My name is Ziair and as I walk on the campus and get ready for summer camp at Deecolonize Academy, I sit down and eat. Then we did martial arts with Brother Mink.

Afterwards we all sat down and talked about how we're gonna go to Homefulness 2. When we got there we prayed. Everybody had goggles, shields and gloves. We brought trash bags, rakes and  weed cutters. We paired up into teams and got the garbage from off the site. We also cut the weeds.

We were cleaning up the site. There was a lot of shattered glass and old glass bottles, and the land looked like a jungle. We chopped all the weeds, cut and rake the grass, then took a break for the interview for the show about what we were doing. Everyone was hot and sweaty. But there was a goal we got it done because it was important. We got there at 11am and ended at 12pm.

Cleaning up  is fun and pretty good exercise. Starting at Homefulness #1, which we are still trying to build as poor and houseless peoples, to then make Homefulness #2 happen is a big Journey. But with all our family we made it happen and are liberating another small part of land.

Us all being homeless we never had a home that was stable or a place we could go to count on, so that's why we're providing it for the homeless now. Because we knew how it felt to not have anyone to lean on and have no support.

in conclusion: as we closed out the land, it looks better already. We shared our thoughts about what we did and then prayed. It was very needed that we did all that stuff, so that we can take care of our land and not junk It up. I'm glad I was able to help out.  

The youth did WeSearch about the vacant lots that were empty for days, maybe months.The youth skolas called the owners of the vacant lots. And Decolonize got one of the vacant lots and is building another Homefulness. 

I am Amir Cornish. I’m a student of Deecolonize Academy, and we are a group that helps the community. I live in West Oakland.  

Homefulness 2 is the same as Homefullness, and Poor Magazine created the first Homefulness ever. But Homefulness 2 is another extension for Poor Magazine. They’re both in East Oakland.

Homefulness 2 is going to be a wonderful place for a community and we hope this Homefulnes 2 will grow into the world and also bring all the community people together as a unit, to finally unsell mama earth around the world.

Homefulness 2 is a start for the community because we could tell the world we finally made it by ourselves and say we don’t need the government or gentrifiers that are breaking our community apart. 

Homefullnes 2 is a work in progress. The youth, adults and elders helped clean the Homefulness 2 place up, but this is a community that builds nothing into something also nobody  can really do that.

Me and my family were homeless, we lost our brother to Gun Violence and we have dealt with a lot of violence and poverty in our lives. When i came to Homefulness i felt safe.

Homefulness is a community launched by Dee and Tiny Garcia. Homefulness is a safe place for  people of color. And so many more folks that need a safe place could join us in the movement to free Mama Earth along with all of our Po Uncles, Aunties, Grandmas and Grandpas. I study at Deecolonize Academy - a liberation school for children in poverty on the land at Homefulness in East Oakland.

Homefulness is a place that helps homeless people on the streets. We give out food to see their smiles. They also have their own radio show led by youth skolaz and adult skolaz. Also we support our people in the streets.

Homefullness is not just a place, it’s much more than a place, it's like heaven. We save lives during this pandemic, we always help our community and never stop, always help the poor. Homefulness is a place where you can feel safe.

Deecolonize Academy  is different from the other schools.and housing It is led by our community from the streets. They are also teaching the young ones how to take care of the elders in our community. This school at Homefulness teaches so many things that are different from the regular schools.

Homefulness is a special space for all of us and this community fights the cruel injustice on our people. We are not a fake organization, we are the real deal, and we are always showing up and supporting anyone who needs our help.

Family Council/Elephant meeting is when families and teachers identify problems and conflicts and find a way to fix them non-violently. We have many other meetings for other things like revolutionary construction.

I've been in many family councils and seen many and it has changed my personality, but this one is about some different individuals.

