Story Archives 2016

pem style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, helvetica, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"span style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"Editors Note: Jose H. Villarreal 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./span/em/p pThe Spanish ndash; Amerkkkan war of 1898 was an event which began an important development in World political affairs. It began the rise of U.$. imperialism. This rise was reflected in the U.$. annexation of the Philippines./p pThe ldquo;Spanish- Amerkkkan Warrdquo; as it is referred to was actually an inter-imperialist conflict where Amerikkka and Spain were fighting over who will colonize who essentially./p pOn the surface it appeared that Amerikkka was attempting to guard from Spanish expansion, there were deeper reasons for this war and to blame it simply on propaganda machines like the hearst corporation or a fear of ldquo;another Black Republicrdquo; is a big mistake and misjudgment./p pAlthough the Amerikkkan press did hype up the call to way, there were bigger factors involved./p pKarl Marx addressed the contradictions within the capitalist system which exists solely by accumulation and the need to expand. Vladimir Lenin took the ideas of Marx further in his work ldquo;Imperialism : the Highest Stage of Capitalismrdquo;. In this work Lenin explained that capitalism MUST expand or die. As it expands it becomes Imperialism which, I might add, is simply capitalism on a global scale or to be more precise itrsquo;s the exportation of exploitation./p pAmerikkka, during the rosy dawn of capitalism, HAD to expand when it did. It began to look to other countries in which to exploit their resources. The Philippines was ripe for the picking. It was ripe for Amerikkka to devour its timber industry and use its geographical location to further the U.$. sphere of influence in the region./p pThere was some push back and resistance to this from anti-imperialists of the day such as Carl Schurz, E.L. Godkin, William Jennings Bryan, Jane Addams and the writer Mark Twain. These people all criticized Amerikkka for its deeds and plunder. They formed the ldquo;Anti-Imperialist Leaguerdquo; in 1898 in order to organize their resistance./p pAlthough there was opposition within Amerkkka to annex Philippines on a small scale, the most important resistance came from the Philippino people themselves. In the 1890rsquo;s, under the command of Emilio Aguinaldo, the Philippino people organized an independence movement who at first unleased Guerrilla warfareon the Spahish colonizers and later on the Amerikkkan colonizers./p pDespite the opposition, those in favor of annexing the Philippines had more power and influence at the time. Racism was even more dominant at the time, with Amerikkan Presidents even talking about ldquo;threats to the white racerdquo; and other things which left out non-whites. nbsp;/p pThe same can be said for the annexation of about half of Mexicorsquo;s land by Amerikkka in 1848. The Amerikkkan public was mostly all for it as well. Imperialism is in power in the U.$. , as a result capitalism is the dominant culture because they control the big business, the press, the kkkourts, the schools, the police and military. They talk of ldquo;freedomrdquo;, but all of the above institutions work to uphold and enforce the capitalist way of life. These same institutions would be shut down if they promoted tearing down U.$. imperialism or overturning capitalism. Exporting exploitation equals imperialism./p pJose H. Villarrealnbsp;/p p1-6-16/p

p dir="ltr"spanspanFour years ago I met the love of my life. As a 62 year old male bachelor/Hippie Madman, I met the love of my life.nbsp; We got hitched, Irsquo;ll just say our life together is perfect as a saltnpepper low income senior. With senior and disability problems.nbsp;/span/spanI am not saying we donrsquo;t debate. We do that. Quite loudly sometimes. Outside of that we get along great. As I say, she has spiced up my life./p p dir="ltr"I had to educate her about low income living after Wells Fargo kicked her out of her own house with her Service Animal Betty Bingo. As a writer for Poor and an activist all my life, I had to teach her the ropes./p p dir="ltr"Living in the most expensive City in America, our $3,000 combined income a month doesnrsquo;t go very far. With a $1,000.00 grocery bill a month (due to our weird low salt diet. Common Sense told us not to pay IRS Taxes with me getting $1,000.00 per month and her getting $2,000.00, it is not luxury living we are enjoying the rusty years with my wife from full body gout carpal tunnel, Arthritis in both ankles, hips, knees and shoulders.; sleep apnea, and so on. I have had Pancreatitis; Heart Attack; scoliosis./p p dir="ltr"Then a big surprise a few months ago in the mail from the infernal revenue service better known as the internal revenue service. For not filing taxes my wife has had a lovely surprise from these people a bill for $2,913.61 for tax year 2008./p p dir="ltr"She was a publisher of a coffee book, ldquo;Redbluff, The Way we were in the 1970s.rdquo; Her business partner, editor and photographer of the book died, and people not paying for a case of books that they bought, being both of them not savvy in the laws of publishing and dishonest business practices from the Hallmark Store in Red Bluff and the Red Bluff Daily News. For her being a new person in this field aka a neophyte and also a woman of color. She is not a stupid woman, she is very intelligent. I was brought up in the era where a personrsquo;s handshake was a big deal. Today#39;s practices are bend over and we will give you what you want! She forgot to file the taxes. People owed her $7500.00 for book purchases and they didnrsquo;t pay. Plus costs of storing these books in Red Bluff, shipping costs from San Leandro to Red Bluff and storage./p p dir="ltr"spanspanA few years later she filed the taxes. Her accountant now went South and her records disappeared like the IRS loves to do to people of color and poor people. The Donald Trumps of this world have lawyers up their butt. So they donrsquo;t worry about tax problems. Us poor people on the other hand, nbsp;just lucky to feed ourselves are vacuumed through the cracks. They keep an eagle eye on us like we are going to bankrupt the US Economy./span/span/p p dir="ltr"spanspanAs soon as she got that letter saying that she owed an xxxxx amount of $$$$$$$ she was the first one in the door the next day. The first of the three Stooges was a woman of middle European descent.nbsp; Kathy walked in the door with 2007 2008 filing in hand to prove that they were wrong. It was verified briefly that the taxes for 2008 were filed and paid. You are accumulating fees for not filing 2012 through 2014 you might as well file 2015 to get ahead of the game before too many fees for that tax year. Kathy explained that she didnrsquo;t have monies to go to a tax preparer. The Agent volunteered a list of nonprofits that would help me file my taxes for free. Kathy rushed home with the lists in her hands like a dog with a good soup bone. When she came home she was grinning from ear to ear. She immediately called two or three companies until she got the people she needed. The Chinese Newcomerrsquo;s Center called back and she went the next morning and met with George Chang. These people were very helpful to her.nbsp; My wife is a Pacific Islander and Cherokee Indian and no Asian that she knows of. She was treated the same as everybody else in the office. Returned home and