Story Archives 2017

It’s no secret that once most people gain significant power, it’s hard for them to let go of it. Such is the case not only in the Muslim world but in most religions that have traditionally been ruled by men.

Unfortunately there are scores of Muslim men who refuse to use the Sharia [Islamic Jurisprudence for the changing times] as it was intended, as a tool to make religious rulings in changing times. Instead they opt to use it as a weapon to wield against anybody who gets in the way of their power or challenges their authority.

Feminist and Islamic Scholar Souad al-Shammary has not only been an outspoken voice for women’s rights not only in Saudi Arabia but throughout the Muslim world. She has been a tireless champion fighting for women’s rights especially as it applies to the Sharia but she has been an advocate for Muslim women and stood by their sides in Islamic courts even when their own families deserted them.

Al-Shammary first became active after her first child was taken from her after getting divorced and remarried. A judge in an Islamic court ruled that since she got divorced and remarried it wasn’t good for her child to be raised in another man’s household.

She once spent 3 months in prison with no charge for “agitating public opinion.” She has been barred by the Saudi government from traveling abroad/ Her co-founder of the online forum Free Saudi Liberals is currently serving a 10 year prison sentence and received 50 lashes publicly. As if that all wasn’t enough her own father publicly disowned her, yet she continues.

Al-Shammary has been quoted as saying “I have rights which I don’t view as against my religion, I want to ask for these rights and I want those who make decisions to hear me and act.”

Throughout the Arab world female Islamic scholars and activist have been demanding an interpretation of Islamic law that asserts men and women as equals. Of these scholars al-Shammary is the most high profile in Saudi Arabia.

Men and women are not equal for the simple fact that no two people are equal. Even identical twins have noticeable difference. However all human beings have the same basic human rights regardless to any superficial differences such as gender. This however does not mean one gender is superior or inferior to the other.

It is important to note that there is a difference between Muslims and Islam. Muslims are the people who believe in the religion of Islam and when faithfully adhered to it is not so much a religion as it is a way of life. Acknowledging rights is where the Sharia comes in In spite of what you may or may not have heard regarding The Sharia or “Sharia law” as it is often mislabeled it is simply Islamic Jurisprudence to deal with the changing times.

Prior to the Prophet Muhammad establishing Islam, female babies were completely devalued and often buried alive in the sand when they were born, and if a family had wealth enough for education it generally was not afforded to female offspring. Not only in the west but through out the Muslim world women have become educated established themselves in business and even world politics.

Some things cannot be changed for the sake of the religion otherwise It is no longer Islam. It is however high time that women’s human rights be reflected in the Sharia. And it is grossly negligent and irresponsible of the House of Saud [Saudi government] to continue to impose their own sexist and misogynist will on Women in Saudi Arabia.

To get a grasp as to why they continue to do so one must understand that the House of Saud is little more than a puppet government of the west that was installed after the downfall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI.

They are the only Government in the so called Middle East that fully support the Zionist regime of Israel, and routinely support the west in war and other forms of oppression not just in the Arab world but Throughout the Muslim world.

As Poor Magazine & Krip-Hop Nation celebrate their anniversay, Poor Magazine- 21 years & Krip-Hop Nation - 10 years, I thought it was a great time to look back of my work in the Bay Area since 1996.  I moved from CT/NY to SF, CA in 1991.  This is not to blow air in my head but to take time to track my work and give Black/Brown disabled youth a piece of plateform and mirror to build on or to make their own way. 

Before I get to the list, as you will see I have strong ties to Poor Magazine.  Please read about Poor Magazine 21st anniversary beneefit:

1996 - Illin-N-Chillin column on Race & Disability @ Poor Magazine & became a member of Poor Magazine.

1998 - Disability Advocates of Minority Org DAMO & New Voices: Disabled Poets & Artists of Color.

1998 - Moore-Gray MatterBerkeley Pubic Access TV &  Started to write for SF Bayview Newspaper.

1998 - With Lisa "Tiny" Garcia under Poore Magazine started PoPoets Project

1999 -Black Disabled Man with Big Mouth & High I.Q. chapbook.

2000 - Black Disabled Man with Big Mouth & High spoken word CD.

2001 - Senseless Crimes Open Forum: Crimes Against People with Disabilities. 

2002 - The Disabled Ebonics Tour & Awarded KQED (SF) Local Hero Award.

2004 - Open Forum "The War on the Disabled: People of Color Speak Out, Fight Back against Police Brutality." 

2006  With Patty Berne, Todd Hermann help started Sins Invalid.

2007 - Krip-Hop Nation on KPFA & first CD.

2009 - Diversity Hip-Hop: Krip-Hop & Homo-Hop Event.

2010 Krip-Hop Nation first international Art Festival @ DADAFest Liverpool, UK.

2012 Krip-Hop Nation’s Police Brutality Profiling Hip-Hop CD.

2014 - SF Baview Newspaper awarded Leroy F. Moore Jr Champion of Disabled People in Media. Also teamed up ugandan journalist, Ronald Galiwango to raise funds for a wheelchair and paying two years of education for a disabled young woman, Eunice Atim 

2015 Where Is Hope: Film Documentary on Plice Brutality Against People with Disabilities with Emmitt Thrower.

2016 Krip Hop Nation (USA) and THISABILITY NEWSPAPER (South Africa) from the 4th to the 27th of December 2016 undertook an epic journey across South Africa. The aim is to profile creatives with disabilities to raise their voice and talents to link them to socio-economic platforms Where their creations are included in the mainstream. The tour aims to make a documentary movie and a book to be published internationally.

2017 (So far) Jan.  Krip-Hop Nation tenth anniversary CD

What is next for LEROY MOORE/Krip-Hop Nation?  Stay Tune!

1) This slave rescued other slaves and brought them to freedom. Who is she? What was her disability?

2) This famous soul singer in 1997 he wrote a book called Truly Blessed, about his life before and after his accident. Who is he?

3) This African American is the first deaf professional baseball player. Who is he?

4) This Black actor is an inspirational speaker who played in Boyz N in the Hood. Who is he?

5)A 1992 comedy show, ‘In Living Color’, introduced the first Black disabled hero. Who was it?

6)This Black amputee, 1984 Olympic skier and author was the first Director for President Clinton’s Human Capital Issues on the National Economic Council. Who is it?

7)  DuBose Heyward’s book, PORGY, about a Black disabled beggar, was a storyline of a Black opera.  What was?

8)  In 1828 or 1829, so the story is told, in free Cincinnati or down the river in slave Louisville, or maybe in Pittsburgh (or was it Baltimore?), an obscure actor named Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice came across a crippled black stablehand doing a grotesquely gimpy dance.  Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice made this dance popular in minstrel shows and letter his name was used as laws in the show that separated Blacks and whites in public areas.   Who was?

9)  George Washington’s housemaid, a Black, toothless, blind and physically disabled elderly slave was one of the first to be exhibit in a Philadelphia freak  show.  Who was?