One day me and my brothers were just chilling talking, but some conflict happened between two girls. They were talking about some boys and a certain name came up. So Girl 1* started trash talking and Girl 2 didn't, then got offended and said something back. Girl 1 swung on Girl 2 and then they started fighting,

We were surprised, it broke out fast. Girl 2 grabbed the broom and tried to hit Girl 1 with it and they were both throwing hands. Me and the other kids were hiding in a big container because the fight got so big. Amir tried to break it up but he got punched in the face. As the fight escalated adults came. 

We had our Family Council. First we read the rules of respect, and there was a lot of yelling going on but we fixed the situation and Girl 1 and Girl 2 both took ownership. 

Being at DeeColonize we have a lot of family councils, it’s normal at DeeColonize. Family councils are the only way we can solve issues without calling the police. And having these meetings carves you different and makes you think about things unlike your old self. That way you say oh, maybe I should not do that.

We love each other at the end and there are no hard feelings. To be honest I like our system because we do no violence and talk it out without harming each other and at the end we pray as a happy big family. I am blessed to be in the school system like this because we are different. Normally there will be cops when a situation is escalated and one of the children will be harmed by the police or arrested. But we just talk.

*Specifics and personal information such as names are confidential in all family council circles at Poor Magazine/Homefulness

Hello my name is Amir Cornish, and I’m from West Oakland. Family Council is a meeting that solves problems that we have with each other. The organization doesn't involve the police because they don’t solve problems.

Family council is an organization run by Aunties, Uncles, Grandpas and Grandmas. This is a community that solves problems within an organization called Homefulness. I have been in many of these family councils.

I even had a family council about me because a friend wrote something bad about me and we had to have a family council to resolve this problem with me and this friend. Some feelings were said and I was kind of relaxed because we got this problem out the way. 

I felt safe in family council because we solve the problem and we were back to being friends. And sometimes in family council things don't go as well as we thought, but some parts are solved. 

Family council is a model for other people too. We are trying to show examples to the world that we do not need cops to be involved  in solving problems that we could solve within the community. 

Tiny is the person who created family council for the organization, and family council involves youth and families. I learn so much from these family councils as a student and as a community member. Being in these meetings, I have changed. These meetings are hard to be in but it's worth it .

Family Meetings by Amir Cornish:

https://www.poormagazine.org/node/6032

Family Council by Ziair Hughes

https://www.poormagazine.org/node/6031

Homefulness is like Heaven by Amir Cornish

The police, an institution put in place to serve and protect civilians, has proven time and time again that when they are called, they spell nothing but trouble for black, brown, and/or poor people in general. I am Tibu, a formerly homeless youth resident of Homefulness and a long time member of POOR Magazine. I have seen first hand that we can't change that system, so immersed in the history of our nation that the idea of police brutality dated back to the founding of America, so at POOR Magazine we decided on a way to not rely on them at all. We are comprised of formerly homeless people of color, so calling the cops would mean a death sentence for us. So we came up with a way to solve internal conflicts without having to rely on intervention from our would-be killers. That way is a meeting/ healing circle called the Family Council.

In Family Councils, we bring up the issue with both parties involved in the room and other members weighing in. These councils are regulated by a chair, who follows a guideline called the Rules of Respect. I have been in many of these, but one that specifically stands out to me is when a certain member of Homefulness slandered our name, and when confronted about it told a series of lies that involved us harming her and attempting to evict her. Over the course of this issue, there were many Family Councils and different attempts at solving the problem peacefully. Because of solutions and mediations within those Family Councils, she left. If we had called the police on her in the beginning because we were trying to get her to leave as she was not following the rules that come with living here and not contributing in any way to this project the whole process would have been easier. However, we have no idea that if when we called the police on her, or took any sort of legal action, they might harm/kill her or us in the process, and the whole reason we came up with this process is so we wouldn't have to take that risk.

Family Councils are usually extremely uncomfortable, and long, but they are necessary for the kind of movement we are running. They perfectly encapsulate the hard work we put into making sure everyone is safe and listened to, especially the aggressors and conflict starters. Homefulness, POOR Magazine, and especially Deecolonize Academy (which I am a student of), cannot exist without the Family Council and Rules of Respect system, and due to both of those systems I can be confident in saying I have a strong grasp in problem-solving and conflict resolution. Movements like ours that consist of black, brown and poor people need resolution methods like these for survival. There is no other option, or last resort for us. We can't use one of these, but when it becomes too difficult call the police. We are the ones seen as enemies to this system, and relying on it to solve our problems takes the point away from our movement itself.   

