Story Archives 2016

pRecently while Walking on Division St. in San Francisco with laundry and groceries by a tent city, I was approached by a young black female news reporter from one of the local mainstream news station affiliates. She was accompanied by another gentleman of African descent and a camera man of Asian descent./p pShe excitedly asked me as if she heard good news that I should also be excited about ldquo;Are you moving?/p pTo which I replied, am I moving?/p pI was of course offended not only that I had just been profiled by how I dressed and looked but that I should some how feel excited about this./p pShe of course referring to Ed Leersquo;s recent vow to shut down local tent cities ldquo;and provide the residents of them with needed social servicesrdquo; For those of you who donrsquo;t understand government double talk, what that really means is he intends to have DPW steal their belongings while the cops arrest, kill or beat them./p pI should consider myself one of the lucky ones. I was profiled by a naiuml;ve if not over zealous news reporter who, in spite of being affiliated with some of the monsters responsible for the suffering of poor folks, was still pretty much harmless./p pIronically, she is the same reporter who educated on one of Poor Magazines actions outside of 850 Bryant street some time last year in an effort to get the DA to either bring criminal charges against or stop the eviction of elders./p pAbout a quarter mile from where this occurred, a houseless man who was residing in a tent city on Shotwell street and who would otherwise be known as a community activist Luis Gongora was profiled to death. Shot by police, supposedly for waving a knife at police. Not only do residents of the tent city on Shotwell and 19supth/supnbsp;street dispute this, so do local building residents./p pSeveral nights later the cops returned slashed the tents of the remaining residents kicked over a makeshift memorial for Luis and assisted the DPW in stealing their belongings./p

pAbout a year and a half ago I lost the best healthcare provider I ever had in my life [The creator notwithstanding!]/p pShe not only provided me with everything necessary that she could for my well being , she actually listened to me and gave me feed back if I asked for it./p pShe always formed her advise like a suggestion and asked me ifnbsp; would be willing to try something without making demands./p pI always felt loved and cared for under her care./p pBoy have things changed!/p pHer first replacement was a hipster who claimed she was the only M.D. on the staff at what was then Glide health services and is now Tenderloin healthcare services./p pShe along with an in-house pharmacist tried to convince me to take prescriptions which I still refuse to take./p pThe Pharmacist recommended that I stop using marijuana as medicine because according to him it is a central nervous system depressant [hahaha!]/p pI finally got fed up and asked for a new Dr. She also claimed she was the only M.D. on staff./p pWe fought tooth and nail even filed a grievance. And when she finally saw how hard I was working by way of lab results we finally got on good speaking terms with one and other So of course, she got fired as well./p pThe new one is apparently another hipster doesnrsquo;t even have any letters next to her name so Irsquo;m doubtful if she is even a nurse [which is not necessarily a bad thing because Esker -D is in fact a nurse practitioner and more than qualified to hold the position she once held. Even Dr. # 2 confided in me that if Esker-D came back, patients would be lining up to have as a healthcare provider./p pBut getting back to Dr. (?) #3/p pShe is very demanding and seems to be more interested in getting me to do things to make herself look good rather than respectful of my desires and being supportive even if she doesnrsquo;t agree with my approach. Tenderloin Health services has all but white washed almost the entire staff. An office that was once flowing with people of African and Pacific Island descent have almost been completely replaced by young white hipster types./p pWho needs that ? Bring back Esker -D!/p

pOn May 23, 2014, Nate Greer, dedicated husband and father,nbsp; died at the hands of the Hayward Police Department during a routine DUI traffic stop.nbsp; What began as a routine sobriety test would suddenly become a horrible tragedy for Nate when several officers from the Hayward Police Departmentnbsp;and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)nbsp;Police Department took it upon themselves without probable cause to physically manhandle him./p pSeveral of the police officers aggressively wrestled Nate to the ground, roughly pulling his limbs behind his body, along with several law enforcement officers physically crushing Nate with their entire body weight pressure while he lay on his stomach helpless and unable to move.nbsp; They proceeded to place Nate into a straightjacket-like restraint device after he had been tasered multiple times./p pThe law enforcement officers continued to lay on top ofnbsp;Natersquo;s body, holding him down on the ground for a prolonged period.nbsp; After several minutes passed, they noticed that Nate was unconscious with breathing trouble, however they continued to put the restraints onto him.nbsp; As Nate lay there for nearly seven minutes struggling to breathe, the police officers did nothing as they chose not to perform any CPR on Nate nor did they untie him from the restraints so that the arriving EMT personnel at the scene could immediately provide him life saving emergency care.nbsp;/p pWhile our black and brown communities throughout the Bay Area, in California, across the nation and throughout the world continue to be plagued by police brutality, Natersquo;s murder by law enforcement in Hayward, California had gone virtually unnoticed two years ago in May 2014, having been intentionally silenced in the mainstream TV/radio news media up until the release of a video from a police cam worn on one of the BART police officers, depicting the incident of a defenseless Nate struggling to breathe./p pNearly two years to the day of Natersquo;s murder by the police, on May 21, 2016, a video of the incident surfaced, which documentednbsp;the sequence of actionsnbsp;filmed by BART Police body camerasnbsp;that led to Natersquo;s untimely death.nbsp; The video clearly exhibited that Nate was no threat to the police.nbsp; In the video, although Nate never displayed any aggression of any sort toward the police officers, he could be heard asking numerous times for the officers to get off of him, followed by agonizing screams for a few minutes before losing consciousness./p pHerersquo;s the script from the body cam video of the incident that had gone unnoticed for more than a year, which has now brought much-needed attention to Natersquo;s death while he was in police custody:/p pThe video shows Nate cooperating and not being combative, communicating with the officer about his medical conditions that may affect his ability to perform a roadside sobriety test./p pNate begins to perform the test, placing his feet together and holding his head back with his eyes closed when henbsp;notices a second cop standing to his right./p pSuddenly, Nate appears afraid, telling Police Officer #1 in front of him../p pNate:nbsp; ldquo;emWhat are you guys going to do to me? I donrsquo;t understand, I donrsquo;t understand.rdquo;/em/p pPolice Officer #1 (replies):emnbsp; ldquo;Irsquo;m testing your balance to see how much you had to drink tonight,rdquo;/em/p pnbsp;Nate (responds):nbsp; ldquo;I havenrsquo;t drank nothing,rdquo;/p pPolice Officer #1:nbsp; emldquo;Irsquo;m trying to give you a field sobriety test,rdquo;/em/p pNate takes a step to his left./p pPolice Officer #1: (suddenly grabbing Natersquo;s wrist):nbsp; emldquo;Donrsquo;t be walking away from me!rdquo; /em/p pNate (asking the Officer in a worried voice tone):nbsp; emldquo;Hey, what are you guys doing to me?rdquo;/em/p pImmediately, several other police officers begin physically grabbing onto Natersquo;s body./p pnbsp;Police Officer #2: (with his arm grasped around Natersquo;s neck):nbsp; emldquo;Relax.rdquo;/em/p pImmediately, the police officers quickly knock Nate to the ground, laying Nate onto his back./p pNate (repeating in a winded-sounding voice tone):nbsp; emldquo;What are you doing???rdquo;/em/p pMore Hayward police officers joined by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers proceed to roll Nate over onto his stomach, ordering him to place his hands behind his back, however it appeared that Nate was trying to use his hands to keep his face from being smashed into the ground./p pThe police officers then proceed to taser Nate several times before managing to get one of his hands into handcuffs while ordering him to place his other hand behind his back ndash; all while several police officers are physically piled on top of him with their total body weight./p pThe police officers kept telling Nate to emldquo;relaxrdquo; /emeven though it would be impossible to relax in that situation, feeling asphyxiated by the weight of the several police officers who were laying on top him as one of the police officers shoved Natersquo;s head into the asphalt as he continued to breathe heavy, asking why were they treating him that way while attempting to position his head to where he could breathe./p pAfter ten minutes into the traffic stop, Nate had relaxed to the point where he was no longer moving or speaking./p pBut the police officers still continued to keep their bodies piled on top of Nate with one police officer still holding Natersquo;s head down with his hand./p pPolice Officer #3: emldquo;Yoursquo;re doing all right bro?hellip;ldquo;Just take a deep breath.rdquo;/em/p pBut by this time, it appeared Nate had stopped breathinghellip;/p pPolice Officer #4 (after rolling a now unconscious Nate back over onto his back):nbsp; emldquo;Hersquo;s unconscious.rdquo; /em/p pAt this point, all of the police officers got off of Natersquo;s body, about ten police officers in all, each of them asking the other if they nbsp;were okay, laughing and joking about what an intense struggle they had just gone through, comparing scratches on each otherrsquo;s arms, hands and elbows./p pAnother Police Officer (who had been laying on top of Natersquo;s body) then tells Natersquo;s lifeless body to emldquo;wake up!rdquo;/em/p pBART Police Officer with the body cam on (asks his BART Police Supervisor):emnbsp; ldquo;Irsquo;m rolling by the way, want me to turn it off?rdquo;/em/p pBART Police Supervisor:nbsp; emldquo;Yeah, thatrsquo;s fine,rdquo;/em/p pAt this point, the BART Police Officerrsquo;s body cam is shut off./p pHowever in October 2015, anbsp;wrongful death lawsuitnbsp;wasnbsp;filed in the Federal Court for the Northern District of California by Greerrsquo;s son, Joseph James against both the Hayward Police Department and the BART Police Department. Natersquo;s family and community members continue to demand answersnbsp;as tonbsp;why no investigation had ever been conducted by the Hayward Police Department or at the District Attorney of Alameda Countyrsquo;s Office following thenbsp;brutal actions and subsequent neglect inflicted upon Nate by both the Hayward Police Department and the BART Police Department./p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7427M-TrWj4"PNN-TV Justice4NateGreer-Oscar Salinas/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSrcFGOBkUI"PNN-TV Say His Name! Nate Greer!/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_NOdHW8-Lc"PNN-TV JusticeForNateGreer #2/a/p pa href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx3VStnPnaQ"PNN-TV JusticeForNateGreer #3/a/p pnbsp;/p