10)  This Blind Black  Jazz singer who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist.   He also  marched with Martin Luther King Jr. & said, “ "Tho' I'm blind I can see the injustice here.”  Who was?

11)  He was the President of the Rock Hill NAACP and  in 1961 held a “wheelchair sit-in.” He rolled up to the lunch counter at McCrory in his wheelchair and asked for service, but was denied. He claimed that he did not break any laws because he never actually sat on a lunch counter seat.”  Who was?

12)  This famous peg leg dancer owned a country club for Black americans in upstate New York during 1951-1987 along with his wife.  Who was?

13)  She is a Black Deaf actress and has played in movies like Barber Shop 2 and in Compensation.  Who is?

14)   This Black amputee, 1984 Olympic skier and author was the first Director for former President Bill Clinton’s Human Capital  Issues on National Economic Council.  Who is?

15)  He was in a car accident that left him a wheelchair user.  He was a CEO of 2^nd Generation Records and building a entertainment complex in Detroit MI.  He wrote a book about his life entitled, Going Full Circle: From Life to Death to Life.   Who was?

16)  He was a Black disabled activist and Black Panther.  He helped to bring the Black Panther into the San Francisco 504 protest in 1977 at the federal building in San Francisco.  It was written that his frame was, revolutionary black nationalism and disability power had already combined.  Who was?

17)  In this national origination became the first national organization for & by Black Disabled people & their supporters.  Who is?

18) This all Black Deaf Hip-Hop dance troupe is from D.C..  Who is?

19) This folk Black singer used to lead Black Blind Blues singer all through the south as a little boy in the early 1920’s.  Who was?

20)  He was one of the first Blind music producers in Oakland, CA Hip-Hop scene back in the 80’s and early 90’s.  He worked on Tony! Toni! Tone! gold album, Who, and had an accessible studio in the Oakland Hills.  Who was?

21)  She is making her way in the Hip-Hop arena as a blind Hip-Hop artist today, 2017.  Who is?

Oakland - Tenant activists are urging low-income renters in HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) subsidized housing programs to contact their representatives during February 18 - February 26, to speak up in support of HUD’s subsidized housing programs. Massive budget cuts to the federal government are being proposed ranging from $6 trillion, to over $10 trillion during the next ten years. 

In the Bay Area according to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority has 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units. 

San Francisco has 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory. 

According to HUD, there are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by around 3,300 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the nation. 

Additionally, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) assists more than 2.2 million low-income households across the nation including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled. 

Millions of households locally and across the nation being assisted with their housing needs from HUD’s subsidized housing programs, will be severely impacted or made homeless if the GOP/Republicans have it their way. If President Donald Trump and Congress cuts the budget of HUD’s subsidized housing programs in the near future, including severe budget cuts or the elimination of the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 program) being proposed as an option, it will be a total disaster for millions of children, veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind, disabled and low-income families locally, and across the nation. 

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) is already being underfunded according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), and rental assistance to families with children is at it's lowest point in a decade. More budget cuts would be a complete disaster for millions of families, and will result in much more homelessness in the Bay Area, and across the nation. 

Additionally, thousands of renters residing in the so-called affordable housing projects of the nonprofit housing developers in the East Bay would be placed at risk of homelessness if Trump/GOP cuts the budget to HUD’s subsidized housing programs. Unfortunately for many poor low-income households, they already are being excluded from many so-called affordable housing projects because of minimum income requirements, in addition to projects that exclude renters with an income less that 30% of the area median income (AMI). 

In other cities in the Bay Area. The Richmond Housing Authority has 1,851 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 559 units in it’s low rent inventory. 

Berkeley Housing Authority has 1,935 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and has sold it’s 75 public housing town homes to some out of state billionaires. 

Alameda Housing Authority has 1,845 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory. The Alameda County Housing Authority has 6,341 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and one low rent housing development managed by the agency. 

In Contra Costa County, there are 6,921 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 1,177 low rent units. 

In Marin County, there are 2,162 units in their section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 496 low rent units. 

Tens of thousands of low-income households in the Bay Area, including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled, are being placed at risk of homelessness if the Republicans have it their way, now that they have gained full control of the House and Senate, including the White House. In recent years, it has become apparent that the Republicans want to dismantle HUD, and terminate all of it’s subsidized housing programs. 

National Alliance of HUD Tenants 

In a release from the National Alliance of HUD Tenants (NAHT), “Tenant leaders and organizers are encouraged to mobilize people to participate in Town Halls and other actions during the Congressional recess, February 18-26.      

Although the Administrations budget proposal is now not expected until May, it is not too soon to begin educating our members and allies and challenging Members of Congress that WE WILL NOT STAND for cuts to housing, health, Social Security and other vital programs, and to support the Peoples Budget from the House Progressive Caucus as an alternative! 

NAHT, through the Peoples Budget Campaign, will be drafting Talking Points and Questions to challenge Members of Congress during the upcoming recess.   A delegation of HUD tenants from the District can try to put their Representative or Senator on notice that WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!   

Please keep the NAHT office informed if you are able to participate in a forum near you!     

“NAHT is also asking its local affiliates to PREPARE NOW for coordinated protests later this spring, as details about the Administration and/or House Budgets emerge. We know their cuts will be somewhere between the Ryan Budget ($6 trillion in cuts over 10 years), and the even more extremist “Freedom Caucus/Heritage Foundation Budget” ($10 trillion in cuts over 10 years) supported last year by Rep. Mulvaney, Trump’s nominee for the Office of Management and Budget! The forums February 18-26 will be a great opportunity to begin educating people your local press NOW about what is likely to come.” 

National Low-Income Housing Coalition 

In a release from the National Low-income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), called Affordable Housing and Transportation Programs Threatened, “Funding for affordable housing, community development, and transportation programs is under attack. Contact Congress today and tell them to protect the federal spending needed to ensure families and communities can thrive.  And sign your organization onto a letter by advocates calling on Congress to protect vital programs. 

In late January 2017, news broke that the Trump Administration is preparing dramatic cuts to the federal budget to reduce spending by over $10 trillion over 10 years, while also promising to increase defense spending and cut taxes that predominantly benefit wealthy Americans. Severe budget cuts will largely fall on critical safety net and other essential programs, including affordable housing, community development, and transportation programs that help raise families out of poverty—programs that are already facing devastating cuts in the upcoming budget year because of the very low spending caps required by law. 

Organizations and advocates concerned about transportation, housing, community development, and homelessness are working together to circulate a letter urging Congress to lift the harmful caps on federal spending and provide the highest level of funding possible for these programs in fiscal year (FY) 2018.” 

Making matters worse, is President Donald Trump's racist attack on sanctuary cities including Oakland, and other cities all across the nation according to the East Bay Express. 



Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com 

Click Here to Watch the Follow-up Action at the Federal Building 

“What is your name,” a mechanical voice shouted through the receiver of my phone. Before  I could answer this bizarre beginning to a call, he added, “ What is your address, Where do you work, Do you have any other phone numbers…?” The barrage of accusatory questions with no basis continued for several minutes with me barely able to get a word in edgewise, and then.., “Do you have a 13 year old son?”, with this sentence… my heart began to race, my eyes started to blur and the the room began to warp.

After 15 more minutes of terror, i figured out that this was a kkkop calling me. He had my 13 year old sun, Tibu who he had been “detained” at West Oakland Bart for doing nothing. 

For the last month, Tibu went to different Bay Area locations, three days a week, from 6-8am, before school, distributing Deecolonewz, the school newspaper for Deecolonize Academy, a liberation school for children in poverty., where Tiburcio is enrolled. He has been doing this as a good Sun, to support his low-income single mama(me) and his very grassroots school, both of which are struggling financially. He did nothing wrong, in fact he did everything right. 

“Its not Normal for a 13 year old to be selling newspapers,” the kkkop kept shouting over the phone to me, after he “confirmed" that everything my sun had told him was true. And then, “I’m just worried about his Welfare!!! and why you as a parent allowed this, I believe your parenting are in question,” 

Later that night at the BART Board Hearing 

“We are just trying to respond to complaints about aggressive panhandlers,” said the nameless BART PoLice representative to the BART board and the tiny sprinkling of actual people in the audience. 

On the same day as my sun’s harassment by West Oakland Bart poLice there was a BART board hearing. I am not sure which PoLice terrorized ancestor spoke through me when I suggested West Oakland to my sun that morning  but they did and i did and so instead of going to the Rockridge or Downtown stations which he had been going to without incident, he walked into a trap.  We realized after he came home that he walked into a “snare” of newspaper sellers (aka poor peoples of color exercising their constitutional rights to free speech), all of whom the BART poLice had profiled as unhoused and aggressive panhandlers. 

Right before the kkkop detained my sun, Tibu was given tips on the best location to distribute by fellow newspaper sellers at the West Oakland station, a location of constant poLice harassment which like most poor people of color neighborhoods is over-policed and under constant attack by the paid agents of the state . 

The first series of questions he was asked by the kkkop who profiled him as “a runaway” code for houseless youth, and then proceeded from there to continue to repeat the same questions about his school , his address, his mothers name, his reasons for being here, repeatedly trying to trip him up. 

As myself, my sun and other youth skolaz from Deecolonize Academy and POOR Magazine stood together at the BART hearing we listened to a stream of racist , classist comments about unhoused people said as though it was common practice to speak of poor people selling newspapers as though they weren’t human, had no voice and no right to speak for themselves 

The concept of "panhandling" is the nexus of racist and classist amerikkklan profiling. It is a highly charged and misunderstood issue that us poverty skolaz at POOR Magazine hold a completely different perspective on and always have. In 1998 my mama launched the WORK issue of POOR Magazine to look at and document different forms of unrecognized labor like recylcing, welfare-demanded work, mothering, street newspaper selling and panhandling itself. First of all it's a constitutional right to free speech that Tibu and the other newspaper sellers were exercising, something the youth skolaz are learning right now in their oppressed Peoples Herstory class at school  So clearly Tibu unintentionally proved these low-income men of color are being harassed and this harassment should be re-named selling newspapers while Black, Brown, Poor or Young in amerikkklan. 

But even the notion of straight up panhandling is labor as my mama Dee proved in issue #3 of POOR, a form of micro-business in fact, and when myself and my mama used to be street vendors which we were for most of my poverty stricken, houseless childhood, we had the same "day" in terms of "sales" as our humble panhandler brothers and sisters sitting next to us on the streets of Oakland and San Francisco.  And just like poor people recycling, it is completely raced and classed, depending on who is doing the selling, distributing, asking or soliciting. When people go door to door asking for donations for a poltical campaign, religion or other campaign how are they really different form panhandlers?. And how is it that just because peoples dont have access to a roof or their business is associated with living outside, people feel entitled to judge what they do with their income. Why dont we ask CEO's at Chevron what they do "with their money, if they are going to spend it "all on drugs , the same way we demand to know what pandhandlers do with their money. How is it that corporate recycling companies get million dollar constracts to pick up recycling but when independent contractors who might be unhoused recylce, we accuse them of "stealing our trash" like anyone can steal trash anyway. (Another WeSearch study conducted by POOR in 2006)

My advice always to people about their conundrum about "giving money" to unhoused people is, if you have it and are able to to buy a paper or spport a brother or sister on the street, do it. Stop feeling entited to a story about what they are doing with the money. Panhandling is a very hard job and any kind of sales or solicitaiton work with a multiude of "cold calls" is one of the hardest jobs anyone can have. So just leave it at that , and if you dont want to or dont have the money to support then don't.

Back at the Meeting 
Jennifer Friedenbach and other members of the Coalition on Homelessness, DeeNa and Oscar Salinas from the Justice for Nate Greer Coalition were also present to speak on BARTS’ Use of force policies and their relationship to the murder of Nate Greer and other Black, Brown and disabled peoples 

I knew that ancestors called us into this because everything about the meeting was wrong. The weird “diversity” training videos presented by the kkkops, showing two middle class women, one Asian, one White in 2016 Prius’ fighting  with each, which was supposed to show diffusion tactics to new BART poLice officers. Which truthfully couldn’t train anyone on anything except maybe the newest fashion for 30 something business ladies The building itself, which is almost impossible to get in and once you get in can’t find the location and is completely ableist, with no bathroom access, making it almost impossible for our youth skolaz to be in the meeting because they couldn’t use the bathroom without getting locked out of the meeting room.

We did manage to speak, thanks to Jenny who had to make a special request for public comment, and I knew it was necessary for this board to hear real poor people in the flesh speaking up against this over-policing, my sun’s healing and his brothers and sister comrades at Deecolonize Academy to report and support on. 

I know sis-STAR Lateefah Simon was voted onto the Bart Board and as i told her in a text message that day, she has so much work to do. We all do.



 

(Espanol Sigue)

“Even an animal doesn’t deserve to die the way they killed my husband" said Dona Fedelia del Carmen, widow of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, a Mayan indigenous man killed by San Francisco PoLice April 7th 2017 for doing nothing. For doing nothing, except being Brown and Unhoused in a city plagued by the disease of capitalism and its sister illness, gentrificaiton. “I am demanding justice and honor for my husband," she concluded to a barrage of Mexican cameras and reporters  in an international press conference in Merida, Yucatan, the land of Luis's family and extended family. 

The family stood together, wearing their traditional Mayan dress. Mamas, Aunties, Daughters, Uncles, Brothers and Suns in a sterile hotel conference room in the city of Merida, Yucatan, their love creating a space that wasn’t there, Together they were peaceful warriors for justice. Tears flowed from their collective eyes for the brother, Sun, father and Uncle they had lost behind the violence and dangerous racism of the colonizer borders, littered with the bodies of us all.

