff stopped me, my 12 year old sun Tiburcio and literally hundreds of members of the “public” at the door to King Lee’s (Not at all) “public” inauguration.

“We were told it was open to the public,” I countered, 

“It is,” a weird silence ensued and he looked above us. 

“So if its public, we are the public and we would like to go in,” I continued.

“You can’t,” again, a long weird silence ensued. 

We stood there one-sidedly arguing with him for another few minutes and then me and Tibu decided to “find an alternate route” to get in. We proceeded on a hectic journey to penetrate the insane level of FBI, SWAT, Sheriff Dept and private security crawling around the so-called public event. We went up the elevator and down the stairs. we tried unsuccessfully to claim media access, but our “plastic” official PoorNewsNetwork badge was a little to toe-up to garner us legitimacy. We trailed along with the Boys choir, and got stopped as soon as they actually looked at us, our slightly soiled revolutionary black attire giving us away. We hid in the bathroom, thinking we were pulling a James Bond move and would eventually fling the door open and do a body roll out. Dopey us came out and the same police were still there, this time they had increased to double-fold and were staring right at us. 

Finally we ended up in the press box upstairs, standing nonchalantly next to sis-STAR comrade Pearl Ubungen (who eventually got dragged out). We managed to stay quiet until London Breed began to introduce the mini-king and his fiefdom. “Fire Chief Suhr, Fire Ed Lie'" came rolling out of my mouth uncontrollably and with the words came the sign that oddly appeared under my sweat-shirt, If we don’t Fire Chief Suhr and Recall Ed Lee He will Shoot & Evict us All- #Mario Woods, Alex Nieto, Amilcar Lopez, Idriss Stelley, Ron Likkers and Elaine Turner…It was at this moment that a female sheriff appeared from behind the curtain and pulled me away from the area while grabbing my sign and tearing it up violently like i was insulting her personally. Me and Tibu had a plan, if i did get pushed out, he would step away and follow slightly behind. She led us to the place that the Swat team and Po’Lice had designated for all us trouble-makers aka the very angry, evicted, lied to, displaced, houseless, po’Lice terrorized San Franciscans that Ed Lie was supposedly elected by.

From that moment on it was scene out of some old Russian spy novel. Anybody who dared to raise their voice, drop a banner, or boo loudly was at risk of being seized and dragged out. One by one a team of three sheriffs would march in, burrow through the crowd and “find” the perpetrator and drag him or her out, plastic arrest ties dangling off their gun belts. 

At the same time at least 75 suited and booted swat team members with batons raised and helmut glasses down gathered at either exit to escort us out of the little segregated space we had been corralled into. It was actually terrifying for a poverty skola, formerly incarcerated mama like me that can’t get arrested. And yet it was so infuriating that any hardcore truth-teller like me and the other hundreds of community next to me, couldn’t leave. As a matter of fact, there was a mini- conflict between some of us who wanted to lock arms and begin chanting together at the top of our lungs knowing that these paid gangsters might be able to arrest one or two of us but they couldn’t arrest all of us together. But people seemed visibly and understandably intimidated and so outbursts remained singular until the end.

Meanwhile, the weird feudal fiefdom was unfolding downstairs. From the boys choir to the catholic priest, from the poltricksters Breed and Governor Gerrification Fracking Brown to the weird love by Lee’s well-dressed minions in rapt attendance. In the midst of constant boos, shouts to Fire Chief Surh, Ed Lee and Get justice for Mario Woods, Alex Nieto and so many more coming from both 2nd floor sides of the rotundas filled with angry community, there was clapping and honoring and well-wishing. It was nothing less than surreal and so reminiscent of the (S)Election of this mayor who has ruled with greed as his first goal, selling off every part of this town to the gentryTECH nation and in the process displacing and killing families, elders and young people of color. 

The Violent Paper Pusher

People claim he is only a paper pusher (bureaucrat) but don’t get it twisted, paper and pens in the wrong hands can kill people and has led to the death of thousands of poor peoples, disabled peoples, Black and Brown and indigenous peoples from the lie of discovery to Chattel slavery to our present day anti-poor people laws of the 21st century. Other than the very rich, this mayor isn’t working for anyone. It is why we Black, Brown, Disabled and Poor peoples at POOR Magazine visited his house the day before for an action we called Suhr & Lee: Stop Killing SF & Its Black, Brown, Disabled & Poor People -Mayor Lie Must Resign & Greg Suhr Must be fired. He may follow the careful script of Willie Brown who he managed to mention at the inauguration (even thought it really didn’t make sense) but he is responsible for a special kind of disengaged selling off of this town that i don’t think i have really seen before. A 21st century poltrickster sell-out of frightening proportions. 

Crisis after crisis, emergency after emergency, protest after protest every time folks have arrived at Ed Lie’s “public” office in City Hall, it is locked, his doors are guarded by at least four or more Sheriffs and maybe if we are lucky a 20 something clueless aid comes out to speak to us. My favorite moment of tragic comedy was when at least 50 families who were facing police profiling of their suns and eviction due to the privatization of public housing from the mayor’s RAD demonstration ( read privatizing all the San Francisco public housing and turning it into “mixed-income” housing) we showed up singing a gospel song and one of the Sheriffs guarding the door told myself and QueenandiX Sheba, fellow staff writer at POOR Magazine that if we sang one more “note” he would arrest us. For singing. This is the 21st century kingDumb of Ed Lie. 

Staying silent about his overseer

Since the brutal execution of Mario Woods by Po’Lice firing squad for nothing more than being black and still alive in San Francisco hundreds of people have filled the streets demanding Chief Suhr be fired. Demanding justice and accountability. Demanding respect for the mama of this young African Sun and nothing from the mayors office. Not even a call of apology, respect or condolences. 

“Justice for Mario Woods,” Fire Chief Suhr…Fire Ed Lee!!” 

Eventually the tragic comedy was over, but not before at least 15 people were dragged out, several arrested and hundreds more unsuccessfully intimidated for the sole act of not being ok with this theft of a public office, a City and thousands of our lives. We agreed to march out together. Eventually marching single file down the stairs, demanding justice for Mario Woods the firing of Chief Suhr and Ed Lee and all of us. 

Before we left a young sister, Melissa Crosby, called us to arms with the famous Assata Shakur chant…

“It is our duty to fight for our Freedom….

It is our Duty To Win…

We Must love and protect each other

WE Have nothing to lose but our Chains

WE Have Nothing to lose but our chains