pYes indeed....At last! The punitive Maximum Family Grant Rule, also known as the lsquo;MFG Rulersquo; a humiliating policy that had hurt so many vulnerable families like mine while on welfare in California has come to an end after adversely affecting poor families for the past twenty plus years./p pHaving been on welfare under the MFG Rule was never easy for me during the years I had to depend on it.nbsp; When I had my two youngest children, I was impacted of the MFG Rule which made supporting my family while participating in my Welfare-to-Work activity extremely difficult and nearly impossible at times, as this punitive State mandated law banned me from receiving welfare cash-aid assistance for my youngest child as she was born when I was still receiving welfare cash-aid assistance.nbsp;/p pDuring this time, I was in deep struggle, living homeless with my young children in a dilapidated storefront space in Downtown Oakland and was dealing with domestic violence as my then partner was dealing with his own mental health issues at the time, which made the situation even more difficult. However, having less cash-aid assistance to live on for my three children made it much harder for me to get my family out of poverty for good./p pAnd although I was playing by the rules, being in full compliance in fulfilling my welfare-to-work obligations, I was forced to live on $65.00 per month per child for my two youngest children, which forced me to make a lot of desperate choices like stealing diapers, shoes and food as the monthly food stamp benefits I received for my family never lasted throughout the month due to the high cost of food in the Bay Area. nbsp;Because of the MFG rule, my cash-aid assistance was reduced, taking me twice as long to get through my welfare-to-work activity./p pThe MFG Rule, which was part of ex-President Bill Clintonrsquo;s sellout of poor families for Welfare Reform with the Republican Party during the mid 90rsquo;s was optional for states to adopt, which California did in 1994 by then Governor Pete Wilson.nbsp; This policy demonized single mothers and was racist, sexist, classist, and ensured that children grew up poor./p pAs part of the MFG Rule, the cap on benefits was originally based on the apocryphal story of the ldquo;welfare queenrdquo;, a term popularized by ex-President Ronald Reagan during his Presidential campaign, describing women who gamed the welfare system by lsquo;popping out babiesrsquo; and amassing a fortune at the expense of gullible taxpayers./p pThe MFG Rule was designed to punish women for having children while on welfare.nbsp; The idea was that welfare recipients should not be given an incentive to give birth while on aid, so the amount of cash aid assistance they received would be tied to the size their family was when they started receiving benefits. If another baby came along, well, too bad. Unless mom was raped, a victim of incest or could prove that the birth control didnrsquo;t work, there would be no benefit increase.nbsp;/p pOver the last twenty years, this punitive policy (MFG Rule) has done nothing to stop poverty. And despite its general intent to provide less government funded safety net programs for poor families, instead the MFG Rule actually invited government to intrude into the most intimate of womenrsquo;s decisions, forcing them to face humiliation, being forced to disclose their methods of birth control and having to inform government agents how they became pregnant./p pAs quoted by Jessica Bartholow of the Western Law and Poverty Center in Sacramento, California: emCalifornia and many other states have a long way to go in deconstructing the harmful stereotypes of poor mothers and families they have perpetuated. But California has shown that the first step is possible, and that strong legislatures and citizens prioritize the livelihood, dignity, and opportunity of poor communities./em/p pHowever, after two decades, and the hard work of legislators such as Senator Holly Mitchellnbsp;(D-Los Angeles), Author of SB-899 (Repeal MFG bill) to finally end this offensive and degrading policy and Advocates like the Western Law and Poverty Center, ACLU and several other advocate groups and organizations, including myself as someone who was adversely affected by the MFG Rule, this offensive and degrading policy would come to an end as California Governor Jerry Brown would repeal the MFG Rule, as this policy has done nothing more than put families in deeper poverty as it did for me and my children as we were forced to exist on $623.00 a month for a family of four in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most expensive communities to live in the entire United States./p pMost importantly, this would be a huge win for families like mine and for anti-poverty advocates, as nbsp;in June of 2016, Governor Brown and several California lawmakers voted to repeal the MFG Rule, ending two decades of a shameful policy that forced women into having fewer children by depriving them of the resources they needed to raise them.nbsp;This repeal is expected to benefit aboutnbsp;a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/california-budget-eliminate-contentious-welfare-policy-39851180"1/a26,000 childrennbsp;in 93,000 families across the state of California./p pAs quoted in the Sacramento Bee by Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles):nbsp; emldquo;I am thrilled that the state has acknowledged its error in creating a policy in 1994 that has done nothing but force families living in deep poverty into deeper poverty.rdquo;/em/p pAfter years of unsuccessful attempts to abolish the MFG Ruleand in sharing my own personal experience of the deep struggle I endured while being under the MFG Rule while on welfare, including working together in tandem with other Advocates on all levels to make eminent change so that all children in California will have better opportunities in life as they are our future leaders was truly rewarding in every way now that the MFG Rule has now been repealed in the State of California.nbsp;/p pI am very have proud to have been a part of creating this change and that my lifersquo;s experience of poverty scholarship helped put a real face to the thousands of families who live each day in struggle trying to keep their children warm and fed each day, knowing that my voice mattered./p pI also look forward to informing families about the repeal of the MFG Rule in California and am very thankful to all who never gave up.nbsp; nbsp;However, it is time that we open up a real dialogue on #39;silenced issues#39; such as this in the mainstream media, so that social change becomes eminent.nbsp; With the MFG Rule repealed, an increase in cash-aid assistance will truly help many families reach their goals to eventually having the ability to rise out of poverty, as no child should ever be left behind. I would like to thank the fierce warrior Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) for never giving up the fight so that all Californiarsquo;s children count./p

pspanbLeroy Moore:nbsp;/bnbsp;nbsp;Thank you Julius Shemang for agreeing to be interview.nbsp; Now I want to go back in time and can you give us brief historical roots of Nigeria from the time of independence from United Kingdom to now./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bThe history of Nigeria since independence in 1960, is tied to the fact that our Leaders just love to pay lips and eyes services. Every year they will read their budgets and earmarks billions for disability community and this money we will never feel impact because they are misappropriating and diverting it into their private pockets. Matters of fact, if they are truly committed to providing infrastructures and adequate facilities for our people, the issue of begging and destitutions will be contained and limit to a scope. But it is not so here./span/p pspanTaskforce are randomly sent out to harass and intimidate supposed beggars many of who are orphans, widows, without jobs to eke a living. And since government has no plan or adequate programmes to address their plights they are found all over the towns and cities begging. We work with political parties and votes during elections but no posts or status is accorded to us other than to ldquo;assistrdquo; our traducers and oppressors. This ugly trends has continue from Independence on October 1st 1960 till date. Really, one should be worried being marginalized and very much deprived in his father/motherland. We are trying of course, and with little support we can make huge inroad and impact but the help is always not forthcoming/span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;Y/bou told me that you became Deaf later in life and also became active in the disability rights movement.nbsp; What is the difference then when you first got active to now in the disability rights movement in your city/country?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bComing into Deaf and Disability world from the world of Hearing was like been in the flame of hell. I came to see that everybody was not giving equal recognition and opportunities, and the disabled suffer more of such discrimination in the society. At some points in time I got upset at the way and manner the able-bodied population viewed disability and treat issues relating to the disabled with charity rather than as a matter of onersquo;s right. With this, I began to think out ways of helping myself and other disabled in the state and nation at large. I went to New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN) headquarter here in Kaduna State with the sole aim of seeking space in the paper where I can be putting pen to paper on issues of the disabled so as to advocate for them and to draw the attention of government and society. A man I was introduced to who I later learned was an Editor of the paper, told me having listened to my mission that ldquo;SPECIAL EDUCATION NO BE JOURNALISMrdquo; and that since I studied special education I should go to any Deaf school in the state and look for teaching job there. His comment didnrsquo;t deterred me as I told him that I had what it takes to write a story and that I be given a chance at least to prove the ability in my disability. He then directed me to see one MEVER AYILA, news Editor at the newsroom whom I was told will be taking charge of my issue. I did my first write up in the paper titled ldquo;THE DEAF WANT TO BE HEARDrdquo; which discussed how the Deaf were being denied admissions into higher schools like College of education, Polytechnic and University to read courses of their choice, the lack of employment for them and other sundry issues. That was the beginning of my involvement in advocating for the rights of people living with disability then. NNN is one of the many legacies of late Sir Ahmadu Bello the then Premier of Northern Nigeria. Apart from NNN I also got involved in writing and reporting both news and features/opinion articles in other media organizations including television and radio. People begin to have a second thought rethinking about people living with disability unlike before when their opinions were all negative. From there, I took the initiative further by founding my own newspaper - Kafanchan Times. I got help from some Journalists who partnered with me. I was able to float the newspaper, and it comes out once every month. It more than addressed the issues of Disability Rights which I have been advocating for for long. Lack of serious funding and my teaching job later contributes toi collapsing of the paper, I still wish to revive it but economic recession bites harder here./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bYou are the fourth Nigerian with a disability in the last five years, I had a chance to interview from musicians to activists.nbsp; Tell us about organizations for people with disabilities in Nigeria and how were they got established and what have they been working on?