The pain of indigenous peoples crossing colonial constructed borders in search of basic livelihoods, jobs, safety, food, and all that was stolen from them by corporations, colonization and poltricksters, are in a state of constant danger. They are forced into this brutal diaspora leaving behind love, land, children, families, spouses, traditions, languages, friends, spirits and ancestors. Leaving all you know and all you are in a tortured journey seeping with capitalist hate, racism, separation and confusion. Only to be consumed by a society that doesn’t know you, care about your heart or your scholarship, traditions, languages or families, they only care about how much work you can perform for them, rent you can pay them, or service you can provide them. This is a colonizer defined world and it kills us all somehow. 

Luis' murder was a terrifying example of the concept of "intersectionality" in other words in the murder of Luis all of our struggles for justice come together. An indigenous immigrant, a low-paid worker, a person that was evicted, and eventually an unhoused Brown resident killed by PoLice terror in a so-called sancturary city overrun by wealth-hoarders, greed and land-stealers, who treats its poorest residents with a onslaught of racist and classist laws and poLice abuse.

The International Press Conference in Mexico 
My 13 year old Sun, Tiburcio (who is Mayan, Aztec and Chinese on his father's side) and I had the blessing of being in the room with these warriors along with revolutionary lawyer Adante Pointer from the John Burris Law firm who is representing the family in their case for justice against the SF PoLice. Together with Justice and Honor for Luis organizer Adriana Camarena and her husband, Chris Carlsson, historian and writer. we all traveled to Teabo, Yucatan, the birthplace of Luis, in October of 2016 to deliver a quilt created by the Justice and Honor for Luis Coalition in Yelamu (San Francisco) and hold an international press conference for justice for the family.

“In talking to the witnesses and looking at the physical evidence and surveillance camera footage which was directly across the street from where Mr. Gongora was shot we know that what happened on April 7, 2016 was wrong. My law firm filed a lawsuit, a federal lawsuit against the San Francisco city as well as the two police officers that robbed this family of their loved one,” said Adante Pointer. Adante continued while showing terrifying images on the big screen of the body and head of Luis, whose head was literally shot off by the PoLice attack, “This is the way it happened….Two police cars come to the scene, and then a third one pulls up. The officer in the first car gets out. He...has a shotgun in his hand.  And within seconds he starts firing the shotgun, as if he was firing (at) an animal in the wild. You saw a lady who was walking by as the officer started firing their gun. What you can tell from the video is that Mr. Gongora is never seen running at the officers, but what you see are the officers pointing their guns in a downward direction, and they fire a number of shots with their guns pointed down at the ground. Down at the ground, meaning, the target they were firing their guns at, who was Mr. Gongora, was not standing up, he was not coming at them but instead was either on the ground or going to the ground—meaning that he was not a threat to anyone—to the officers themselves, or anyone else who was out there.” (full transcript of Adante’s testimony here)

Poor People traveling for Justice for Poor People 

I still was confused on how I, a very low-income, formerly unhoused single mother who like my co-madre jewnbug says, didn’t even have “documents” in my own so-called stolen land, was able to go to Teabo .The journey to Luis homelands in Central Turtle Island (Southern Mexico)  between colonization and our liberation began in one of the pinnacles of capitalism - the ultimate example of displacement, gentrification and post-colonial destruction- the Ohlone village of Yelamu, stolen by the lie of discovery, sadistic colonizers and their enabling missionaries  and where Tiburcio and I and other poor mama and children used to live but were evicted out of and no longer able to even come back. 

Luis Gravesite in Teabo

“This is where Luis is buried, “ Adriana explained to me as we stood quietly with the family as they cleaned and laid down fresh flowers on Luis's grave in Teabo. Little multi-colored castles, lined up next to each other in a series of tiny streets. We huddled under an awning of a larger “house” holding a families gravestones. These families, many of whom lost so many members to the other side of the borders, honored their ancestors here.

The indigenous lands of Luis were beyond an idyllic post card or travelogue, but rather a place of indigenous resistance where the panaderia cooked their pan dulce in a clay oven with fire rather than use the electrical oven that lay under plastic over in the corner, unused. A place where straw bale homes were still the primary form of building, a place where brick and mortar homes paid by remittances from across the border often stood vacant, a tribute to the violence of capitalism. 

The village of Teabo on one hand would be considered poverty-stricken from a greed-fueled capitalist lens because it has no jobs, no industry, no banks, no supermarkets and no freeways. And yet from the perspective of many of the elders I spoke with it had everything needed for a people to thrive .

“These plants make soap,” One of the young family members, Viki stood on their family's land pointing out the many plants growing there that provided them with medicine, tools and cleaning supplies  She went on to show us a well, a small farm of animals for meat and the pure science of the hammock, the efficient, comfortable and cool form of bedding used by everyone in the town.

“People think we are rich here, just because we have family on the other side,” said Dona Carmen, widow of Luis as she stood in her kitchen in Teabo. As we sat together eating the beautiful meal they prepared specially for us, their guests, us poverty skolaz from stolen Turtle Island compared notes with their family about the lies from both sides of the borders. She went on to explain that many people think wrongly about the families that cross, that they are “better off” than the families that stay. I was reminded of one of my ghetto Skola Mama Dee’s required movies she assigns to students in POOR Magazine’s PeopleSkool, Hoop Dreams, which looks at two basketball players from the hood, one who stays in town with family and community and another who takes the corporate sports pimp-deal offered by a famous university. Out of the two examples, the young man who stayed close to his mama and family and people actually ended up doing better than the pimped corporate Sun.  

Family in Yelamu (SF) One Year Later

“We want to show the brutality and racism of the SF PoLice, we want to show the truth about the connection between eviction and houselessness and police murder, about the terror of poLice terror, and look at what a sanctuary city like San Francisco should even mean” said Luis Poot Pat, cousin of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat speaking about a grand march for justice they are planning for April 7th and hope the whole city will join.

The family of Luis who are on this side of the colonizer borders are cousins, nieces, nephews and a brother, who like over 70,000 other Mayan indigenous people living in San Francisco, work hard at different forms of hard labor employment, many staffing the kitchens and restaurants of San Francisco, cleaning your dishes, your floors, your houses, and without whom most of the restaurants would be forced to close if they lost these Mayan leaders.

One year later they still seek justice and are asking the city of SF to see this moment as a moment of pan indigenous prayer, of decolonization, of art, theatre, dance, and rhythm, of intersectionality between workers, unhoused peoples, tenants, poLice terrorized, disabled, immigrants/migrants, Mayan, 1st Nations, and indigenous peoples rights. To realize that Luis was a tragic symbol of everything we conscious peoples all fight for everyday, we all wish to see justice for and we all need to manifest in these terrifying times where we are all under attack. That this day, this march, is connectivity under the struggle for Luis, is a march of decolonization and justice for all of us.

The family asks everyone to join the march on Friday April 7th which will begin at 10am at  the corner of 19th and Shotwell, the location of the murder of Luis by SFPD.  For More information on Luis’s case go to https://justice4luis.org/  or look on Facebook for Justice and Honor for Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat.

