Story Archives 2020

I'm Ziair and in my neighborhood West Oakland, hearing gun fire is normal. My brother got shot in the same hood where I live, so I really know how it is to have a family member shot. In West Oakland little kids as young as 11 have and play with guns. Kids that I hoop with carry weapons.

Me and my family have been impacted by gun violence when I lost a loved one.

Natalia Wallace, age 7 from Chicago. Natalia was “sweet, shy, loving, and good at math” said her family. In Chicago an innocent kind kid's life was taken, first degree murder. The getaway driver was found and denied bail. She was killed after being struck by a stray bullet at a family 4th of July party in the 100-block of North Latrobe Avenue.

Natalia was playing on a sidewalk when police said three armed men got out of a white car and fired more than 20 times in the direction of the people holding the party that police said included many children  Natalia was killed while playing with her cousins In a yard In the Austin neighborhood.

Losing my brother Torian was horrible. I didn't think it was real. I thought no, not my brother.

Everybody knew him and he knew everybody but some envied. Torian was killed by a black on black crime. He died in a park. Iit was traumatizing for me because my brother smiled at me while he was in the emergency car at the same time slowly dying. It really hurt me. I never knew somebody that close would die ,little did I know that would be the last time I would see him.

Image: Secoriea Turner
 

Over the course of my life, I have learned much about guns while laying in bed. I learned that there are guns that fire really quickly, but don't make a lot of noise. Those are light machine guns. I can usually only hear those when I concentrate. I also learned about the louder guns, the ones that usually follow up with screams of terror, and those are assault rifles. Finally, one of the least common that I hear are shotguns, which have a really loud boom and after four or five rounds created a silence that seems as if time itself stopped in that moment. 

The sounds at night that I hear are sounds of gun violence. People being killed, families losing a loved one, and faces being put on t-shirts aren't a rarity in neighborhoods like the one I live in, and in the night I can hear all of it. These days, gun violence doesn't have rules. There is no “don't harm women or children” any more. Whoever stands in the way of the barrel is killed. 

Over the July 4th weekend, as we all know, there are an abundance of fireworks being lit. This allows for far more gun violence and crimes using guns to be committed unchecked. That is how Secoriea Turner was killed in Atlanta on July 5th, only 4 days before this was written. Turner was killed while in the backseat of a car with her mother that was going towards her cousin's house. It was an act of senseless violence against a car amidst anger caused by the murder of Rayshard Brooks by police officers in front of a Wendy’s in that area. 

“Nobody helped me, I prayed to God and He didn’t help me. My baby died in my arms.”

Those were the words of Secoriea’s mother Charmaine, who fortunately was not severely injured by the gunshots. I have heard many cases like these in neighborhoods like mine, and they break my heart every single time. In all of the neighborhoods I have lived in there have been countless unnecessary deaths of people in the community, whether due to gang violence, stray bullets, domestic violence but most of all police brutality, and not in the ways that many might think. 

There have been many cases I've seen or heard of where the government provided ammunition and/or drugs to gangs to keep them fighting. Police officers would cause wars between gangs by telling one that another said this, and so on. This is police brutality. Many of these cases where the police interfered to harm the community have caused many of these deaths. In this case, I am not aware of the specifics as to why they opened fire on the car Secoriae was in, but I am aware that it had some connection to the murder of Rayshard Brooks, who was killed by the police less than a month earlier.

These neighborhoods that I grew up in aren't filled with so much violence and hate for no reason. When cities were first being mapped out, the rich white owners would use a process called redlining to section off specific areas of the city reserved for black and brown people. Those areas would purposefully have reduced funding for schools, city management, and if you are from there you would have a smaller chance at a job going forward. This is institutionalized racism that continues to this day, and has caused so much pain and hurt to powerful people, by encouraging and teaching them to hurt themselves and each other.  

On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin had just purchased a pack of skittles in his hometown of Sanford Florida. This normal act of buying a snack at the convenience store was the last luxury of his life. As Trayvon was walking through the gated community of Twin Lakes, he was spotted by George Zimmermen, which resulted in a physical and fatal confrontation. This event very deeply affected me as a younger child in the 5th grade and still does till this day.

When Trayvon passed on the night of his murrder, he was only 17 years old. Earlier that night he was strolling through the neighborhood of Twin Lakes. He had just finished leaving the local 7-11 not too far from his father’s fiance's house. Trayvon had just bought a bag of skittles which he was holding in his hoodie while walking back to his home.

The majority of news outlets and case reports say that at 7:09 George Zimmmermen was running some errands and decided to drive through the Twin Lake neighborhood. According to his testimony George Zimmermen saw a dark silhouette he did not recognize in the neighborhood. Frightened, George decided to rely on his neighborhood watch training and called the police.

When he called he gave the description of a black male with a grey hoodie on. George, while on the phone call, says ‘’these a$$holes are always getting away.’’ At this moment George lost sight of Trayvon. George, still being on the call, tries to pursue the last location of Trayvon, which was in between the buildings of Twin Lake.