went to the IRS the following week. Went to see another Agent that made the shit hit the fan. This Agent is the equivalent of Curly of the Three Stooges. Told her that 2008 was not in her file and this is what all the fees are for. The Agent added insult to injury by scaring her into thinking there will be big monthly payments that have to be paid. He did not do the proper paperwork when he accepted the check for $841.00. He did not accept the IRS Payment Vouchers that were given to me by The Chinese Newcomerrsquo;s Center. She came back home in tears. Talked over her problem. I cracked a joke about them, ldquo;The only difference between the IRS and a rapist is the rapist says thank you and the IRS does not.rdquo; A few days later after talking to her tax preparer, she set up a payment plan. She came home grinning from ear to ear and my wife told me I was correct in the amount./span/span/p p dir="ltr"spanspanOn Saturday, August 12, 2016 the final shoe dropped when she got 5 Certified letters from the IRS stating: They intend to terminate her Installment Agreement, and that she will have to pay $3,000.00 immediately in overdue taxes. They may seize (ldquo;levyrdquo;) any State Tax Refund and apply it to the aforementioned bill./span/span/p p dir="ltr"spanspanReporterrsquo;s Editorial:/span/span/p p dir="ltr"spanspanIt is about time to use a little known section of the United States Constitution. Any State that wants to resign from this Union shall just need a majority of the Legislature to vote to resign from The United States. California is in the best situation to resign. If we were a country California would be the seventh largest economy in the world. We only get back 3 cents to every dollar we give in our taxes. We have the most progressive constitution than all of the other states. It is about time that some Assemblymen or State Senators use this little known section of the United /span/spanspanStates Constitution./span/p

p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"When I was younger (and even now) I watched the Three Stooges and other old shows. I have always loved things from the 19supth/supnbsp;Century cartoons, songs, TV shows and elders. But, I always loved the Three Stooges. But then another night I was watching Three Stooges and I realized that the show was really racist. The show made black people look stupid and said all kind of racist slurs against different cultures./p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"They made really racist slurs like referring to Japanese people as Japs and degrading Jewish people. But, in that time the Three Stooges was not the only racist kids television show in the 1930#39;s. Little Rascals, a television show airing from 1922-1944 was about poor children#39;s adventures in their neighborhood. In one of those episodes to get away form one of his friends he painted himself black to look like someone else./p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"What I realized about all of these cartoons and television shows is that the people who are starring the shows and even the directors of these shows realize how racist they are they just think that they are doing the right thing by following along with the modern culture. And in a way they are. Because the whole American culture back then supported racism of any kind./p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"Another cartoon was Looney #39;Toons, a popular kids show that was on today that some of the episodes were so racist they were banned from television. The Censored Eleven, the collection of Looney #39;Toons cartoons that were banned in 1968 from television were cartoons that were from 1930#39;s to 1940#39;s.nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"The thing that really shocks me is that in all after all of these years people make the same stereotypes but less blatantly. A stereotype is what people call a sentence that assumes something about someone else#39;s race.The media supports it too just like they did back then in the 1930s and 40#39;s. They do subtle things like talk about all of the gang violence in the black and brown communities./p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"Lately one of the prime examples of racism against black people is the police killing black and brown men all over America. Micheal Brown, Oscar Grant, Freddy Gray and Idriss Stelly are just prime examples of black men being shot down by the police for doing nothing but walking down a street./p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"nbsp;/p p lang="en-US" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0in;"Another example of how racism back then effects the world today is all of the people back then who grew up in that racism and grew up watching those shows and saw how black people were humiliated along with Japanese people, Indian people and many other cultures. I have been doing some research and I realized that that Donald Trump grew up around that era here is I question I ask for you is that really surprising? nbsp;/p

pem style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode, helvetica, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"span style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"Editors Note: Asar Imhotep Amen 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./span/em/p pnbsp;/p pldquo;One of the most tragic beliefs widely shared by Blacks throughout the world is that white people need or want us or will treat us equally and share societal resources with us. Faith continues to prevail in spite of overwhelming evidence which disputes this belief. Blacks continue to ignore the irrefutable truth that, in a racist social system, all institutions will reflect, protect and sustain values that are consistent with racism/white supremacy. This should not be considered surprising or profound since all institutions serve to perpetuate the social theory of the group which created them.rdquo;/p p style="margin-left:3.25in;"-nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Dr. Bobby E Wright/p p style="margin-left:3.25in;"African-Centered Psychologist/p pSometimes, different people can independently arrive at the same conclusion I didnrsquo;t start and havenrsquo;t been affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Movement, but I respect their analysis of the problem and their desire to end it. Around the same time as #BLM was starting, I, like many other people, was thinking along the same lins about what the fundamental problem was behind seemingly rampant police murders of Black people. And for once, I didnrsquo;t feel alone in centering the problem of what Black life means. If Black life doesnrsquo;t mean anything, the USA would be a genocidal slave state in which the killing and punishment of Black people is meted out and widely considered acceptable, regardless of guilt or innocence, gender, socioeconomic status, or other factors. And thatrsquo;s exactly what it is./p p#BLM (Black Lives Matter) is a grassroots coalition-based social movement started in the United States by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in the wake of several unpunished (or lightly punished) incidents of police killing unarmed Black people, including the killing of Oscar Grant and Kenneth Harding in Oakland, as well as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Renisha McBride, and Michael Brown. While it consists of people with diverse viewpoints and tactics, the movementrsquo;s central aim is to oppose the systematic normalization of Black peoplersquo;s