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bThere are different organizations OF and FOR people living with disabilities in Nigeria. Organizations OF people living with disabilities are those organizations nbsp;that are formed and own by Nigerians living with disabilities. The Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD) is the mother or umbrella body of all Nigerians living with disabilities with headquarter in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory and branches in each of the 36 States in Nigeria. JONAPWD is a collection of and coming together of the various clusters of people with disability, the Deaf, the Blind, the Albinos, the Mentally Retarded, the Physically Challenged, the Lepers and others categories as disabled into one big umbrella in order to fight a united and common front. Before the establishment of JONAPWD each cluster was formed as a Non-Government Organization (NGO) to advocate and fight for the welfare and rights of her members and with each group making different requests to government which was seen as improper for people working nbsp;for common and similar objectives, hence the birth of JONAPWD as a mouth-piece. Other orgganizations of people living with disabilities also exist and are playing supportive roles./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanOn the other hand, organizations FOR people with disabilities are those organizations that are established by normal people with general focus on issues of people with disabilities sharing similar goals and objectives with those of people with disabilities. We have been working assidously on inclusive policies such as education, employment, electoral system, economics empowerment, information, accessibility, participation, etc, as well as the ongoing advocacy and campaign to get the Nigeria Government sign and nbsp;pass the national disability rights bill into law with an independent implementation commission in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities which Nigeria is a signatory. Nigeria currently has a huge population of 180 millions out of which 25.5 millions are people living with disabilities who deserve better life. Come to think of it, Nigeria Government recently came up with a law banning street begging especially in the marginaldized north where the number of beggers is high, and with no measures put in nbsp;place the law has been passed in Kaduna State. This is against the human dignity and rights of our members and violation of the United Nations Treaty on the Convention of Persons with Disabilities which Nigeria entered into. This is something we have been working on and it is ongoing./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore:/bnbsp;nbsp;You used to publish a newspaper for people with disabilities tell us about the newspaper and will you ever bring it back?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bLike every registered organization be it media, association, foundation, etc, KAFANCHAN TIMES newspaper is intact. The paper was established in the year 2006 as a grassroot voice showcasing ability in disability and seeking to bridge the gap between the weak and the strong, the disabled and the able-bodied. The paper focus in all sphere of human endeavour not just disability issues. Production and circulation had to be put on halt a few years ago due to some constraints ranging from financial to marketing. The none return of sell proceeds by vendors to produce subsequent editions and the lack of funds to set up better structures for its operation were the major setback. The organization website also eased to continue as we did not have the means to maintain it. Although its Bank Account is intact. Re-organization is what we are doing to revamp the paper back to life and we are hoping this will come to pass soon./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore:/bnbsp;nbsp;I read that the Nigerianrsquo;s government hasnrsquo;t sign into law a Disability Rights Law although advocates have been pushing for it for a long time.nbsp; Can you give us a history of the advocacy for the Disability Rights Law and the reaction of the government?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bThe struggle for a disability rights law began with the demand for the creation of nbsp;a federal and state ministries for Persons with Disability affairs in Nigeria. This started some years back then and in line with united nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. The demand could not be met as government said there was no funds for the creation of such ministries. Yet, government has created ministries to address militant, women, youths and others plight. We told them they can do it but they fear doing it will led them to loss lots of money which they usually divert to their own private pockets./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore:nbsp;/bI read that in 2014 Nigeria was elected into the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs)), in recognition of its commitment to addressing the plight of PWDs.nbsp; However like you said how can the government implement this treaty when they havenrsquo;t pass its own Disability Rights Law?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bYes Nigeria was elected into that United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (UNCRPD) committee as you have rightly observed, but it is just to continue the status quo. We were hardly consulted. Frankly speaking, we have soundly educated persons ready to work to uplift our community but their efforts are being sabotaged. For Government to implement anything, those rabble rouser who are fond of sponsoring candidates should back off and allow us elect credible candidates who will be accountable and answerable to the community. Not those who operates like a secret cult in a matter that concern us.Do you know that here, whenever our so-called leaders travelled out to attend conferences and other events, we hardly heard from them feedback on the programme and we know nothing that transpired in such events. They have been like that and continue to be worse. They only respect their sponsors./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore:nbsp;/bNow can you give us a window into everyday lives of Nigerians with disabilities from children to mothers?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bEveryday, PWDs in Nigeria from a little infant to an old adult face challenges. Many are indigent, have no work and doesn#39;t know what the day hold. Those who have work must still wake up to reality that they can be sacked or suspended from their work place! Sometimes some people who are anti-disabled will frame up an innocent PWD and that will lead to their dismissal, all on account of their disability and the absence of law to protect them. Need not tell you that there is huge competition for work as even University graduates roams the streets for job for many years. The PWDs are the least paid workers. They also enjoy little benefits. Unlike able-bodied counterparts who enjoy plenty. Need not tell you also that so many younger able people Lord it and bossed their disabled counterparts and some are wicked. They have this negative mindset and thinking that thank God that I am not a disabled and won#39;t allow this person get too much lest he or she infect me with disability! /span/p pnbsp;/p pspanMany disabled parents struggled to feed their young, pay school fees and accommodation, etc. It#39;s not easy as their take home pay is small. And they are expected to shoulder lots of responsibilities like their hearing counterparts. Many of them have aged dependent parents and relations also to cater for./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanThose who are in self-employment complained bitterly that able-bodied people do not patronize them like non-disabled because of fear of catching disability but we are able through our associations to organize many workshop and seminars nbsp;to educate and create awareness that disability is not contagious. We also fight for our People#39;s Rights but all these need funds. We are really struggling with funds especially with economic recession starring us in the face./span/p pspanTherefore, we shall be appreciative and grateful for any meaningful support we can receive from any individuals, groups, corporate organizations, etc, both at home and abroad to further empower us in our drive to create awareness and to empower our people./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bDo you know the advocacy and music of Grace Alache Jerry, a musician and advocate with a disability in Nigeria?nbsp; If so, how can her work help the present situation for Nigerians with disabilities?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: nbsp;/bYes. Grace Alache and several others sangs but it does little to change negative mindset and misconceptions. However, when other international world acclaimed disability heroes like Nick Vujicic, etc, visited Nigeria, we always see people cry while listening to them. But, still we have a long way to go because we have no law./span/p pspanWe desire more coming of these international disability achievers and heroes to our country to help us in our fight for emancipation and struggle from centuries of slavery and total lack of political will for true policy changes in Nigeria./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bNow letrsquo;s go into this government bill to ban people working on the streets (what mainstream press call begging).nbsp; I read that the government has painted this bill as safety and requiring children to be in school bill.nbsp; Give us how people with disabilities view this bill and the history of this bill./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bActually, they are lying. If you are here, you will see these beggars, sitting quietly in some corners where people can see them and ldquo;donaterdquo; their widows mite. It doesnrsquo;t really need the alarming shouts the government is dissipating energy to combat. You must also know that our people are very religious, they love to give beggars so they can pray for them. These ldquo;elitistsrdquo; government officials want Nigerian cities to be clean like New York and London without providing necessary infrastructure first and they are banning beggars. You know what/ The same elites will be looking for beggars to donate to when they are facing storms of life like business collapse, health problems etc. In other words, they are just being hypocrites!/span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bHow nongovernmental organizations and international development organizations are part of the current situation?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bNGOs and the Civil Societies are behind us motivating and encouraging us. However, many of them are reluctant to send funds to us because there is no remote guarantee that all will be well soon in as much as they desire to assist, they also wish their efforts are not in vain./span/p pspanIt is frustrating for some of them to spend live savings to campaign and back us up only to watch the problem they are trying to help us solve remained the same. Mobility and lack of employment is the greatest problem we are facing. On our own, we are forming co-operative body, ready to farm and engage in business entrepreneurships soon as we get some funds. Many are willing to learn skills too. Some International Organizations and even local ones also sometimes contribute to our problem by dabbling into our elections affairs. They want their own candidates to win. But, some of these candidates arenrsquo;t popular with their people. This way our problems rather become complicated./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bMany people across the world have saw your pictures of the protests and read articles.nbsp; You also said that a lot more people couldnrsquo;t join the protest because of a lack of funds.nbsp; Give us your view on how the protest grew and where have you protest./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bLike i said earlier, many cannot come to join the protest because the state is divided into 23 local government areas and many are living in the remotest parts of the state. To really help them to attend will need huge budget. JONAPWD only have a rickety 10 seater Bus which is aging and could not cover long distances without needing repairs./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanGovernment is deliberately starving us of funds in order to incapacitate us from mobilizing disability community in Kaduna State. In order therefore to register our grievances against the government insensitivity in the passage of street begging bill without provisions, we sacrificed every little amount from our pockets to occupy the Government House Kaduna, the seat of power so that the world will know that all is not well in Kaduna State and the need to correct these abnormalities./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanIt is not that Government cannot pass our disability laws or the UNCRPD Protocol. The problem really is lack of political will. Also many of them who have Special Needs Children like us whom we are canvassing for sponsorship and identification are still reluctant to join us and partner with us because most of their children were sent to elite schools and institutions overseas and they feel stigma of our disability. However, some of them do support us secretly without making show it./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bWhat are disabled youth saying about this ban and how are the contributing to the protest?