El asesinato de Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat un año más tarde: Una lucha por la descolonización y justicia para todos.

Por Lisa Tiny Gray-Garcia, hija de Dee, mamá de Tiburcio y cofundadora de la revista POOR

"Incluso, un animal no merece morir como mataron a mi marido", dijo doña Fedelia del Carmen, viuda de Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, un indígena Maya asesinado por la policia de San Francisco el 7 de abril de 2017. Lo mataron sin razon excepto tener piel de color obscuro  y ser sin hogar en una ciudad plagada por la enfermedad del capitalismo y su enfermedad hermana, gentrification (burguesizacion). "Estoy exigiendo justicia y honor para mi esposo", concluyó a una avalancha de cámaras y reporteros mexicanos en una conferencia de prensa internacional en Mérida, Yucatán, la tierra de la familia Luis y la familia extendida.

La familia estaba de pie, vestida con sus trajes tradicionales mayas, Mamas, tías, hijas, tíos, hermanos y hijos. En una estéril sala de conferencias de hotel en la ciudad de Mérida, Yucatán, su amor creo un espacio que no estaba allí, juntos eran guerreros pacíficos por la justicia. Las lágrimas fluían, desde sus ojos colectivos por el hermano, el sol, el padre y el tío Perdida pro violencia y el peligroso racismo de las fronteras del colonizador, lleno de cadáveres de todos nosotros.

El dolor de los pueblos indígenas que cruzan las fronteras coloniales en busca una vida básica con empleos, seguridad, alimentos y todo lo que les robaron las corporaciones, la colonización y los politicos vendidos; están en un estado de constante de peligro. Se ven obligados a entrar en esta brutal diáspora dejando atrás el amor, la tierra, los hijos, las familias, los cónyuges, las tradiciones, las lenguas, los amigos, sus espíritus, y sus antepasados. Dejando todo lo que sabes para vivir un viaje torturado filtrando con el odio capitalista, el racismo, la separación y la confusión. Sólo para ser consumido por una sociedad que no te conoce, que no le importa su corazón o por tus conocimientos, tradiciones, idiomas o familias, solo les importa cuánto trabajo puedes realizar, alquilarlos, pagarlos o servirte puede proporcionarlos. Este es un mundo colonizador y nos mata a todos de alguna manera.

Mi sol de 13 años, Tiburcio (que es maya, azteca y china por su padre) y yo tuve la bendición de estar en la habitación con estos guerreros junto con el abogado revolucionario Adante Pointer de la firma de abogados John Burris que representa a la familia. En su caso por la justicia contra el SF PoLice. Junto con la Justicia y el Honor de la organizadora de Luis Adriana Camarena y su esposo y escritor Christopher Cook) todos viajamos a Teabo, Yucatán, el lugar de nacimiento de Luis, en octubre de 2016 para entregar un edredón creado por la Coalición Dr Justicia y Honor para Luis  en Yelamu (San Francisco) y celebrar una conferencia de prensa internacional para la justicia para la familia.

"Hablando con los testigos y mirando la evidencia física, y las imágenes de la cámara de vigilancia que estaba directamente al otro lado de la calle de donde se disparó al Sr. Gongora, sabemos que lo que sucedió el 7 de abril de 2016 estaba equivocado. Mi bufete presentó una demanda, una demanda federal contra la ciudad de San Francisco, así como los dos policías que robaron a esta familia de su ser querido ", dijo Adante Pointer. Adante continuó mostrando imágenes aterradoras en la pantalla grande del cuerpo y Cabeza de Luis, cuya cabeza fue literalmente derribada por el ataque PoLice, "Así es como pasó ... Dos coches de policía llegan a la escena. Y luego un tercero tira hacia arriba. El oficial en el primer coche sale. Él (inaudible) tiene una escopeta en la mano. Y en cuestión de segundos comienza a disparar la escopeta, como si estuviera disparando contra un animal en estado salvaje. Usted vio a una señora que estaba caminando cerca mientras que el oficial comenzó a encender su arma. Lo que se puede decir del video es que al Sr. Gongora nunca se le ve corriendo a los oficiales, pero lo que ves son los oficiales apuntando con sus armas hacia abajo y disparan una serie de disparos con sus armas apuntando al suelo. En el suelo, es decir, el objetivo al que disparaban sus armas, que era el Sr. Góngora, no estaba de pie, no venía hacia ellos, sino que estaba en el suelo o en el suelo, lo que significa que estaba Ni una amenaza para nadie, ni para los oficiales ni para nadie que estuviera allí. "(Transcripción completa del testimonio de Adante aquí)

Gente pobre que viaja para la justicia para la gente pobre

Yo, todavía estoy confundid cómo yo, una madre soltera de muy bajo ingreso, anteriormente desamparada que como mi co-madre jewnbug dice, ni siquiera tenía "documentos" en mi propia tierra robada, fue capaz de ir a Teabo . El viaje a las tierras de Luis - en la Isla Central de las Tortugas (México Meridional) - entre la colonización y nuestra liberación - comenzó en uno de los pináculos del capitalismo. El ejemplo de desplazamiento, gentrificación y destrucción postcolonial en el pueblo Ohlone de Yelamu, robado en el nombre de la mentira del descubrimiento por colonizadores sádicos y sus misioneros habilitadores y donde Tiburcio y yo y otros pobres mamá y niños solían vivir, pero fuimos desalojados.

Luis en Teabo

"Aquí es donde Luis está enterrado", me explicó Adriana mientras nos quedamos en silencio con la familia mientras limpiaban y colocaban flores frescas en la tumba de Luis en Teabo. Pequeños castillos multicolores, alineados uno junto al otro en una serie de diminutas calles. Nos acurrucamos bajo un toldo de una "casa" más grande que sostenía una lápida de la familia. Esta familia, muchas de las cuales perdieron tantos miembros al otro lado de las fronteras, fueron detenidas.

Las tierras indígenas de Luis estaban más allá de una postal idílica o un libro de viaje, sino un lugar de resistencia indígena donde la panadería cocinaba su pan dulce en un horno de arcilla con fuego en lugar de usar la cocina eléctrica que se encontraba en su envoltura a un lado de la cocina. Un lugar donde los hogares de casas de paja seguían siendo la forma primaria de construcción, un lugar donde las casas de ladrillo y mortero pagadas por remesas de la frontera a menudo estaban vacantes, un homenaje a la violencia del capitalismo.

La aldea de Teabo, por un lado, sería considerada como un desastre de la pobreza debido a que no tiene empleos, ni industria, ni bancos, ni supermercados ni autopistas, y sin embargo desde la perspectiva de muchos de los ancianos tenían todo lo necesario para que una gente prosperara. "Estas plantas producen jabón" contaba un abuelo. Uno de las jóvenes miembros de la familia, Viki, estaba de pie en la tierra de sus familias señalando las muchas plantas que allí crecían y que les proporcionaban medicinas, herramientas y suministros de limpieza. Nos enseñó un pozo, una pequeña granja de Animales para la carne y la ciencia pura de la hamaca, la forma eficiente, cómoda y fresca de ropa de cama utilizada por todos en la ciudad.