deaths, which makes violence against Black people more likely and more acceptable. #BLM began as a social media movement, but has quickly become an on-the-ground social movement with many different actors and organizations that arenrsquo;t necessarily connected as one organization but have the same general aims./p pActions and policies of the state result in the disproportionate killing, injuring, and incarceration of Black people, but the struggle for Black life to matter is not just about opposing policing practices against Black men, boys girls. It is also about how domestic abuse victim Marissa Alexander was not allowed to defend herself against her abusive husband under the same ldquo;stand your groundrdquo; defense in Florida law that George Zimmerman used to get exonerated in the killing of Trayvon Martin. It is also about how Black transwoman Cece McDonald was prosecuted and convicted for defending herself against a hostile and racist group of white youths in Minneapolis. It is also about how broader political practices, like the mass disenfranchisement of Florida sand Ohio Black voters, the shutting down of water services to Detroit residents , and the anemic federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, show a remarkable disregard for black lives./p pBecause the nature of racism is not just prejudice but the power to enforce prejudice, these problems cannot be addressed individually, by punishing or educating those who commit violence against Black people without justification. Itrsquo;s too big a problem. The conservative Wall Street Journal reported that in 2011 NYPD had more stops of young Black men in Manhattan that there are young Black men in Manhattan. And at least one former NYPD police officer has stepped forward to ay that he was specifically ordered to stop young Black males at every opportunity. But he is just one officer, and NYPD just one department. Police officers everywhere had broad latitude to stop anyone they suspect may be involved in a crime and use that latitude to systematically target Black and Latino men and boys. The problem is deeper than any one department and itrsquo;s ldquo;stop- and-friskrdquo; policies./p pFor one thing, itrsquo;s everywhere, not just Ney York. One report described anti-black racism as ldquo;baked intordquo; police practices. The root of the problemrdquo;, says #BLM co-founder Alicia Garza, ldquo;is anti-black racismrdquo;. In other words, there is a unique, deeply ingrained, and pervasive kind of racism that American society at large feels toward Black people that goes a long way toward explaining these disparities as well as many others./p pWhat does blackness mean to America? There are not-so-subtle hints everywhere./p p*Black people make up approximately 12 percent of the US population, but constitute more than 40 percent of the prison population./p p*White Americans use illegal drugs at rates that are comparable to, or well in excess of, the rates at which Black Americans use illegal drugs, but Black Americans are incarcerated for drug offenses 10 times more./p p*In 2012, a Black American was killed by police and security forces at least once every 28 hours. According to another report, ldquo;black teens were 21 more times likely to be shot dead [by police] than their white counterpartsrdquo;./p pThe problem is not just that a de facto police state is ready to descend on Black people at any time, but also, more broadly, that the entire population of African Americans is perceived by the broader society (1) as a potential threat and (2) as unworthy of being listened to when we protest through legal, institutional, or other means. This problem must be viewed as a systemic one, not just an individual or institutional one, and it must be addressed on multiple levels, including not only institutionally or interpersonally but especially in our unconscious thought, the deeply ingrained thought processes that are reflected by our actions before we even have the opportunity to think. Before we can change our thinking to make Black lives matter, we must truly understand that the problem of Black lives not mattering is a problem of meaning that isnrsquo;t just individual or institutional but structural. It is rooted in what America is./p pAmerica needs Black lives to not matter. Due to centuries of negative images and stereotypes about Africans and racial blackness, in the collective psyches of the United States, throughout the Americas, and across the world blackness means, as the late psychiatrist Dr. Frantz Fanon said, ldquo;the lower emotions, the baser inclinations, the dark side of the soulrdquo;. A field of study within cognitive psychology known as implicit cognition (or implicit bias) finds quantifiable evidence of what Black people have been knowing for better than 1,000 years (had anyone with power bothered to listen): that deeply rooted negative attitudes toward people of African descent are held widely across the American population, even among those who claim to be non-racist, even when other possible causes for these attitudes (like socioeconomic class or education level) are taken into consideration ndash; and these attitudes tend to increase peoplersquo;s willingness to use violence (interpersonal, institutional, or state) and punishment against Black people./p pOne recent quantitative study from Stanford, title ldquo;Not Yet Humanrdquo;, shows that people of African descent are commonly associated with apes at an unconscious level of mental processing. According to the study, ldquo;this Black-ape association alters visual perception and attention, and it increases endorsement of violence against Black suspects. In an archival study of actual criminal cases, the authors show that news articles written about Blacks who are convicted of capital crimes are more likely to contain ape-relevant language than news articles written about white convicts. Moreover, those who are implicitly portrayed as more apelike in these articles are more likely to be executed by the state than those who are not.rdquo; This finding agrees with the earlier work of Stanford literature professor Sylvia Wynter, who found that police in Los Angeles in the 1980rsquo;s and early 1990rsquo;s commonly used the incident code ldquo;NHIrdquo; ndash; meaning ldquo;no humans involvedrdquo; ndash; for incidents involving African Americans. While many people acknowledge this police code to have been racist, the Stanford quantitative study shows that even people who donrsquo;t think themselves racist have the same thoughts./p pOther studies show that children of African descent are believed to be older, more mature, and less innocent than their white counterparts, something that might explain why teachers suspend African American preschoolers at triple the rate of white preschoolers and why police and prosecutors are more likely to charge African American youth with harsher crimes or in adult court than they are in cases involving non Black youth. It might also explain why 12-year-old youth Tamir Rice was shot dead by police at a playground in Cleveland Ohio, while holding a toy gun, whereas white youths are free to regularly play with toy guns in their neighborhoods./p pAnother set of studies (ldquo;shooter biasrdquo; studies) shows that Black males holding cell phones are, on quick glance, believed to be holding guns, while white males are believed to be holding cell phones. These studies also found that people would be quicker to shoot and to holster their weapons when faced with a Black male who might be