/span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bThe youths are very much part of the struggle. They have been frustrated, marginalized and deprived. They long for social justice in the equitable distribution of jobs and everything. They want to be listened to and be allowed to have a voice./span/p pspanIn fact we have youth wings and they are very active and mobile in all our organizations./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore:nbsp;/bBeyond this ban and passing the Disability Rights Law, what do you want the government, the citizen of Nigeria and the international disability/non-disability community to do?/span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang:nbsp;/bWe want proper setting up of Disability Empowerment and Vocational Training Centre where various skills and vocations can be impacted to people with disabilities so that they will be self sustaining nbsp;and economically independent and be gainfully employed as many are jobless and roaming the streets of major cities begging for food and sustenance. This means they will be trained and the government or donor agencies will help us to fund the training since most of them are from poor families who may not be able to pay for the trainings./span/p pspanThere is a piece of land given to the associations by previous administrations (Kaduna State Government). If we can get funds to develop it into Vocational Training Centre and modern shopping complex it will go a long way in bettering the lives of our people in the state. We also considered transportation and farming skills for our people. If we can have farms where we can produce food there will be money and job./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bWe, Poor Magazine, the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper and disabled activists in the US are with you so please give us some last words that I might of miss in this interview and share how can people stay in contact?/span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bI should be frank enough to say that POOR MAGAZINE is the second international organization that got identified with us. Before now, it was and still Chief Eric Ndubueze Ufom of Equal Rights for Persons With Disabilities, International, USA who has been supportive. Kaduna State has the third largest population of PWDs in Nigeria and is expected not to be less than six hundreds thousands if proper census is conducted and that is why we want this census badly./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bIn the US we have histories of racist , classist laws against poor people-homeless people sitting on the streets, asking for money- begging or panhandling as they call it in the US - they have made laws rooted in English colonial law- to criminalize our lives and our way of survival- what is the history in Nigeria of criminalization of begging?-/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bThe Law here of criminalizing begging is not yet effective because the government are paying lip services to employment and rehabilitation of nbsp;people living with disabilitiesb./b/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: /bHas there always been anti-poor people-laws- anti begging laws- are they rooted in British laws?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bTraditionally, the Almajiris-Street urchins in the North, most of them from broken homes further compounded the problem of serious business of rehabilitating the disabled. So many destitutes. And thoughh Government built Rehabilitation Centers, they were ill equipped and poorly staffed. Corruption also goes on at these so-called Rehabilitation Centers as foods and items including equipment meant for use of inmates are always diverted by corrupt personnel. When the inmates are suffering so much for lack of care, many will abandoned the centers to look for better alternative via begging around for livelihood./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bAlso, how does general society support or not support poor and homeless people in Nigeria? - Who supports the ban other than govt/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bThe general society supports poor mostly through religious and faith based organizations since government has failed woefully in discharging their responsibilities. Hence we have mega Churches and Mosques making millions from welfare and charity works. Some of them also Institute zero percent rates Banks and lend to the poor. They use this mostly as a gimmick to attract members. Only the government support the ban on Street Begging. Some wealthy people may like it but most of them fear from religious points of view that they will lose blessings because these Beggars pray for them. As to housing, government has no concrete plan! Most poor areas and slums are taken over and turned to boulevards housing the rich and wealthy. Houses constructed by government are out of reach of the poor. The poor paid so much for accommodation. About five to six of them may manage a room. To save costs government only help a little in transportation by allowing us move freely but not on every routes./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bWhere are you allowed to be? - are there certain areas you are relegated to?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang/b: Areas that our members are restricted from are mostly the busiest and commercial points like markets, motorparks, and other big public gathering points. And these are the areas where our members mostly eke a living for themselves and other dependants. These are the metropolitan areas /cities. We are only allowed in very less public areas like the rural areas and other isolated places where our member hardly get a penny to fend for themselves talk less of other dependents./span/p p nbsp;/p pspanbLeroy Moore: nbsp;/bWe also have a concept of gentrification in the US- also rooted in British colonial concept of Gentry- meaning that if richer people move into a neighborhood it suddenly means more police presence and more anti-poor people-laws and more harassment and arrests of homeless people, panhandlers-? is that the same there?/span/p pnbsp;/p pspanbJulius Shemang: /bTo really assist us we need help to conduct population survey to know the actual numbers of disabled. If we have an accurate headcount and file for each PWD member including those living in remote areas, our advocacy works will be easy./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanTo do this we need told and equipment and knowledgeable staff to carry out the head count and to issue certificate of disability to each member. We must identify special schools and disabled People#39;s organizations so that administration will be easy./span/p pnbsp;/p pspanWe lack equipment and many other important needs in our office which could have help us tremendously in discharging our duties. This is where your organization and others can come in. We are even looking at the possibility of travelling out to study some disability based organizations in order to learn best practices and obtain knowledge and information. Unfortunately, we rarely get sponsorship as government and people we look up to always disappoints. Anyway, we thank you so much for this interview. God bless you richly good./span/p

pnbsp;/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanimg height="629" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/5-TYDlOt4OXXkAEMzT9B_e4XGZ81aX6CvC48KzXt2jkqSLqMdEJd5OmLb262tXVYJzhKdvq8Rp-pn8vS9cqqcDSv10aiUne_iFhsFr0O8l158ZMTUPIvtsu6_HxYhHX6QAPeqs1e" width="602" //span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"span[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white ink drawing of two young Black men, who are brothers, one seated in a wheelchair, the other with his arm on the seated manrsquo;s shoulder. nbsp;Big block letters at the top say ldquo;Justice for Andreacute; and Brysonrdquo; with three exclamation points. nbsp;On the left side of the image, the words ldquo;Drop the Chargesrdquo; run vertical down the page. nbsp;Andreacute;, who is standing, wears a t-shirt with the words ldquo;You Are Love,rdquo; and an image of hands making a heart-shape. nbsp;Bryson, seated, wears a hat that says ldquo;BOSS,rdquo; and stylish sporting gloves. nbsp;They are both wearing cross pendants. Drawing by nomy lamm.]/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanOn May 21, 2015, Bryson Chaplin (21) and Andreacute; Thompson (23) were shot by an Olympia police officer after a failed attempt to steal beer from a Safeway grocery store on the Westside of Olympia, WA. The young Black men are brothers, were unarmed, and while the officer shot at body mass striking several times (as police are trained to do, in the science of and Use of Force), Bryson and Andreacute; thankfully survived the shooting. One of the bullets fired that hit Bryson is still lodged in his spinal column, and has caused paralyzation from the waist down. The white police officer, 35 year old Ryan Donald, was not injured, but did report by radio that he had been ldquo;assaulted with a skateboard.rdquo; The shooter, officer Donald, like every single WA state law enforcement officer (ever) that has used excessive Force, was not indicted and was cleared of any wrong doing. Bryson and Andreacute;, however, are being accused of trumped up and very serious charges of assault. Rather than dropping the charges, which was the rallying plea of the Olympia activist community supporting this family, these charges are being brought to criminal trial./span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanimg height="452" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/0d8LtYnDqnkXP6ZVS647RaW3GDMRLI9dwGuEA_3vYv5UwC3A7Pynkztj7toHkKwoFZC1qEfluxZKpYcEIBC2_7lHVmFQSQS4xfiQNY4iXZt550grl3HZFKfIuq1lZfZ1cy6MzdEW" width="602" //span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"span[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A watercolor painting of a Black family facing a judge in the courtroom. nbsp;The familyrsquo;s backs are to the viewer, with a young man on the end in a wheelchair, and his sister, brother, and mother seated on a bench next to him. nbsp;Beneath the family is what looks like some kind of living organ, red and blue with veins and arteries, it spreads out on the floor underneath the young manrsquo;s wheelchair. nbsp;Over their heads is a tree branch, with a little bird sitting on it. nbsp;The judge facing them is a white woman in a black robe, and behind her is the Seal of the State of Washington, with George Washingtonrsquo;s face on it. nbsp;There are three flags flanking her with golden eagles on top, and along the wall next to her are portraits of four white male judges. nbsp;The words ldquo;Justice for Andreacute; Brysonrdquo; are written in an organic style in brown, with leaves sprouting from them. nbsp;There is a yellow burst of light, hearts and love surrounding the family. Painting by nomy lamm.]