"La gente piensa que somos ricos aquí, sólo porque tenemos familia al otro lado", dijo doña Carmen, viuda de Luis mientras se paraba en su cocina de Teabo. Mientras nos sentábamos juntos comiendo la bella comida que preparaban especialmente para nosotros sus invitados. Nosotros, los Poor Skolaz de la Isla de la Tortuga robada, compartio las notas con su familia sobre las mentiras de ambos lados de las fronteras. Ella continuó explicando que mucha gente piensa erróneamente acerca de las familias que cruzan, que están "mejor" que las familias que se quedan. Me acordé de una de mis películas requeridas para la Escuela Mama Dee, que asigna a los estudiantes de PeopleSkool, Hoop Dreams de POOR Magazine, que mira a dos jugadores de baloncesto de la capilla, uno que se queda en la ciudad con la familia y la comunidad y otro que toma la oferta del Deporte Corporaivo ofrecida por una famosa universidad y de los dos ejemplos el joven que se quedó cerca de su mamá, su familia, y su pueblo, termino siendo el mejor hijo.

Familia en Yelamu (SF) Un año después

"Queremos mostrar la brutalidad y el racismo de la Población de San Francisco, queremos demostrar la verdad sobre la conexión entre el desalojo y la falta de vivienda y el asesinato de la policía, el terror del terror político y ver lo que una ciudad santuario como San Francisco debería incluso Significa "dijo Luis Poot Pat, primo de Luis Demetrio Góngora Pat hablando de una gran marcha por la justicia que están planeando para el 7 de abril y esperamos que toda la ciudad se unirá.

La familia de Luis que está en este lado de las fronteras del colonizador son primos, sobrinas, sobrinos y un hermano, que como más de 70,000 otros indígenas mayas que viven en San Francisco, trabajan duro en diferentes formas de trabajo duro, muchos de ellos son empleados de las cocinas y restaurantes de San Francisco, limpiando sus platos, sus pisos, sus casas, y sin los cuales la mayoría de los restaurantes se verían obligados a cerrar si perdían a estos líderes mayas.

Un año más tarde todavía buscan justicia y le piden a la ciudad de San Francisco que vea este momento como un momento de oración indígena, de descolonización, de arte, teatro, danza y ritmo, de interseccionalidad entre obreros, pueblos desamparados, Aterrorizados, discapacitados, inmigrantes / migrantes, mayas, 1ras Naciones y derechos de los pueblos indígenas. Para darse cuenta de que Luis era un símbolo trágico de todo lo que todos los pueblos conscientes luchamos por todos los días, todos deseamos ver la justicia y todos tenemos que manifestarnos en estos tiempos aterradores en los que todos estamos bajo ataque. Que este día, esta marcha, es conectividad bajo la lucha de Luis, es una marcha de descolonización y justicia para todos nosotros.

La familia pide a todos que se unan a la marcha el viernes 7 de abril que comenzará a las 10am en la esquina del 19 y Shotwell, la ubicación del asesinato de Luis por la SFPD. Para más información sobre el caso de Luis vaya a https://justice4luis.org/ o busque en Facebook para Justicia y Honor por Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat.

by Lisa Ganser

On January 28, 2016, 19 year old Black Loved One, Christopher Kalonji, was in a mental health crisis and needed help.  His PTSD was in a flare up, and he became so anxious and distraught that he called 911 himself, requesting medical assistance.  Instead of getting help, police arrived and separated his family and friends from him, escalating the situation, and even called in a SWAT team.  Instead of providing help, police killed Christopher in his own home, where he had lived with his parents for 15 years.  Christopher Kalonji did not commit suicide, as was stated on the coroner’s report and on his death certificate.  Christopher was murdered by Sgt. Tony Killinger and Deputy Lon Steinhauer of Clackamas County sheriff’s office, with impunity.

[Christopher Kalonji has a big brown afro and a sweet baby face, he is seated in a blue camping chair and is wearing a green jacket.  Photo courtesy Irene Kalonji]

Christopher Kalonji was born in Israel, in the city of Nahariya, to loving parents, his mother Irene, and his father Antoine, also called Tony.  Irene and Tony were both born in Ukraine, which was then the Soviet Union.  Tony’s father was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and his mother is Jewish and from Ukraine.  Irene’s father is from Tanzania, and her mother is from Ukraine.  

[Irene Kalonji, the mother of Christopher Kalonji is standing at the one year anniversary gathering of the death of her son, at the elementary school he attended.  She is wearing her son’s Justice pin and a t-shirt with his photo with angelic wings stretching out . She is holding a Love & Disability Justice for Christopher Kalonji protest sign, she is surrounded by people.]

Christopher was the youngest child, with one older brother named Joe.  The family migrated to the U.S. when Christopher was 6, they settled into a modest apartment in Oak Grove, Oregon, where Christopher lived out the rest of his life.  Christopher went to elementary school right across the street from their home, at Concord Elementary School.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew Christopher.  Christopher was really proud of his ancestry, of his name, he was proud to be born in Israel, and to be Jewish.  He wore his hair in a big, natural afro.  He was well-liked, he liked himself, he had a lot of friends, and this carried him into high school.

“I had a memory with Chris, my junior year at Putnim,” says Ben E. Miller, at the one year memorial for Christopher, held at Concord Elementary School on January 27, 2017.  “He came into school, English 11 class, a little late, but that’s okay, I’ve done that.  Several times,” says Ben, and there is laughter from the crowd gathered remembering Christopher.  

Ben continues, “He (Christopher) sits down, he only sat a couple of seats from me, and he starts going through his backpack.  And he just yells ‘Oh my G-d, there’s a spider in there!’ And he’s shaking his backpack out, he gets the spider out and Jarmar, our English teacher at the time, grabbed some paper, ya know, getting it out.  And as soon as the teacher leaves the room to go throw the spider out,  Chris says, ‘Arachnids are the biggest pain in the ass!”

The group listening to the story laughs. “That’s the first time I ever heard Chris use a scientific word like that.  Just Sayin!” the crowd laughs again and then Ben gets very serious.

“When people go into a mental health crisis, I know, from me having a lot of hurt in my life and depression, where I wanted to just give up; when people from, like my church, showed me love…  I feel like if people would have shown the same kind of love toward Chris, the events that took place on January 28, 2016 probably wouldn’t have happened.” Ben has become emotional, and Irene puts her arm around him.

[Black & white drawing/protest poster of Christopher Kalonji that says “Love & Justice for Christopher Kalonji.  19 years old forever, February 19, 1996 - January 28, 2016, REST IN POWER.”  There are hearts around Christopher’s face and it says “Mental Illness is not a Crime!!!  DISABILITY JUSTICE NOW #blacklivesmatter drawing by Lisa Ganser]

Christopher was intuitive.  He was intelligent, charismatic and he had an open and full heart.  He told jokes, he was incredibly funny.  Christopher was a smooth talker.  He could bullshit.  He was down to help anyone.  He was kind.  He had fun.  He made mistakes.  He was a good listener.  He took time for people, for anyone.  He helped people.  