holding a cell phone or a gun, compared with a white male in the same position. These studies might explain why plainclothes police shot unarmed immigrant Amadou Diallo after he reached for his wallet presumably thinking the officers wanted to see his identification or were trying to rob him./p pStill other studies have shown that a stereotypically- named, hypothetical Black defendant will receive a higher rate of conviction and harsher degree of punishment for the same crime than will a stereotypically-named hypothetical white defendant, even when identical evidence is presented./p pA hypothetical job applicant with an African- American-sounding name is less likely to receive further consideration when a hypothetical job applicant with a white-sounding name is granted further consideration, even when both have the exact same resume, except for the name at the top. An applicant for housing or mortgage will be similarly screened based on assumptions about whether they are Black or not, thereby shaping geographic segregation patterns./p pAfrican- American employees are more likely to be evaluated poorly by employers than are white employees./p pBlack NFL players are required to return from injury sooner than their white counterparts with the same injury. Other studies show that the medical profession is slower to give aggressive treatment to African Americans and less sensitive to the pain of African American patients./p pRegardless of whether one stands on the side of addressing the problem, like the founders of #BLM, describing the problem, like researchers at Stanford, or even denying the problem or defending police murders of Black people, the central problem is not a swirling morass of practices to be altered. It is a structure. These problems of anti-black racism are not simply problems of individual or institutional practice or prejudice because they are repeated across widely disparate individuals and institutions with the same independent results. The psyche of anti-black racism is not individual or institutional. Both the psyche and the institution are networked together as part of one dynamic, fluid and massive structure. The psyche, like the institution, is a structure. The problems of Black life mattering are hence fundamentally problems of structural power. In other words, structural racism encompasses the entire system of white supremacy, diffused and infused in all aspects of society, including our history, culture, politics, economics and our entire social fabric. Structural racism is the most profound and pervasive form of racism- all other forms of racism (e.g. institutional, interpersonal, internalized, etc.) emerge from structural racism./p pThe key indicators of structural racism are inequalities in power, access, opportunities, treatment, and policy impacts and outcomes, whether they are intentional or not. Structural racism is more difficult to locate in a particular institution because it involves the reinforcing effects of multiple institutions and cultural norms, past and present, continually producing new, and re-producing old forms of racism./p pThe problem of Black life mattering extends to unconscious levels of thinking and is not only deeply rooted, but also widely diffuse and reinforced through multiple networks of power. It is therefore quite challenging to uproot without a massive change in the social structure that abolished the ways that both personal and institutional practice, as well as individual and social frames of meaning are tethered to the genocidal slave empire of the ldquo;modernrdquo; world, the United States. If we only think about the practice of prejudice without centering the ways that all racism derives from structural racism ndash; what I call anti blackness- we will be at pains to explain why there is so deep a reserve of animosity that can result in normalized violence toward Black people (and people of color in general) and why the mass loss of Black life does not constitute a national emergency or a cause for widespread grief. True dedication to the principle that Black lives matter will require a revolution using all means necessary to end the structure of anti-blackness./p pRacism/white supremacy in America is deeply rooted in a global system of settler- colonial capitalism, land theft, mass murder (or if you prefer the sanitized euphemism of the term ldquo;genociderdquo;) racial chattel slavery and its consequences. White privilege is the manifestation, consequence, and flip-side of Black oppression and exploitation, violence of indigenous sovereignty, and the Eurocentric imposition of private property relations on both land and people to extract profit through domination. This is a global Empire, and it is an empire here within the US itself as well. White supremacy, white privilege and racism can only be uprooted by overturning that system of settler colonialism and imperialism, here in the US and throughout the world. Nothing short of decolonization, self-determination of oppressed and colonized people and revolutionary social, political, economic and ecological transformation of the entire society will do./p p style="margin-left:2.0in;"ldquo;Powerful people never educate the victims of their power away from themhellip; the ideology of our ldquo;formerrdquo; slave masters cannot save us. We will not be truly liberated until we are the main instruments of our liberationrdquo;./p p style="margin-left:2.0in;"Dr. John Henrick Clarke/p p style="margin-left:2.0in;"nbsp;/p pCORRESPONDENCE:/p pTroy T. Thomas, H 01001, A1-137 ndash; UP/p pCSP-LAC/p pP.O. BOX #4430/p pnbsp;/p pLancaster, CA 93539/p

div Hello Friends Supporters,/div div nbsp;/div div p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"How are you? Thanks for your ongoing support of my/Krip-Hop Nation#39;s work throughout the years! Now we come to one of our biggest dreams for Krip-Hop Nation, our South Africa Tour./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Itnbsp; is September and things are rolling out for the Krip-Hop South Africa Tour Nov- December 2016/span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"I have my ticket and the Krip-Hop South Africa crew is knee deep in getting us sponsors.nbsp; For this indiegog campign I relyaing on direct emails and close friends supporters and less on posting on Facebook but I encourage others to post./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Our online Krip-Hop Nation South Africa Tour Indiegogo campaign IS LIVEnbsp;@/span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #1255cc"a href="https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978"https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978/a/spanspan style="letter-spacing: 0.0px".nbsp; We tried to get the video caption but we donbsp; have the video transcript on the page./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"The time is tight. We need to raise a lot before mid October./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"This is huge for not only Krip-Hop Nation but for the disability international community. After more than 30 years of dreaming and networking (on the internet) for the day that I can touch South African land and connect with South Africans who are Deaf/Disabled, I can say it is worth the wait and work! Krip-Hop South Africa Tour in Disability Month, December!