/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanOn January 21/spanspanst/spanspan, 2016 at 10:30am the Thurston County KKKourthouse is buzzing with activity. Inside a heavily monitored large crowded courtroom a steady stream of people, accused of crimes (and victims of The System) await the next name to be called, taking turns to meet their fate or find out the date of their next appearance. Some people are no shows. The back of the courtroom is lined with tables as makeshift desks over which check ins are happening. There is a hum of almost distracting voices as folks are last minute prepping to stand before the judge, with mostly white men in suits talking with clients. At the helm of the proceedings is Thurston County ldquo;Superiorrdquo; Court Judge Carol Murphy, a woman, and the most powerful white person in the room, and seated higher than everyone else, to display her power very clearly. Most of the rotating lawyers on both sides are white, while the ldquo;defendantsrdquo; are Black, Brown, Poor and people with Disabilities. On the left wall above the empty jury seats are huge photos of four (presumably very important) white judges who are men. Above the ldquo;superiorrdquo; court judge#39;s high perch is an embossed gold portrait of George Washington himself, the emblem of the state of Washington, a glaring symbol of colonization./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanFront and center of the courtroom, waiting to be called before the judge are the tight-knit Chaplin-Thompson family. In the aisle in his wheelchair is Bryson, holding a Chicago Bulls hat on his lap. To his right is his sister Jasmine, and next to Jasmine is Andreacute;, and to his right is their mom, Crystal Chaplin. You can feel the love between this family, they are a unit. There are members of community in support of Andre and Bryson sprinkled throughout the courtroom. Andreacute; and Bryson wait patiently for two hours, then find out from one of their lawyers, George Trejo, that they can actually leave without being seen by the judge. Hurry up and wait, and now go home. Papers have been signed and the next court appearance is in April 2016, and failures to appear will lead to warrants. /span/span/p p dir="ltr"spanspanimg height="451" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ViuqhxNdqlA94aqcJOpDXrRhMbEM-fXAadd-1Sk7OE5_regBxVa0TE21njhi8EwGQhPx3aQFJnwriPzDqQ15eLDWPJ5K5n-mKDaaIk4BCDordomqZVj82gH8o2TO15Ee--iJwQF6" width="602" //span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"span[image description: Brightly colored chalk on the steps of a blue house reads ldquo;There were no charges for the Olympia cop that shot and tried to kill Bryson Andreacute;.rdquo; There are hearts around their names and the words ldquo;Young, unarmed, love, Black, brothersrdquo; are there. On the steps it reads ldquo;They SURVIVED and face assault charges. This family is in solidarity with the Chaplin-Thompson family. POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY NOW.nbsp;/span/spanJUSTICE FOR ANDRE AND BRYSON.]/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanIn the United States there is a nationwide crisis of profiling, police terror and violence against Black people. It is a low estimate that somewhere in the U.S. every 28 hours a Black Loved One is killed by law enforcement, and that does not consider those ldquo;disappearedrdquo; or who die in custody. In the state of Washington the Black population is 3.6% and in Olympia it is 2% (2010 Census report). The percentage of Black folks incarcerated statewide in Washington is 18.1% (Dec 2015 Department of Corrections). Not unlike other cities, such as San Francisco, where the Black population is 3% and more than half the jail#39;s population are Black, anti-Black racism is alive and well in Olympia, WA and plays out loudly in the actions of police (Ryan Donald) and the white people who call them (employees of Safeway)./span/span/p p dir="ltr"nbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanimg height="500" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/83O-yxau-_9cFXLJ8BMBeDzNJSQheZri9Vq-viLZXDc_9MD0E4h4CuEyu4bjFVVOCyrrKE7gT5YNHvZ_wPAzG0HKBjd_HA8Mpv2G4Y229He6FD2drxmS5v6pUtqZ-guhtVa-Xt-F" width="429" //span/span/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"span[image description: A racist meme, similar to this one, was found on Ryan Donald#39;s facebook page by a reliable source, and was documented. The meme depicts civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. with a dreamsicle (an orange ice cream popsicle) disrespectfully photoshopped into his powerful clenched fist. Words read ldquo;I have a dreamsicle. A Dreamsicle. He has one.rdquo;]/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanREST IN POWER MARTIN LUTHER KING JR./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanIt#39;s 8am on July 7/spanspanth/spanspan, 2016 and Bryson bounces down three steps to the sidewalk in his wheelchair (which has a flat tire), he#39;s gotten extremely good at navigating using his chair. ldquo;I didn#39;t get much sleep,rdquo; he says. Andreacute; joins him, ldquo;me neither,rdquo; he says. They both look very tired, and for good reason, as they are about to make yet another early morning, mandatory pre-trial kkkourt appearance and they have been mourning the loss of many Black extended community members recently killed by police. ldquo;My mom should be right out,rdquo; Andreacute; tells his friend who has come to help with a ride. Crystal#39;s car broke down the night before. Bryson lifts himself into the car while Andreacute; breaks down his wheelchair and finds room for it in the back of the car./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanldquo;/spanspanDid you hear about the shooting, the one in the car?rdquo; Bryson asks his friend. ldquo;Philando Castile!rdquo; they exclaim. The conversation is solemn as the three talk about the violent lynchings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the videos of their executions by police had just been all over social media./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanREST IN POWER PHILANDO CASTILE/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanREST IN POWER ALTON STERLING/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanCrystal emerges from the house ldquo;alright let#39;s go,rdquo; she says./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanToday the courtroom is very empty, on the left are four People of Color, attorney (and Woman) Sunni Ko, then Andreacute;. Next to him is George Trejo then Bryson. On the right side of the courtroom are the two white prosecutors, Scott Jackson and Wayne somebody. There#39;s a different judge presiding, white Judge Tabor, who is flanked by a white stenographer and white bailiff. Judge Tabor is very close to retiring, he announces this from his throne./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanldquo;/spanspanThis is a status conference,rdquo; Tabor announces. He talks about a ldquo;3.5 hearingrdquo; that happened recently where yet another Judge ndash; Judge Dixon ndash; made a ruling of some sort in this case. What he says doesn#39;t make a lot of sense to an outsider, and he#39;s very jokey about it. It does seem strange that this is the third judge involved presiding over the fate of two men, but this guy makes it clear he#39;s the judge presiding now, and will be seeing this trial through./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanldquo;/spanspanMr. Rogers, who is not a party to this case, and represents Donald, (the lawyer of Ryan Donald) is not present,rdquo; the Judge points out. It isn#39;t mentioned but Ryan Donald is also not present./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanldquo;/spanspanAugust 15/spanspanth/spanspan is not gonna work,rdquo; Judge Tabor says. The prosecutors are concurring (fancy lawyer talk) that maybe August 15/spanspanth/spanspan is ldquo;too soon.rdquo; This is the date Andreacute; and Bryson#39;s family and their community thought that the criminal trial was finally set to start. It becomes clear that this kkkourt appearance is about scheduling, (not dropping charges as what seems an obvious solution). Judge Tabor then addresses the defense, and infers that it is taking the defense a long time, he tells Trejo ldquo;this date was set LONG AGO.rdquo;/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanBryson#39;s lawyer Trejo tells the judge that this hold up has everything to do with a defiant and inaccessible officer Ryan Donald. Interviews so far with Donald were unsuccessful. Trejo finds it problematic that when interviewed, officer Ryan Donald had this ldquo;inability to recall disciplinary actionrdquo; that has happened to him as a police officer./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanDonald refused to respond to any questions about racism, having referred to Andreacute; and Bryson as ldquo;thugs.rdquo;/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanAlso, on March 1, 2016, a date set for officer Ryan Donald to be questioned by Ko and Trejo, Donald was a no show. At that time Donald refused to attend, as he was on paid ldquo;administrative leaverdquo; for his involvement with the in-custody death of Loved One Jeffrey McGaugh on February 29, 2016. Officer Ryan Donald was on paid vacation, like happens when kkkops kill someone, for his involvement in a ldquo;mysterious in custody deathrdquo; so he failed to appear./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanREST IN POWER JEFFREY McGAUGH./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanIf Andreacute; or Bryson hadn#39;t shown up for a court date, they would be in jail./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanTrejo also talked about a ldquo;motion to sever accountsrdquo; under the 8.3 motion, because ldquo;the state provided Donald with all the discovery on the case.rdquo; This sounds like Donald is being given all kinds of background information and history about Andreacute; and Bryson, yet Donald won#39;t even answer direct questions, questions being asked by two People of Color, the defense lawyers Ko and Trejo. It is likely that Donald the kkkop is still writing his narrative of what happened./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanTrejo agrees that August 15/spanspanth/spanspan is too soon. The reason for this is the lack of officer Donald#39;s version of what happened the night he shot to kill Andreacute; and Bryson. When he finally complies to that requirement, Ko (Andre#39;s lawyer) explains that expert witnesses will then need time to review his assessment. Ko pushes for Donald#39;s narrative, and some time to review it before trial. There#39;s a deadline for the defense team to interview Donald and it is July 29/spanspanth/spanspan./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanJudge Tabor then said something that sounded a lot like someone who thought fairness and justness and truth are irrelevant. From his seat above everyone else, to a mostly empty courtroom, Judge Tabor said ldquo;I know this case has high visibility, and people have strong feelings. They have a right to their feelings and opinions about what#39;s right and wrong. But that doesn#39;t matter here,rdquo; he said. ldquo;Legal issues need to be assessed here.rdquo;/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanThen the Judge told the court his scheduling conflicts the coming months, and he excused himself from the kkkourtroom so the prosecutors and the defenders could come to a decision about scheduling./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanThe scheduling conversation came