[a sweet snapshot of 9 year old Christopher Kalonji looking over his shoulder fondly to the camera.  Chris is fair skinned with reddish brown curly hair and a small soft smile.  Photo from 2005 courtesy Irene Kalonji.]

Christopher was especially informed when it came to his rights, he knew the law.

“Chris was my best friend,” says Grace Michael, who goes by “Misha.”  Christopher was one of the first kids at Putnim High School to talk to Misha.  “He came up to me in gym class, in P.E. class and he said, “Hey, are you Russian?” He spoke in Russian to me.  And I said, “Yeah, how did you know?”  Because Chris had this big afro, he didn’t look like a Russian guy at all.  It was pretty cool.”  The two exchanged names and became fast friends.  Christopher took Misha under his wing and introduced him to many people.  He would translate for him, helping Misha to become fluent in English.

[photo of Christopher Kalonji and Grace “Misha” Michael walking in the hallway at school together.  Misha says that Chris was his closest friend, they were together often.  This is the only photo Misha has of them together.  Christopher has a big natural afro and is wearing a backpack, Misha’s hair is short and he’s wearing sunglasses on his head.  Photo courtesy of Misha Michael.]

“Christopher gave me my confidence.  I would not be the person I am today without him,” said Misha.  The two were confidants.  Christopher was very skilled in knowing the law and his rights, and supported Misha through traffic court.  Christopher could recite the first 10 amendments by heart.  Misha tells a story of when Christopher had a run in with the law.

Chris had been hanging out with friends, in Portland, and they were drinking in public.  Some cops came up and asked for their IDs and Chris asked ‘am I being detained?’  The police didn’t respond right away, so Chris, who knew his rights, said ‘well i guess not’ and started walking away.  The police then responded ‘Yes, you are being detained.’  

According to Irene, the police got mad that Christopher knew his rights, and they threatened him with a gun. His friends were there watching, and the police singled Chris out for knowing his rights, for not being properly subservient, not passing the “attitude test.” The police escalated the situation, and wouldn’t show their badges, so Chris took out his cell phone and called 911 and said  “There are police here not showing their badges, they won’t tell me their badge numbers.  They won’t identify themselves and they are scaring me, I am fearing for my life.”

While Christopher was calling 911, the police radioed in, saying “it’s us, it’s us!”

The police were not amused and said to Christopher, “you think you’re smart, huh?” They forcefully grabbed him and put handcuffs on him, and said they were arresting him for “unlawful calling of 911.”  They then seized and searched his backpack.  They found a knife in Christopher’s backpack, but in the police report they said that it was in Christopher’s pocket, beefing up his bogus charges to include carrying a concealed weapon.  

“The police are lying, Chris knew the rules.  That knife was in his backpack, not in his pocket,” says Irene.

Before those Portland police officers forced Christopher Kalonji into the squad car, they slammed his head onto the car.  It was at that moment that everything changed for Christopher.

Chris knew he was being wrongfully arrested, that he had been profiled. He knew his rights, and he thought that would protect him.  He had even called 911 himself to report the police who were violating his rights.  He wasn’t prepared to be assaulted.  

Chris didn’t confide in his mother about the police terror he experienced until a week before his court appearance, but she could tell something was wrong.  He had been withdrawn and acting strangely for the month leading up to his death, isolating in his room, his parents said. 

“The last month of his life, Chris barely left the house.  He wouldn’t leave the house by himself,” says Irene.  “I tried to talk to him.  It was a nightmare.  He was so scared.”  Irene did not know that he was so triggered about an upcoming court date, and she didn’t yet know about the assault.

In retrospect, Irene thinks Christopher was doing a good job taking care of himself, he was riding out being triggered while alone in his room, away from people, reducing the risk of harm.  He was removing environments that might be triggering for him.  He was newly Disabled and without tools, and he was taking down time in the safety of his home, in his room.

A couple days before the scheduled court appearance, Christopher’s new psychiatric disability, caused by the police, flared up even more.  He was becoming paranoid, and things were not making sense.  “They are going to kill me,” he told his parents.  Christopher feared that the police were going to take him into custody and kill him, and that his mom would never know how he died.   

Christopher told his mom he was afraid to go to the upcoming court date on January 28, 2016.  “They beat me on the head,” he told Irene.  “I have PTSD.”  He was having a hard time telling what was real, he kept clicking back to that moment the police smashed his head against the police car.  “I don’t know what’s going on with me.  They are watching me, mom.  They are coming to kill me.”

Christopher Kalonji was afraid of the police and afraid of going to court, and for good reason.  He had been profiled for loving how he looked and being proud of who he was, for being mixed race and Black.  He was assaulted and detained by police for knowing and exercising his rights.  He was falling deeper into the trauma, in his fear and distrust of The System.  He told his mother he could not go.

On the day of the court appearance, January 28, 2016, Irene told Christopher, “You know Son, let’s go together.  I want to go with you, I want to be with you.”

And Christopher said “No. No, Mom.  If I go to court they will put me in handcuffs and put me in jail and kill me, and you will not know the truth about my death.”  It was on this morning that his flare up was in a full blown mental health crisis.  His mind was spinning, he was so scared, he wasn’t making sense and he was yelling.

“This fear Chris had, it was unbreakable,” says Irene, with tears in her eyes.  “It’s so hard to tell this story again.  They’ve told so many lies in the media.”

Irene needed help to de-escalate Christopher, so she called Tony, her husband, Christopher’s father, who was at work.  The two tried to talk with Chris, but there was no calming him.  He was convinced the police would kill him.  Irene and Tony called a number of people, friends and mentors of Christopher’s, people who loved him.  They were trying to get support for their son as quick as they could.  One of the people who came over was Christopher’s martial arts instructor, who Chris admired very much.  

The 911 timeline is unclear, and ultimately, it was Christopher Kalonji who called 911 on the day he was killed.  He called for medical help. He knew he was in trouble, he was panicked, and he requested medical help for his mental health crisis.  

Just as Christopher agreed he would talk to his martial arts instructor, police arrived.  The police instructed all family and friends away from the home.  The police narrative, which was amplified in the corporate press, conflicts directly with the experience of those who were there.  The police narrative says that “his family retreated to a safe location.”  The truth is that the police made the family and friends of Christopher leave.  They would not let Tony, Christopher’s father, stay to de-escalate.  They also made Christopher’s martial arts instructor leave.  The family was whisked away by police.  While they were being forced away from Christopher, Irene told the police “Please do not kill my Son.”

The police narrative says that a mental health unit was called in and were there talking with Christopher, and because that didn’t work, a fully armed militarized SWAT team was called in.