/span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"We are fundraising to cover the following:/span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"* Publishing a book of stories, art, poetry, essays and song lyrics of artists,writers with disabilities who are Deaf in Africa US.Our publisher, Blacktastic.net/span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"* Creating, editing, producing and marketing of a film documentary of the tour./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"* Accessible equipment that would make the tour more accessible like wheelchairs etc/span/p ul li style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Performersrsquo; fees./span/li /ul p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"Stay tune! Thanks to POOR Magazine who is creating the Indiegogo Campaigns and thanks CB Smith-Dahl for doing the video./span/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 13px;"nbsp;/p p style="margin: 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"The online fundraiser IS NOW OPEN. Help out! Give to Krip-Hop South Africa Tour November-December 2016 a href="https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978"span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(18, 85, 204);"https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978/span/a./span/p /div

pPoverty, Climate Change and the Dakota Access Pipeline Indigenous Resistancenbsp;br / by Tiny, Daughter of Dee, Mama of Tiburcio/p p nbsp;ldquo;I donrsquo;t care if we have half of a t-shirt to sell, we have no money and food left so you gotta go out therehellip;.rdquo; On my mamarsquo;s last words directing me to sell on the street in our micro-business even when we really had nothing to sell, words which were at a volume loud enough for the whole street to hear, the earth moved and moved and MOVED againhellip;rdquo; It was 1989 and the Loma Prieta earthquake shifted allnbsp; of our lives, especially those of us already in struggle, never to go back quite the same.nbsp;/p p This horrible moment of mama earthrsquo;s aggression and the deeper crisis it caused in me and my mamarsquo;s poverty herstory flooded back to me as I watched, listened, prayed and supported one of the largest gatherings in herstory of indigenous peoples from all four corners supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fighting the construction of a huge pipeline through their sacred burial grounds, rivers and homelands in North Dakota./p p Today and everyday throughout this struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline I prayed in thanks to the spirit of my, orphaned Taino/Boriken mama, the Ohlone relatives of this (Oak)land and so many of our ancestors from all four cornersnbsp; who I pray to everyday, as word from Obama came through that he has finally listened to us all and suggested the halting of this corporate desecration called the Dakota Access Pipeline./p p ldquo;Water is life, said Dine Nation earth, water protector and mother Wahleah Johns who spoke along with many other water and earth warriors atnbsp; a San Francisco Solidarity rally with the indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline on August 24thbr / nbsp;br / ldquo;Since 1990rsquo; we have been involved in fighting environmental racism and supporting climate justice efforts in the Bay Area and across the country,rdquo; said Pam Tau Lee from Chinese Progressive Association. Pam and Wahleah were one of many power-FULL speakers at the San Francisco solidarity rally organized by the NoDAPLsolidaritySF, a group of organizations that included the Chinese Progressive Association SF, Indian People Organizing for Change and Indigenous Women of the Americas Defending Mother Earth./p p Since April 1st the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been in a fierce battle to protect their cultural and sacred sites, their drinking water which comes from the Missouri River, native prairie lands, farmlands and other natural resources from this horrible destruction/p p The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,168-mile crude oil pipeline that will transport up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily from the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota to refineries in Patoka Illinois. Oil pipelines break, spill and leak oil; oil that has been treated with chemicals that are flammable, toxic and carcinogenic. It is not a question of if; itrsquo;s a question of when and where./p p ldquo;Water everywhere, even in Huchuin, Ohlone Land (Oakland) is connected to the Dakota Lands, we are all connected, that is one of the reasons it is important for all of us to fight this pipeline, and other acts of corporate destructionrdquo; said earth warrior and Ohlone sis-STAR Corrina Gould as she taught a class of 7-14 year olds at a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=enq=http://www.racepovertymediajustice.org/academysource=gmailust=1473625315755000usg=AFQjCNFw6j9FwsxmQUXJ8ajEvV3s0Yac3w" href="http://www.racepovertymediajustice.org/academy" target="_blank"Deecolonize Academy- /aa revolutionary school for children in poverty in Oakland started by myself and other poor mamas and uncles./p p From out of control fires, rising global temperatures, floods, hurricanes, fracking caused earthquakes, destroyed aquifers, lakes and rivers, climate change is here.But what does it even mean?/p p bClimate Change - or Mama Earth#39;s Destruction?/bbr / Climate Change are two oddly clinical words that really mean nothing, derivative science-speak for the destruction of our Mama Earth, Our Great Grandmama, the one for without whom we would have no water, air or lifenbsp; -nbsp; so i donrsquo;t use them, I try to say what exactly is happening and that our Mama Earth is under attack from the things, poisons, ldquo;conveniencesrdquo; and life-style choices we as humans have made, have tacitly bought into or have enabled just by not caring what happens as a result of our massive consumption./p p bThe most impacted by Mama Earthrsquo;s Destruction/bbr / The fight to save Mama Earth by poor and indigenous peoples is happening all the time, from water protectors like Wahleah Johns to Chinese elders in Chinatown trying to fight for safe, unpoisoned air and housing,/p p Similarly, the impact of climate change is felt everyday bynbsp; those of us with the least resources, from unhoused peoples in Arizona and Bangladesh who have nowhere to escape when the climate change impacted temperatures rise to beyond human ability to withstand and so they literally die on the street of dehydration, to the fisher peoples who live in the gulf coast and can no longer fish and there fore have no way to support themselves because of the BP ldquo;accidentrdquo;, to the fisher people and families who fished and lived and raised families and food in Fukushima, Japan until 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant cracked from an earthquake and tsunami and now live , barely with multple forms of cancer and can no longer make their living from fishing and farming to me and my mama who really never recovered from that earthquake cause our life was already held together by a string and ended up losing our tenuous grasp on our housing at the time cause we couldnrsquo;t sell on the cracked streets of Oakland and San Francisco./p p It is clear that climate change is not a good thing for anyone and a lot of people say its a class, culture and race leveler and yet the impact on 1st peoples like the Dine nation who struggle with the corporate poisoning of their water in their ancestral homelandsnbsp; and poor Black, Brown and White people of Detroit and Mountaintop removed Virginia and thousands of other poor peoples living in locations of environmental