off like a strange insiders theatric performance. It takes place in a bubble of laughter and talk of vacations and other pending cases, (SO MUCH GOING ON), and talk of more vacations... Even the stenographer gets in on the scheduling back and forth, describing this judge#39;s jury selection process to be predictable (and hilarious apparently), she described Tabor#39;s jury selection process as ldquo;half hour, half hour, half hour, 20 minutes, 20 minutes, half hour, hopefully done by noon.rdquo; And all the lawyers with the stenographer and the bailiff laugh together, because that#39;s so funny. ldquo;Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha,rdquo; they laugh, like no one else is in the room./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanAll the while Andreacute; and Bryson sit there. They are not laughing. They are not in on the joke. They face hard time in prison for failing to steal beer (no beer actually left the store) and for getting almost killed by a racist police officer. Crystal and a few friends, the only other people in the court room, also just sit there. They exchange looks, also not laughing. One of them is a child, even he knows this process is unjust, this Black family#39;s fate in the hands of these people in this system./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanThe defense and prosecution, never ever involving Andreacute; nor Bryson in the conversation, come to the conclusion that October 3/spanspanrd/spanspan is the date the trial will start. It will begin with jury selection. The Judge returns. It is agreed the trial will likely run 3-4 weeks. After all, these folks are the ones with the power, they know how it works, they are experienced and knowledged, they make the decisions. The judge says that someone must coordinate with Mr. Rogers (the lawyer of officer Donald, who is not ldquo;party to this kkkourtrdquo;) to confirm. The judge and Trejo also decide that July 20/spanspanth/spanspan at 8:30am is when Bryson must appear one more time, about those motions Trejo had filed./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanThe community is encouraged to attend July 20/spanspanth/spanspan at 8:30am in support of Bryson./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanThe community is requested to please attend t/span/spanhe estimated 3-4 week criminal trial for Andreacute; and Bryson that begins October 3rd, 2016./p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanplease read the article A Mother#39;s Cry for Justice in the BayView National Black Press by Crystal Chaplin/span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"a href="http://sfbayview.com/2016/04/two-sons-shot-in-the-chest-by-police-a-mothers-cry-for-justice/"spanhttp://sfbayview.com/2016/04/two-sons-shot-in-the-chest-by-police-a-mothers-cry-for-justice//span/a/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanimg height="451" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_ztE5SGpR37iPiaQMp3oyzkuuaKeRmrjkuLaXxUQfPl4-n8s_W5xUQLRjQseguRlpB0fkPO6TfE_fY7wCyHSJnWQuJvDiFiDULeavdssEmWLbGqDIr0cL2apvJ3_bA0VJTro_tp1" width="602" //span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"span[image description: It#39;s July 7, 2016 out front of the Thurston County Courthouse just after an appearance of Andreacute; and Bryson. There#39;s a big green leafy plant on the left and the Chaplin-Thompson fam hugging tightly on the right. Handsome and smiling Bryson, dressed in all Black is seated in a red wheelchair. Crystal, Bryson#39;s mom, has her hand wrapped warmly around Bryson#39;s arm, she is wearing a beautiful patterned dress with a black sweater over it. Crystal is also arm in arm with Andre, who is about a foot taller than his mom. Andreacute; is smiling, holding and leaning toward his mother, and wears white pants and cool high tops. This family loves each other.]/span/span/p pnbsp;/p pnbsp;/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanLisa Ganser is a white, Disabled, genderqueer artist living in Olympia, WA, on colonized Squaxin land. They are a copwatcher, a sidewalk chalker, and the daughter of a momma named Sam./span/span/p p dir="ltr"span id="docs-internal-guid-ba86569c-d675-74d9-d6a4-a502b3201f02"spanimg height="8" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/i47SWYEoKQSq0gmhPf42CgyWBxZxL60iweKPPvN6tL8jEviaNS8FA2-P7ejOVQdfcml497AllXlWa_F8KnhTbWHZIkUNqYjWOPHPk_wmiIw-SFRGs-yTMmqBIET-j78qgaMuPfr7" width="20" //span/span/p

pldquo;$5-10.00 per Disc- Hip Hop , Salsa, You name it, we got it,rdquo; At the corner of Vine and Melrose, Hollywood and Vine and Pico and Wilshire in LA, I would scream out my best CD deal of the day. I was 11 years old when i started selling CDrsquo;s. My best location was in front of the 7-11 downtown, until the poLice came and arrested me for soliciting without a license. For years me and my mama sold CDrsquo;s, art and all kinds of other things considered ldquo;illegalrdquo; on the street. We never had a permit or license to vend, sell or solicit. We were harassed, cited and several times i was arrested for it. And yet i lived to tell, write and teach about it. Alton was murdered./p p Broad daylight. Downtown Oakland. Flashes of shiny black and white metal shimmer in the sunlight. My heart stops, blood pools in my stomach. I have no ID, and my mama and me were driving one of many hoopties we had with a broken tail-light. This moment of terror followed by so many more DrivingWhilePoor moments of terror caused me to have PTSD to this day. My mixed race, light-skinned mama and my wite-looking self were constantly stopped because we were driving an old car and/or were parked in neighborhoods sleeping in an old car. We were often harassed, a couple of times thrown against our hood, and three times I was arrested, had our car towed and my disabled traumatized mama was left on the street. And yet we lived to tell, write and teach about it Philando was murdered. nbsp;/p p My houseless, disabled, mixed race mama and I were unhoused sleeping on the street on and off for years, we were arrested, cited, harassed multiple times, which was terrifying and traumatizing but we lived to tell, teach and write about it. Jessica Nelson Williams was murdered./p p This goes out to my fellow light-skinned People of Color and poor white people.br / In so many ways my life of poverty and houselessness, system abuse and hellfare was terrifying and left me scarred beyond words. But i am still here. My big loud mouth is still alive. My big loud, light-skinned mouth is still alive./p p The point of my story is not to rank oppression, to dismantle or disrespect your trauma, fellow light-skinned, working class and poor white people, Poverty, abuse, state- sponsored and personal violence is hella real and kills, If you have lived a life like me and my mama it is blessing you are still alive. And many of us donrsquo;t make it, killing ourselves with the mans poison, with each others fists, with our own minds. Our struggles are very real and devastating and completely legitimate. Our collective trauma-knowledge as poor and unhoused people is why we established the concept of Poverty Scholarship at a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=39770831995" href="https://www.facebook.com/PoorNewsNetwork/"POOR Magazine/a And has nothing to do with the necessity to understand the depth of danger faced by all Black peoples walking, living, working and driving in this stolen indigenous land/p p The point of this story is to help you understand that the fight for Black life, isnrsquo;t a fight for who is worse off,nbsp; who had more trauma, terror or abuse. the point is to understand thatnbsp; the impact and reality of white supremacy is not just trauma, its a deep and real situation of danger. for Black bodies. Due to a terrifyingly real, historically rooted and extremely dangerous system, Black bodies are in a specific state of danger, a clear and present danger of murder everyday in Amerikkka due to intentional, institutional and multi-generational white supremacy that all light-skinned people of colorrsquo;s(POC) and poor white people arenrsquo;t. And the moment for us to get extremely clear about this and name it constantly is now./p p This means some serious compartmentalization of our own ldquo;stuffrdquo; and the clear-headed recognition of this danger to our Black family members, friends, comrades, neighbors, lovers and community.br / nbsp;br / And once we have gotten over our own personal shit about this danger, to begin to act, educate and activate constantly. To bring up in spaces where our fellow unconscious family members, friends, comrades, neighbors, co-workers and communities dwell. To stand with, walk with, act with Black bodies in the ways that matter and are hard. To always kkkopwatch, to never walk by, drive by or stay uninvolved.nbsp; At POOR Magazine, a poor and indigenous people-led movement, this means supporting fellow unhoused, poor, disabled, elder and youth of color to get new cars, to get current registration, insurance, housing, healthcare, paid for by folks with race, class and formal education privilege, something we teach them in a poor people-led community school we call a href="http://www.racepovertymediajustice.org"PeopleSkool./a Something we are activating with the a href="http://www.poormagazine.org/homefulness"Homefulness Project./a/p p And in this narrative I am in no way saying that light-skinnednbsp; POCrsquo;s, poor and unhoused white people, Trans and disabled peoples are ldquo;saferdquo;. We are not. Period. Point blank. It is merely to clearly articulate the difference and terror we need to see and recognize and name./p p For unhoused, working class and light-skinned POCrsquo;s culture, race, age and gender matters in more subtle ways. For years as a child i had to navigate my ldquo;white skinrdquo; so that my mixed race single mama and i could rent an apartment when we were unhoused and later when myself and fellow Black welfareQUEENrsquo;s and POOR Magazine launched Mamahouse in the Mission I had to do it again, because racism and classism is alive and well everywhere. To acquire housing I was constantly lying about credit histories and wages and landlords were always believing it because white supremacy is alive and well in the land-stealing industry.nbsp; Indigenous, POC, immigrant, trans, youth, elders and unhoused people are constantly under attack by the subtle and not so subtle forces of racism, white supremacy and amerikkklan colonial domination./p p Ultimately the Porsquo;Lice are killing all of us. the fact that they used a robot to kill the alleged poLice murderer in Dallas is telling of a terrifying future to come, more proof that our collective liberation is linked. It is why we have practiced a No PoLice Calls Ever policy at POOR Magazine for the last 20 years and launched it and lived it at Homefulness. But before we can be truly linked it is urgent that we see the ways we are clearly different. It is why we have a motto at POOR Magazine, The Revolution will NOT be Melted in a Pot, which just means we need to respect each personrsquo;s journey through spirit and consciousness, we need to be clear about who we are and how we are different to truly value, support and overstand each of our individual struggles so we can work toward our collective liberation.br / nbsp;/p pemPOOR Magazine#39;s strongFree Revolutionary Journalism program for Po#39; Folks/strong is beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, July 12th at 6:30pm. email a href="mailto:poormag@gmail.com"poormag@gmail.com/a to register.nbsp; The next PeopleSkool for folks with strongRace, Class and/or Formal Education Privilege/strong is in Black august 27th 28th - go to a href="http://www.racepovertymediajustice.org" title="www.racepovertymediajustice.org"www.racepovertymediajustice.org/a to enroll. If you are interested in attending our strongNot Calling the kkkops EVER /strongworkshops which begin in September please email poormag@gmail.com/em/p