“We were not hostages, we were never threatened, as was in the media,” says Irene.  Christopher’s family had been doing everything to de-escalate and now they were separated from him, and Chris’ life was in the hands of those he feared most, the police.

At about 11:20am shots were fired, and this panicked Irene.  She was told not to worry, that it was just tear gas.  It was at 11:20am that Christopher was in fact shot in the chest and arm by police gunfire.  The police narrative says shots were fired because they saw that Christopher had a weapon.  The family disputes this claim.

“I don’t believe he had the gun out.  And even if he did have a gun in his hand, which I do not believe, he was no threat.  We told the police we have guns.  My son knew his rights, he was smart, he would not harm anyone and he did not want to die,” said Irene.  “He was so afraid.”

The police used their knowledge that this family owns guns to work against Christopher.  It informed their Use of Force while there, and it justifies their abuse of force after the fact.  It is still unclear if Christopher handled a gun while he was in his room.  It’s also unclear what happened because all civilians were ordered away from the Kalonji home.  The police narrative is suspect in the same way the Portland police searched and found a knife in Christopher’s backpack and reported that it was on his person.  There were guns in the Kalonji home.  None of those guns were fired.  

While the bullets that killed Christopher came from the weapons of two police, Sgt. Tony Killinger and Deputy Lon Steinhauer of Clackamas County sheriff’s office, the police still leaked to the media that they were not sure if Chris had shot himself.  They inferred that he did, when he did not.  None of the weapons inside the Kalonji home had been fired, but the lies in the mainstream media can never be erased.

[green sidewalk chalk says “Christopher Kalonji” with a heart lovingly drawn around his name.  Under the heart it says Clackamas County and Oak Grove, OR]

Timeline of January 28, 2016

• 7:35am CCS Clackamas County Sheriff Department respond to 911 calls to the Holly Acres Apartment complex and claim they called in a behavioral health unit

• Police narrative says a 2.5 hour conversation with the BHU does no good, and a SWAT team is called in

• 11:20am Police narrative  says Christopher is “brandishing a rifle” and shots are fired by police.  It is at this time that Christopher sustained two bullet wounds, one to the arm and one to the chest.  After this, for over four hours, police say that Christopher Kalonji is “not complying with orders” to come out of his home.  They are still yelling for him to get out.  They use tear gas, they break windows, they use explosives on a door.  Police are destroying the Kalonji’s home while Christopher is not being subservient and is bleeding to death. There is an ambulance on site.

• 3:45pm Christopher is “taken into custody” and transported to the hospital.

• 4:30pm At the hospital Irene pleads with doctors to tell her how her son is doing, and they confide in her that Christopher is dead.  They tell her they were able to revive him three times.  They tell her that he had no chance because he had lost too much blood before arriving to the hospital.

• 7:30pm CCS department updates their initial press release to say that Christopher is dead.

While Christopher had been shot by police, in both an arm and in the chest, at 11:20, it was not until 3:45pm that he was transported to the hospital.  He was allowed to bleed out for over four hours.

At Christopher Kalonji’s funeral, it was raining, and Rabbi Rachel Joseph presided.  There was an open casket, and Irene and Tony stood in a tight embrace for much of the gathering honoring Christopher’s life.

“Jews don’t grieve silently or privately,” said Rabbi Joseph.  “We grieve outwardly and publicly.  Our tears are important…  Blessed be the Judge of Truth.  Stories are what keeps (Christopher’s) memory alive…  to share stories...  Grief is for the living.  Everybody here is a piece of the puzzle.  That’s all of our job.  To keep Christopher’s memory alive and to do his life Justice and to carry it on.  To keep telling people how important he was and how amazing he was,” she said.

“Chris was really good at talking to people, he had this gift. He was so persuasive. He was so smart. I was always telling him, man, I have a feeling I’m going to read about you some day, like in an encyclopedia or somewhere,” says Misha, pausing to reflect. “I only had one picture of me and Chris together, just that one time… I wish I had taken more pictures with him.”

[a sweet photo of Christopher Kalonji and his older brother Joe.  They are smiling and holding each other tightly arm in arm.  Joe’s hair is short and he wears an Oregon Youth Challenge jacket, while Chris has a big natural afro.  Photo courtesy Irene Kalonji.]

The death of Christopher was not the end of the Kalonji family’s struggle.  The damage the police caused to their home, including their child’s spilled blood, initially sent the family staying with a friend.  “If our friends had not helped us, we would have been without a place to stay,” says Irene. The community also offered financial support for the funeral via a crowd sourced fundraiser.

The police ransacked the apartment after Christopher’s death.  They confiscated computers, searching for any piece of evidence they could find so they could blame Christopher for his death.  The temporary stay away from the Kalonji’s home of fifteen years became permanent, when the management company (the very office that the corporate media suggested was the “safe place” for the family to be while Christopher was being killed) served an eviction notice.

To add insult to injury - the death of their youngest child and being displaced from their home - the Kalonjis were then served a $15,000 bill from the management company for the damage the police caused to their apartment.

Irene went to the Clackamas County Sheriffs with that bill, who refused to pay.  She was told that it “wasn’t in their budget.”

When the Kalonjis got copies of the coroner’s report, it said that Christopher died because of police gunshot, and it also said that the cause of death was “suicide.”  Christopher’s death certificate also says that his cause of death was “suicide.”

Christopher Kalonji was targeted for police terror because he was a smart, mixed race, young, Black man with a big natural afro.  Christopher Kalonji was killed because he knew his rights and he exercised them.  He could recite amendments from heart, and he practiced the second amendment, the right to bear arms.  Christopher Kalonji did not want to die on January 28, 2016.  He was experiencing psychosis and in a PTSD mental health crisis, a Disability caused by police.  Christopher was self aware, he knew he wasn’t well, and he stayed in his home, where he felt the most safe.  Even in the safest of places, with an impending court date, Christopher was not safe from those he feared most.  He was deathly afraid of the police, and for good reason.  Christopher needed love, he needed de-escalating, compassion and a conversation.  Christopher Kalonji did not get help that day, instead he was murdered by police.   

You can support the Kalonji family’s Justice struggle by signing and sharing this petition “Justice for Christopher Kalonji” at https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justice4CK

This article is dedicated with love & hope to Joe Kalonji, Christopher’s older brother.  

Joe writes, “One thing I never imagined, is losing my little brother before getting out of prison.  Chris was a person of knowledge, always looking things up and learning.  He was never the one to swing first in a fight that would be me, but him, he was always the one trying to help people, take care of people, leave people knowing something new everyday.  He wasn’t perfect as a person - no one is perfect, but to me he was the perfect brother.  One thing I feared the most in prison, is growing old without my little brother.  The love & joy we had shared will always be in my heart and thoughts.

I love you, Chris.  And what you thought will always be with me.”

Lisa Ganser is a white Disabled genderqueer artist and activist living in Olympia, WA on stolen Squaxin and Nisqually land.  They are a sidewalk chalker, a dog walker, a copwatcher and the daughter of a momma named Sam.