racism and corporate destruction of mama earth is deeper than it is for folks who can just move ldquo;out of the areardquo; or buy filters for their water or private bottled water for that matter. Things that peoples with access to resources take for granted everyday like clean showers and water to drink are already becoming scarce and therefore creating an even deeper class and race divide in this already frightening divided world./p p bA Victory of Indigenous Peoples/bbr / This is why the move of focused Indigenous collaboration of so many 1st Nations peoples in the fight to stop the DAPL was so significant. It is not over, we are sure of that, it might not even be halted, but the protectors were listened to and we cannot stop protecting and praying. We cannot water down, philantho-pimp, fetishize or foundationcize this moment in herstory and let it be re-written as anything but what it was- an indigenous resistance, a multi-nationed prayer led by the earth warriors and prayer bringing protectors who have been here since before the lie of colonizer discovery protecting , honoring loving and praying for our Great Mother, Mother Earth./p div class="yj6qo ajU" pnbsp;/p pstrongMore PNN-TV coverage from the SF solidarity protest:img class="ajT" src="https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif" //strong/p /div pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JGfN4oVtro"span class="watch-title watch-editable" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title=" Chinese Elders Climate Change #NoDAPLSFSolidarity"PNN-TV: Chinese Elders Climate Change /span/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JGfN4oVtro"span class="watch-title watch-editable" dir="ltr" title=" Chinese Elders Climate Change #NoDAPLSFSolidarity"#NoDAPLSFSolidaritynbsp;/span/abutton aria-label="Edit" aria-labelledby="yt-uix-tooltip1863-arialabel" class="yt-uix-button yt-uix-button-size-default yt-uix-button-default yt-uix-button-empty yt-uix-button-has-icon no-icon-markup watch-pencil-icon yt-uix-tooltip" data-content-id="yt-uix-tooltip1863-content" data-tooltip-text="Edit" title="" type="button"/button/p pnbsp;/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwT5SgFcs7Y"span class="watch-title watch-editable" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Water is Life #NoDAPL #SFSolidarity"PNN-TV:Water is Life #NoDAPL #SFSolidaritynbsp;/span/abutton aria-label="Edit" aria-labelledby="yt-uix-tooltip2381-arialabel" class="yt-uix-button yt-uix-button-size-default yt-uix-button-default yt-uix-button-empty yt-uix-button-has-icon no-icon-markup watch-pencil-icon yt-uix-tooltip" data-content-id="yt-uix-tooltip2381-content" data-tooltip-text="Edit" title="" type="button"/button/p

p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanWe begin to take or adapt to our surrounding neighbors schedules or routines without meaning or noticing that we do./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanAntrsquo;s door opened about 7:30 am. I remember my subconscious saying we on our way to get breakfast as he normally did. We would occasionally encounter each other in the hall, I would jokingly say old speedy, he said with a big smile this is my 6/spanspanth/spanspan wheelchair and this one is the fastest. Thatrsquo;s the conversation that sticks out in my head. Then my thoughts went to recollection, like a time stamp on when was the last time I heard him./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanBut today, Thursday I hear of his death found. Another pest control treasure hunt found in the usual sro round uprsquo;s some dissipate with us./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanUnknown eerie shadows cast the building, halls, walls, and room. Pest control uncover the draining energy of death/span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanI sit and wait for you to discover me/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanSitting /span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanWaiting/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanTo be considered human being/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanTo matter/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanTo coincide/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanNot written off as ldquo;overdoserdquo; ldquo;dope addictsrdquo; ldquo;drug phensrdquo;/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanFrom the tender lion TLrsquo;s/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanCasually written and stamped/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanTime and time again/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanIn many brains as the only gospel truth/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-8ea40cf2-fb96-4b19-dc77-7673dc7e9851"spanWe are still human being/span/span/p

pHello Friends Supporters/p p It all started when I was in my early teens. I told my mom that I wanted to go to South Africa in the middle of the US anti-Aparthied movement in which my father and I was apart of. In my high school years I tried to do a paper on what was going on in South Africa for people with disabilities/Deaf and remember this was in the mid 80#39;s before computers. My paper turned out to be a half a page cause I couldn#39;t find enough information on people with disabilities/Deaf in South Africa at that time./p pFast-forward to 2007 when Krip-Hop Nation officially started in full-blown (It was in my brain in the 90#39;s) on myspace and with the internet Krip-Hop blew up internationally and I also continued my networking internationally connecting to disabled/Deaf activists, journalists, musicians including Hip-Hop artists. If you been following my column you would have noticed the coverage of disabled people/artists all of Africa from the Congo to Zimbabwe to Nigeria to South Africa and beyond./p pIf you know me you will also know I live on SSI i.e. a tight budget, however with this tight budget I manage to travel to the UK, Canada around the US spreading the work of Krip-Hop Nation setting up chapters etc../p pWell after years of networking and writing over the internet with African disabled artists/activists especially Hip-Hop artists with disabilities, Krip-Hop Nation aka myself will be flying to South Africa for a tour that will hit five or more cities meeting and performing with all types of artists with disabilities/Deaf in the Disability Awareness Month in South Africa from November 5-December 10th/2016./p pBefore I talk about the outcomes of this tour, let me tell you that I already have my ticket and that is a big thing as a person living on SSI the team in South Africa has been working overtime to get things ready. Big love to Simon Manda who is kicking butt on all the ground work in South Africa from accessible transportation to venues and so much more!