pThe recent death of the Mexicano Journalist Ruben Espinoza who was found dead in a Mexico City apartment along with four wimmin was a reminder of the many sacrifices that Journailist make. Delivering the truth is very threatening to those who oppress others. Apparently there is a lot of oppression in parts of Mexico at this time./p pI have read PROCESO, the Spanish language Magazine which Espinoza worked for. It has a reputation for getting to the truth. PROCESO like its sister News Magazine, ZETA, are the rare gems in the battle for truth in Mexcio. Both of these publicatins have always spoke truth to power. They have always called out corrupt officials and translated what the power struggles throughout Mexico were REALLY about. The many deaths of their Journalists speak to the danger in this work./p pBeing a photo Journalist was how Espinoza gave back to the people. He knew that his work posed a threat to his own safety, but any Journalist will tell you that their ability to get truth out there is far more important than themselves. The Journalist is COMPELLED to deliver this truth, it is why Journalists around the world pick up the pen or the camera. nbsp;/p pWhat some say sealed Espinozarsquo;s fate was when he published the photo that he took of Governor of Vera Cruz, Javier Duarte, which was published on the February 16, 2014 cover of PROCESO news Magazine along with the heading ldquo;VeraCruz Lawless staterdquo;. I would say that this may have tipped the scales against him but his career of Journalism seems to have led up to this./p pAll of the bodies showed signs of torture and the wimmin were all raped in this attack. Those who carried out this crime against the people attempted to send the message that truth will not be tolerated in the Mexican@ press. What they do not understand is that there will always be Journalism and this will not change. All their acts did was to create MORE Journalism surrounding the corruption in VeraCruz and other parts of Mexico. All their actions did was shine a larger light on the great Journalists like Espinoza and others who continue his work./p pThe current MexicanGovernmentis undable to provide security to its own people, this has been obvious for some time. It has been a year and they still have not provided Mexican@ families with real answers about the 43 of Ayotzinapa whose parents continue to search for the bodies of those children. As in any oppressive situation, the people will have to obtain justice from their own actions. Internationally we can also raise awareness and shine a bigger light on this Journalist Hunting in Mexico./p pFor the Chicano nation, those Mexican@ Journalists are our heroes and it is from them the living and the dead Journalists where we draw our strength as fellow Journalists. Here I am held in a control unit in U.$. borders and tortured in S.H.U and yet I too understand the importance of delivering truth. I have experienced retaliation for my writing as well, having my mail leaving the prison confiscated, censorship and denying my mail coming into me, not only being held in a windowless cell but then having no electricity in my cell for a month, having no water in my cell for days, verbal coercion, denying my access to cosmetics for months, raiding my cell at 5:00 am and being dragged out handcuffed in my underwear after a critical article of mine was published about this prison etc. I understand that my torture in large part continues BECAUSE I continue to speak truth about the oppression that all prisoners face in the prisons in Califas, in Aztlan and throughout U.$. borders but like the Mexican@ Journalists I know that it is my duty to continue no matter what and this I will do./p pJournalists in prison also face grave threats, not just from the state directly, but also from the agents of the state who arrive in the form of bribed prisoners. It is quite easy to have those who fall for the statersquo;s tactic of subverting the peoplersquo;s unity and pitting us against each other. There are many who do not like for the boat to be rocked for many reasons. Some would say itrsquo;s easier and safer for their behavior if nobody spoke out about the state repression but I would disagree. Exposing the state and educating the people to me is far more important than anything that can be done to me or any other Journalist whether in prison or outside of prison. Raising public opinion amongst my fellow prisoners will always continue because peoplersquo;s journalism is correct and what is correct will always prevail in the end. In the spirit of Ruben Espinoza boldly arouse the people!/p pJose H. Villarreal/p p9-29-15/p pPelican Bay State prison S.H.U./p

p class="p1"Peace and Balance:/p p class="p1"span class="s1"In Full Resistance Behind Enemy Lines:/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I am an innocent man and I have spent the last eighteen years of my life inside of a cage for a crime I did not commit. On July 10 1997, I was arrested for the shooting death of Leroy Hargis, a man I never met. I was given a codependent named William Billy Bunce who made a video statement implicating me in this crime he was initially arrested for, same as he did to a Todd Moore for an earlier murder he was arrested for. Later on, William Bunce wrote out a recantation and confession to the crime of murder that he accused me of. The case was severed and my attorney Allan P. Haber, never called William Bunce to the stand in my trial to testify and once I was convicted, William Bunce was released without ever going to trial./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I am judged for my first crime, where Arnold Southall, was dating my mother and tried to pimp and force her into prosititution, she resisted and he beat her into a coma, I came home from school, and found myself cornered by Arnold Southall, and he took and pulled a gun out on me and attempted to shoot me, we fought for his gun. Arnold Southall lost his life in the struggle. I did not intend to take Arnold Southallrsquo;s life, it was not preplanned, it just happened that during the struggle the gun went off and Arnold Southall lost his life. I was arrested and I confessed to the incident and I plead guilty to Manslaughter at the tender age of fifteen (15) and spent seven long hard years in maximum-security prisons.nbsp;/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Huey Philips and Kenny Nunez, two three time felony offenders came forward only after being arrested for serious crimes, and it is till not clear whether they brought my name up first or if the police did stating that they heard gunshots then allegedly seen me flee the victims building and that they knew me for seven years, or more which is impossible because I was in a upstate prison for seven years and wasnrsquo;t home a full 45 days when this crime took place. Kenny Nunez was arrested for his third felony narcotics sale of controlled substance crack cocaine whereupon he received a sentence of 2 to 4 years at the time when the Rockefeller drug laws were in effect and during the trial Nunez claimed that he did not receive any deals for his testimony. (James Williamson was the prosecutor in my case) Huey Phillips was arrested for assault as his third felony. I had written the court with Philips arrest number in order to obtain his plea allocation, sentence minutes and pre-sentence Report and the court directed me to write to the district attorneyrsquo;s office because the case against Mr. Phillips was never processed or docketed. I wrote the district attorneyrsquo;s office and A.D.A. F.O.I.L. Officer Ms. Sarah Hines stated that the case against Huey Philips is sealed. Huey Philips also testified at my trial under oath and claimed that he never received any type of deal in exchange for his testimony and he, also claimed that he was with his cousin at the time of the incident. Octavius Harding and they observed the whole incident together. Octavius Harding the cousin of Huey Phillips when question at my trial stated that his cousin Huey Phillips is lying because he is H.I.V. positive and is afraid to go to jail and do time.nbsp;/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Erick Pitt came forward 2 and 1/2 years after the crime and stated that he had heard gunshots and that he allegedly had seen me fleeing the victims building. Leslie Neptune, an illegal Haitian immigrant facing deportation who had a severe crack addiction came forward 25 months after the crime and also stated that he allegedly seen me from a five story window flee the victims building after he heard gunshots./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"David Irons, a Gang member to the ldquo;Blood Gangrdquo; and a career criminal serving a sentence of seventy-five (75) years to life for robbery and terrorizing nineteen (19) Holocaust survivors, claimed that I allegedly confessed to him in jail and that I had allegedly plotted to frame the co-defendant that was given to me for the crime I stand convicted for which the co-defendant has already admitted to committing. Common experience teaches that even an innocent person who believes that he will be placed under suspicion may instinctively or protectively resort to conduct which might create the appearance of guilt in order to avoid criminal prosecution. Even so, if of slight value standing alone, and may never be made a basis for a finding of guilt, but only used to strengthen other more direct and substantial evidence of guilt. In this day and age, jail house informants looking to make deals, destroy more lives with lies and deceit than certain diseases. Informants have been falsifying confessions in the United States since at least 1819. At one point in history, Jailhouse informants served a good purpose. They helped authorities monitor dangerous organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis. As time progresses, however, jailhouse informants began to obfuscate the truth more than they advanced it. Jailhouse informants are willing to say anything about anyone if they think it will help them. The damage Jailhouse informants inflict is enormous and of the main reasons there are so many innocent people wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. More simply, informants fabricate confessions by asking other inmates why they are in prison. When the inmate tells the informant about the crime of which the police accused him, the informant repeats the story to police as a confession, conveniently omitting claims of innocence. Example: District Attorneys in New York used Laurel Huffman repeatedly, despite his history as a jailhouse informant. They claimed that they had no knowledge whatsoever that Huffman was a habitual informant in Pennsylvania and Arizona, but they never called the district attorneys in either state to find out. Newsday, on the other hand tracked his past through readily accessible public records. Prosecutorial use of jailhouse informants is extremely dangerous for two major reasons besides the ones already stated: First, it is a substantial contributor to convictions of the innocent, and second, it releases a host of unsavory characters back into society. There are no eyewitnesses that claimed that they actually seen me shoot Mr. Leroy Hargis. The 911 phone calls made by witnesses stated that the suspect is 5 foot 10 inches or taller and a stocky 200 pounds or more. I on the contrary am 5 foot 4 inches tall with boots and weigh 160 pounds fully clothed./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Ms. Tasha Cucuta testified that I was with her at all times at Ms. Tasha Cucutarsquo;s apartment and traveled together during the day when the alleged incident took place. My sister, Ms. Tanya Steward, also testified to this fact, both made statements to the police at the police station, neither had criminal records and were both legitimately and gainfully employed; cross examination but the prosecution was totally unproductive and the chronology related by them remained unshaken./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Derrick Harris and Ms. Rose Marie Turner stated that they had actually seen the person who committed the crime and that I am not the killer of Leroy Hargis. They further testified that Huey Philips, Kenny Nunez, and Erick Pitt were known to them because they grew up with them and neither of them were anywhere near the vicinity of the incident when it took place. There were two other eyewitnesses who identified someone else as the actual killer of Leroy Hargis in line ups at the 26th police station conducted by detective Luis Serrano. The identification of these eyewitnesses was never disclosed to me. In a recent F.O.I.L. request that I received a DD-5 (complaint form) made by a detective Albert Acevedo that states he received two photos of me from my parole officer Charles Watson 2 days after the crime. What is so disturbing about this is that I was paroled to the Bronx County and this is a Manhattan Detective who possessed these photos of me a whole month prior to my arrest./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I have written my trial attorney and asked if he ever had knowledge of the DD-5 and if so why did he not place detective Albert Acevedo on the stand and ask: 1.) Who informed him of my existence and why go to my Bronx parole officer to get photographs of me for investigation in anbsp; Manhattan homicide? 