Royta Demarco Giles was a young 8-year-old black boy who was shot and killed at his local mall in Hoover, Alabama. He along with his sister, father, and mother were in the crossfire. His death is left with no answers, and I only beg to differ if we're asking the right question. Are we questioning ourselves enough and should we reevaluate our situation with our children and weapons?

Royta Demarco Giles’s mother who at this time wishes to be confidential about her identity is quoted saying ‘’They took a good one,’’ referring to her son who was shot and killed at 3 pm at a local mall called the RiverChase Galleria. The first shots were heard by witnesses at 3:18 pm. This is when 4 people along with Royta were riddled down with a hailstorm of bullets.

The family has been told that one suspect has been taken into custody, and the police department are confident there are more people responsible for the dramatic actions. This was not the only shooting at the Galleria. On November 22, 2018, Emantic Fitz ‘’EJ’’ Bradford Jr. was shot unjustly by police with a legal weapon as a black man.

EJ’s story is a different one but being similar in location and it’s ties to gun violence. EJ in short was a black man in the Galleria on thanksgiving. EJ had been shot by police because he was mistakenly taken as a suspect. The police who shot him said they thought EJ was an immediate threat and therefore was not convicted for shooting EJ.

I understand the right to bear arms is deeply embedded into the DNA of this country. Though it is hard to look at the truth. The fact of the matter is people are dying and the more we can have these discussions of gun violence the faster we can find a solution and find a light at the end of this tunnel.

Growing up, as my Mama's Sun and a formerly houseless student of a revolutionary school called Deecolonize Academy, I have read many books about the true history of the United States, one that until recently, wasn't eagerly taught by our country's public education system. I have heard stories time and time again of the man who discovered the place I live in today, and the many ways he tortured innocent indigenous people from all over the world. I learned about what came after, the brutal colonization of this land, and the slaves from another land that were brought here to build this civilization. However, hearing it in this fashion, with the words soaking into my brain as easily as water does into a paper towel, made it all the more easier to understand, and the different information being displayed far easier to understand than before. Mumia Abu-Jamal didn’t only tell the now widely known story of colonization and genocide, no, he went in depth in the philosophies behind the men and women who committed these atrocities. He examined these philosophies and used them to connect with the conflicts against poor people and people of color in modern day United States.

I have a wealth of political consciousness, and a lot in this book I was already aware of. However, with everything, there were some amazing teachings that I soaked up from this book, like the history of the Aryan race. The myth was that the Aryans, originating in what is now known as Iran, (Iran deriving from the word Aryan) were a blond haired, blue eyed, unusually intelligent and strongly built race of people who was a natural “civilizer” a conqueror. As time continued, the aryans made the mistake of mixing with non-whites, and creating a crossbreed that was shunned and looked upon with disgust. This is what has dominated the collective consciousness of white colonizers for millenia, one of its most famous representatives and believers being the german politician Adolf Hitler, who sought out the return of the pure race, the aryans of old.

The bastard childs of the pure aryan race were born, as the story is told, and through the ashes rose a new civilization, one advanced, conquering nation called the Teutons, or as I like to think of them, Aryan 2.0. Theodore Roosevelt, the 27th president of the USA, in a speech in 1906, stated that “ the world would have halted had it not been for the Teutonic conquests on alien lands”. The idea of the white conqueror, coming to civilize new and foreign lands with their presence is the idea that America is founded upon. The story about the Aryan race sets the foundation for the reasoning that 16th to 19th to 21st century colonizers had to rape indigenous land and people, steal their culture, and never stop. Mumia weaves these intricate and in-depth facts about history that give an interesting insight on how colonized thinking went on in the beginning, and how it continues to show its face in the modern day.