/p pEXPECTED OUTCOMESbr / bull; Book of memoirsbr / bull; Talent Showcasebr / bull; Seminars/Roundtable Discussionsbr / bull; Documentarybr / bull; Skills Development/Transferbr / bull; Database of Artists/Creatives with disabilities/Deafbr / bull; Linkages to the DADA Festival/p pHere are our team members:br / bull; Leroy Moore (Founder: Krip Hop Nation- USA)br / bull; Simon Manda (Editor and Co-Founder: THISABILITY Newspaper)br / bull; Nicolene Mostert (Co-Founder: OCAL Global)br / bull; Alun Davies (Co-Founder: OCAL Global)br / bull; Mduduzi Nhlebela (Photography/Videography; Businessman)br / bull; 2 Assistants/p p Therersquo;s a lot of wisdom and ideas in the communities Krip-Hop Nation represents. But these ideas are not shared and applied. Thatrsquo;s what Leroyrsquo;s trip (and the book/film) aim to achieve. Simon and Leroy will be observing, listening, documenting and collaborating with others in Africa and in America to help connect and expand visibility, voices, common bonds and differences with others in a book format. This project is an opportunity to bring out the needed communication between the disability/Deaf community here in the US Africa and to build on our talents onto an international stage that Leroy hopes would lead to more collaborations in the artistic space-like networking artists face to face in an international conference or festival in South Africa with Stevie Wonder as ambassador./p pFriday September 9th, R.e. Spect​ of Zimbabwe, Africa agreed to let his song be the theme song for Krip-Hop Nation#39;s South Africa Tour 2016. He wrote performed this song for Krip-Hop Nation back in 2012./p pHelp out! Give to Krip-Hop South Africa Tour November-December 2016. We have a month and half left to raise funds for this tour so please donate and continue to pass it around. The donations will go to the following:/p p*Publishing a book of stories, art, poetry, essays and song lyrics of artists,writers with disabilities/Deaf in Africa USbr / *Creating, editing, producing and marketing of a film documentary of the tourbr / *Accessible equipment that would make the tour more accessible, including wheelchairs, etc.br / *Performersrsquo; fees/p pOnce again this is more than just a one time tour! nbsp;This tour will create more than a book and film documentary but will set a foundation to bring out the needed communication between the disability community here in the US Africa and to build on our talents onto an international stage that Leroy hopes would lead to more collaborations in the artistic space-like networking artists face to face in an international conference or festival in South Africa with endorsement from Stevie Wonder who is the United Nation ambassador of people with disabilities all over the world. If you know how to get in touch with Stevie Wonder, please get in touch with us at Krip-Hop Nation./p p Fundraising page:/p pa href="https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978"https://igg.me/at/S4VPn49O978/a/p pListen to the song read the lyrics:/p pa href="https://soundcloud.com/blackkrip/painting-voices-by-re-spect-ft-keali-new1-theme-song-for-krip-hop-nations-south-africa-tour" https://soundcloud.com/blackkrip/painting-voices-by-re-spect-ft-keali-new1-theme-song-for-krip-hop-nations-south-africa-tour/a/p pnbsp;/p pImage description: Picture of a world with a Black woman and a Black man kissing a Krip-Hop Nation video box. Above are words: USA to Africa South Africa Tour Nov-December 2016. Below is a set of crutches crossing each other with a white hand displaying a sign language sign Below words saying: Brought to You By This Ability Newspaper, Simon Manda Krip--Hop Nation/p pnbsp;/p pThank You,br / Leroy F. Moore Jr.br / Founder of Krip-Hop Nation/Columnist of Poor Magazine/p

p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"For too long, harmful law enforcement and detention policies have worsened mental health and public safety outcomes. The Alameda Jail Fight Coalition has been working hard nbsp;to divert millions of dollars away from Santa Rita Jail for the purposes of investing in appropriate, community-based responses to incidents involving individuals with mental health issues. nbsp;We challenge Alameda County to break away from the harmful cycles of criminalizing mental health conditions and invest in humane solutions that make us all safer./span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Wersquo;re fighting against a $61.6 million construction project at Santa Rita Jail and demanding the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to reject/spanspan style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" Alameda Countyrsquo;s SB 863 $54 million grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) and/spanspan style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" invest $7.3 million, Alameda Countyrsquo;s 10% county match, in alternatives to incarceration that keep our families together and our communities safe. /span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Historically, law enforcement involvement in mental health issues began in the late 1700s, when people with mental illness were routinely confined in prisons and jails. nbsp;Later replaced with large psychiatric institutions because incarceration was deemed barbaric and ineffective, these institutions did little to improve the conditions or outcomes for mentally ill individuals. nbsp;In the 1960s, as part of his proposal to shut down these institutions, President John F. Kennedy promised that ldquo;the cold mercy of custodial isolation will be supplanted by the open warmth of community concern and capability.rdquo;[i]/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"It is clear that both the country and Alameda County has failed to live up to this promise. Massive cuts to mental health services have turned jails and prisons into de facto ldquo;treatmentrdquo; options. nbsp;Between 2009 and 2011, states cut over $1.8 billion in Medicaid funding, including money dedicated to mental health services in the form of supportive housing, access to psychiatric medications, emergency and long-term hospital treatment, and targeted case management and clinic services.[ii] nbsp;While the goal of these cuts was to reduce spending, the costs have been simply passed to other entities, including law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities.[iii] nbsp;The largest providers of public mental health services are jails and prisons with 10 times the number of mentally ill people incarcerated than there are in state run psychiatric hospitals.[iv]/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"In Alameda County, it is estimated that there are more than 65,000 individuals that are in need of mental health services and over 70% of them are living at below the poverty level.[v] While the vast majority of people living with mental health issues are no more violent than the general population and are actually more likely to be victims of violence, a small subsection of people have a much higher risk of violence when their mental health problems go untreated. nbsp;In addition, many people self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, which significantly increases the chances that they will become entangled with the criminal justice system. /span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Criminalization of Mental Illness/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"When police officers respond to a mental health call, they typically have three options: refer the person to outpatient treatment, hospitalization, or arrest. nbsp;Except in the most extreme cases, outpatient treatment is almost always the most desirable and appropriate option. nbsp;Access to services is challenging because of insufficient communication among agencies. nbsp;Hospitalization is also difficult due to the low number of beds in state-facilities. nbsp;Experts agree that the minimum number of available beds should be 50 per 100,000 people, but the actual ratio is less than half that and more cuts across the country are imminent.[vi] nbsp;In Alameda County, John George Psychiatric Hospital is designed to hold 23 patients but overcrowding has exceeding capacity by more than 300%.