2.) What was he doing with these photos of me, who or how many people did he show these photos to and where are these photos now? My attorney never responded to these questions. The crime scene, control sheet says that a possible blood sample was secured from the crime scene and the medical examiner conducted forensic biology and serology examination on this sample and the results were never turned over to me. Two private investigators, both retired homicide police officers found five eyewitnesses, (Kerry Ross, Errol Robinson, Barbershop owner Master John, Jesse Griffin, and Robert Bradley) to this crime who all stated that I am not the killer of Mr. Leroy Hargis. My trial attorney was made aware of this fact, and interviewed these witnesses. Had each of them subpoenaed or brought to court every day of my trial but did not put not one of them on the stand to testify. I was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five (25) years to life for the killing of Leroy Hargis, (Trial was held before Judge James Yates, part 31, 100 Centre Street N.Y., N.Y. 10013)./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"While I have been in prison, I learned as much as possible how the law is formatted in order to prove my innocence. I have filed every type of motion I could possibly to prove my innocence. I have filed every type of motion I could possibly to prove my innocence. I have filled a 330.30 motion, five 440.10 motions, two 440.20 motions, a Error Coram Nobis Motion, a Writ of Certiorari, a state habeas corpus, a federal habeas corpus, a rearmament motion and a reconsideration motion to every motion and every single one I denied. I tracked down the eyewitnesses my attorney never allowed to testify, and received sworn notarized affidavits from them and I filed another 440.10 motion and was denied. I went to the Appellate Division and was still denied because the court claims that I require an affirmation from my trial attorney explaining why he never put these witnesses on the stand to testify. I hounded my attorney with the request by writing him one letter a week for two years until he finally provided me with an affirmation. I filed another 440.10 motion and was denied again without a hearing. I appealed to the Appellate Division and I was denied again by the same court that stated I need an affirmation and this time with the affirmation, they stated that there was no question of law or fact./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I have written the District Court, Supreme Court, Magistrate and Administrative Judges, U.S. District Attorney, The District Attorney of ten different countries, U.S. and New York State Attorney General, the Integrity Unit, Conviction review Bureau, forty-eight (48) Congressmen, sixty-two (62) Senators, one hundred and fifty (150) Assemblymen, eighty (80) Councilmen, Thousands of Lawyers, every Bar Association, Legal Aid-Society, Prisoners Legal Services, Exoneration agency, Appeals Bureau, Law Schools, Law library, college, and Innocent Projects in New York State, and even in some other states as well as other countries. Finally the esteemed Law Professor Adele Bernhard of the New York Law School Innocence Project accepted my case and Irsquo;ve already been in the deepest darkest corner of hell for eighteen (18) years now./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"After signing a contract with Law Professor Adele Bernard to represent me, I recently received a disturbing letter from her after she had my case for two years stating that ldquo;I should move on with my life and stop trying to convince people to believe a story that doesnrsquo;t ring true.rdquo; Sometimes the truth doesnrsquo;t sound right just like the cases of Jabbar Collins, David Renta, Marty Tankleff, Derrick Hamilton, Fernando Bermudez, and Jeffery Dskovic and yet because of the persevering fighting these men, they have been exonerated. In the two years that she had my case she hasnrsquo;t interviewed not one witness or filed a single motion on my behalf, all I got from her was false hope and as a GODDESS Worshipper Irsquo;ve learned to expect anything from anyone because the so-called idevil/i was once an angel. Therefore, with an indefatigable writing discipline, I continue my fight and let the world know about the injustice I am forced to endure!/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I have written also Nancy Grace, Sarah Wallace, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Crime TV, WBLS, WBAI, WPIX, iEBONY, JET, The New Yorker, Times Magazine, The New York Times, Daily News, Daily Eagle, Daily Challenge, /iThe U.N., Consulate Generals, iNew York and Washington Post, News Week, News Day, USA Today, New York Law Journal, Village Voice, /iNAACP, ACLU, Amnesty International, Mr. and Mrs. President of the United STates, the Vice President of the United States, The Pardon Attorney, iJustice denied, /iCommission on Civil Rights, Division of Human Rights, The Borough President of Manhattan, New York Civil Liberties Union, Churches, Office of Court Administration, Federal Police Defenders, Department of State, Homeland Security, Office of Government Ethics, Legal Action Network, Prison Legal News, the Governor and Lt. Governor, the Mayor and Police Commissioner in New York City, the Department of Justice, the FBI, Internal affairs, The Mayorrsquo;s office to combat police corruption and even Howard Thompson (help me Howard) and I am still in a cage suffering. Just like a slave, my wrist and ankles have permanent rings around them from handcuffs and shackles! I reflect on certain cases and things arenrsquo;t fair for me. Example: Marty Tankleff was accused of killing his own mother and father, witnesses said they saw him do it and he confessed to this crime but without even half the fight I have put forth, he obtained DNA that proves his innocence, yet in my case the District Attorneyrsquo;s Office has the DNA that will prove my innocence but will not give me the serology and forensic biology examination results of the DNA found at the scene of the crime. If I was white and had money, would I be going through such a fight? I wonderhellip;I have lost countless loved ones, and I was not allowed to go to their funerals or wakes. I have been cut with racers and scalpels, stabbed with knives and ice picks by prisoners./span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"I have been psychologically tortured, physically beaten, framed with weapons, and sexually assaulted by prison guards. I did over eight (8) years in solitary confinement and I am still standing, I am still strong and I remain unbroken, but how much more can a human being take? Was the Justice System designed to ensure justice or to test a personrsquo;s mental endurance?/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"bWill YOU help me get justice?/b/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"bIn prayer,nbsp;/b/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"biDr. Al-fatah Stewart, D.D., MsD.nbsp;/i/b/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"See Pending Law Suits: 15-CV-9034 Southern District/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Court of Claims: 127135, 119864, 119738, 119737/span/p p class="p2"nbsp;/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Help Balance The Scales of Justice/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Help Free an Innocent Man/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Dr. Al-fatah Stewart, D.D., MsD/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"#00A2144/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Sullivan Correctional Facility/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"P.O. Box- 116/span/p p class="p1"span class="s1"Falls burg NY, 12733/span/p

pToday I got the news that yesterday the young Raza Artist, Antonio Ramos, was shot and killed in Oakland, Califas as he was paining a mural on the wall. It is horrible to hear of any young people being murdered, but to hear of an artist, a cultural worker being killed, is something worse./p pRamos was doing the work that he loved, that is creating art which was peoplersquo;s art. His gift and passion was not just used for Raza, nor for his nation but it was used to give voice and express the experience of all oppressed people. He created art for everyday people and reflected what we see down on the street level of this lopsided society. He helped create murals which helped to speak for the people who could not. For this, I have much unity with Ramos./p pI think a lot about this and what kind of society creates the atmosphere where artists who paint for the people are silenced through death. The artist is after all not only a peace ambassador but a visionary for poor people. The artist is the one who attempts to paint a reality not yet here. All of this is done often without payment or with little payment. For the artist the real payment is the smile on the viewerrsquo;s face, it is the spark of ideas that arrive when onersquo;s art touches the viewer in ways that an article cannot./p pThe only type of society which can create the conditions where Artistas like Ramos can be killed, is one based in extreme oppression. One where Capitalism breeds the inequality which forces people to deal with their own oppression in the wrong ways. Often lashing out at people just like themselves or whose social reality mirrors their own in many ways. We live in such a society where the easiest people to strike out at are those closest to ourselves. Often those who struggle the most, for us who suffer, are the ones who suffer the most./p pI had never met this artist Antonio Ramos and yet I have met so many more just like him. This young muralist, I am sure would have liked us all to reflect on the best that he gave to his community. To die doing what you love to do is so bitter sweet. His short life, I think, allows all artists to think deeply about the importance of art and the importance of artists to create art which helps all of us deal with such a horrible existence in a dog eat dog society./p pMy hope is that the people think of what artists mean to our barrios and our communities. My hope is that Artists are encouraged by those in the communities and supported. Artists work for the people. Peoplersquo;s artists are our heroes not our enemy. If we look to history we see that it was the peoplersquo;s artists that have always spoke on our behalf, often with harm or death because of this. The treatment of our artists should reflect our understanding of this./p pJose H Villarreal/p p9-30-15/p pPelican bay SHU/p