[vii] nbsp;The mental health staffing ratios in Santa Rita are even more stark at 1:263. nbsp;In the rest of the state, 25 counties do not have any adult mental health beds and 45 of them do not have beds for children. /span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"The only option left for law enforcement officers who are not equipped to address mental health crises, is to incarcerate the person. nbsp;Overall, about 10% of people are suffering from an acute psychiatric episode when they are first incarcerated and rather than receiving treatment, they simply become part of the criminal justice system. nbsp;Jails are increasingly seeing ldquo;frequent flyers:rdquo; people with mental health issues who are incarcerated for short periods of time and then re-offend soon after their release due a lack of access to appropriate treatment. nbsp;The resulting criminal record can limit access to services that could greatly reduce mental health problems and makes it harder to access housing, employment, and education./span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"Call To Action!/span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Stand with us in our demands to:/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"1. Stop all construction plans for the new jail /span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"2. Invest in alternatives to incarceration and community health/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6080000000000003;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"3. Divest from incarceration and policing/span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6080000000000003;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left: 36pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sign here to add your name to the growing list of healthcare providers who oppose this project: /spana href="https://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.change.org%2Fp%2Fboard-of-supervisors-health-workers-in-bay-area-denounce-new-mental-health-jailh=sAQHq-NTcenc=AZN-yAVqpWkePWIgTDDMlJm14tz7fOaJdHSuAkJbcgVdKAM6AK5nbG02tYhb8-rk8uss=1" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"https://www.change.org/p/board-of-supervisors-health-workers-in-bay-area-denounce-new-mental-health-jail/span/a/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6080000000000003;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left: 36pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sign here if you are a California resident opposed to this project:/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left: 36pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"a href="https://www.change.org/p/alameda-county-board-of-supervisors-no-new-jail-in-alameda-county" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"https://www.change.org/p/alameda-county-board-of-supervisors-no-new-jail-in-alameda-county/span/a/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"nbsp;/p hr / pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[i] To/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"rrey, E. F., Zdanowicz, M. T., Kennard, A. D., Lamb, H. R., Eslinger, D. F., Biasotti, M. C., et al. (2014, April 8). The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: A State Survey (Abridged). /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Treatment Advocacy Center/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Retrieved April 17, 2014, from/spana href="http://www.tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars-abridged.pdf" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"http://www.tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars-abridged.pdf/span/aspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Page 4./span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[ii]/spana href="http://www.bibme.org/" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Honberg, R., Diehl, S., Kimball, A., Gruttadaro, D., Fitzpatrick, M. (n.d.). State Mental Health Cuts: A National Crisis. /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"National Alliance on Mental Illness/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Retrieved April 17, 2014, from/span/aa href="http://www.nami.org/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentFileID=126233" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"http://www.nami.org/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm?ContentFileID=126233/span/a/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[iii] Hornberg et al, page 1./span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[iv] To/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"rrey, E. F., Zdanowicz, M. T., Kennard, A. D., Lamb, H. R., Eslinger, D. F., Biasotti, M. C., et al. (2014, April 8). The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: A State Survey (Abridged). /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Treatment Advocacy Center/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Retrieved April 17, 2014, from/spana href="http://www.tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars-abridged.pdf" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"http://www.tacreports.org/storage/documents/treatment-behind-bars/treatment-behind-bars-abridged.pdf/span/aspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Page 4./span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[v] California Mental Health Prevalence Estimates. Found at: http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/provgovpart/Documents/CaliforniaPrevalenceEstimates.pdf/span/span/p p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"span id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[vi]/spana href="http://www.bibme.org/" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Israel, J. (2014, February 24). State Of Emergency: 24 States Lack Basic Tools To Identify Open Beds For Psychiatric Patients. /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"ThinkProgress/spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;". Retrieved April 17, 2014, from/span/aa href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/02/24/3307231/computerized-database-psychiatric-beds/" style="text-decoration:none;"span style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" /spanspan style="font-family: Cambria; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/02/24/3307231/computerized-database-psychiatric-beds//span/a/span/p pspan id="docs-internal-guid-c6d027cd-2544-71f8-f3e1-32fe752fe124"span style="font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;"[vii]/spanspan style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;" http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investigates/136753166-story/span/span/p

pIRIS CANADA HOSPITALIZEDbr / Iris Canada, the 100-year-old African American woman being evicted from her Western Addition home of over 50 years, is in the hospital right now after she was served with a sheriff#39;s notice to vacate her apartment this Wednesday./p pAccording to her niece, Iris Merriouns, she called Peter Owens, one of her evictors, and when he didn#39;t answer, left a message begging him not to do this to her, not to evict her. Then her heart rate accelerated and she was rushed to the emergency room./p pem*Editors Note -Please Act for Iris- We are asking people to send emails asking that Iris be able to stay in her home- to Peter Owens a href="mailto:owensradisch@gmail.com"owensradisch@gmail.com/a a href="mailto:theothersideofthesfstory@gmail.com"theothersideofthesfstory@gmail.com/a and to Supervisor London.Breed@sfgov.org/em/p