George Zimmermen, still on the phone, was told by police to wait at some mail boxes nearby. Instead of complying with the Police Department, he then proceeded to go towards Trayvon Martin. This is when Trayvon was shot once by George Zimmerman by the concealed weapon he carried.

When reading the story of Trayvon Martin, I think about the fact that i am 17 years old. I’m a part of a majority that is affected by this. How police department’s usually target youth around this age and even younger, with cases like Tamir Rice, where 2 years later he would be shot and killed in Cleveland, Ohio for carrying a toy gun.

These systems of jail are set up from the beginning. Our schools are known to have a system targeting troubled youth. The amount of money for just 1 inmate even for a juvenile is 50,000$. I know this from past experience being that I was once a troubled youth as well, but fortunately I had the grace of coming home with intentions of becoming better from the experience.

Image: Eric Garner

On July 17th, 2014 Eric Garner died in New York City. He was selling single cigarettes from packs. Suddenly a NYPD officer put him in a chokehold while he was being arrested.

He said "I can't breathe" relating to George Floyd which relates to me because I have asthma and sometimes I can’t even get a breath, I know how it feels.

It was made illegal in New York for police to do a chokehold in 1993.

This story takes me to when my mom was picking me and my brother up from school and  she was harassed by the police. This has happened before, she was assaulted by the police. Every time my innocent mom sees the cops she has anxiety. When cops are outside my mom couldn’t even walk out or my mom would have flashbacks. 

As a black child I was scared because “they don't see you as a child they see you as a man” said by moma Tiny. Corrupt cops are really an issue. Last week a guy from my neighborhood almost died, but thankfully the whole community was there and were screaming “don't shoot’. He had his hands up and was doing everything they were telling him to. But then again the cops just wanted to shoot for fun and this isn't nothing new for the cops, this is a routine.

Eric was a peaceful man with a different hustle and way of “gettin it.” He was married and his friends would call him the neighborhood peace maker. He was the father of six children, had three grandchildren, and at the time of his death had a 3-month-old child. 

In conclusion the only way a black man will not get killed is by fitting in and being a gentrifier and we still get killed to this day. Peace and love to Garner's family. If you were raised in the hood and black you would feel this pain. Good bye.

Image: Tamir Rice

Police terror is a nightmare for us young black males who have to live in fear and watch our back from the police because we don't want to die young. I know Tamir Rice was a good kid who did nothing to other people, but his life was taken too soon. 

This could  have been me because I had guns pulled on me and the police considered kids as adults, not as kids. Tamir was only a 12 year old child, and the officer who killed him is Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year old white dude. 

Tamir Rice was a 12-year old African American boy who was at a park Cudell recreation center. Tamir Rice was holding a replica toy gun, but the police didn’t know that. 

Tamir Rice died November 22, 2014. When Tamir had the gun in his hand at the park the police just pulled up and saw Tamir with this toy gun but the police didn’t know the gun was a toy and is the reason why the police shouldn't have guns.  

Tamir Rice was  only a child when this incident took place and he died at 3:30pm. Back then white officer’s considered kids as grown men just like now in 2020. When they see our colored faces they think we look like men and this is a sad story to hear because another black boy lost his life to a cop. 

Sudden knocking in the middle of the night on the battered door of the taped together 1970 Ford Station Wagon. Lights shining through the window, so much harsher than usual against the darkness that blanketed the area where the car was parked. A scared daughter and her weary mother, tired after many of these nights, most of them ending with one of them in jail, after being nearly beaten. 

“You know you can't be parked here this late,” the officers always say, and as the daughter looks out the window she sees the relieved faces of the neighbor with the phone in her hand, having called 911 on them as many have before. These kinds of situations happen all of the time in America, but one very similar was the killing of Luis Gongora Pat, a homeless man who had a 311 call as his execution. 

As I grew up, my mother made sure I know all of these stories, telling them to me as another would tell bedtime stories to their child. She told me them, not as someone who heard about them from a friend of a friend, or someone who has seen that happen on the street and quickly walked away, but as someone who lived through them. My mother told me the story of Luis Gongora Pat, a homeless man in San Francisco who was in the same position she was, who was shot and killed by police for the simple act of playing with a soccer ball on the street where a gentrifier lived. One 311 call was all it took, and one 311, or 911 call could have been all it took to kill my mother or grandmother. She was the daughter, and her and my grandmother were homeless. This is my legacy, and these are my stories.

I haven't come into contact with the police as much as my mother and grandmother have. This is due to substantially better housing situations, (meaning we actually had one, until we were evicted, and the cycle continued) my white privilege and my financial stability, made it so that breaking the law is an actual choice for me. I don’t have to steal cheese from Walgreens to feed my family, I don't have to park my car overnight secretly because I have a house to go back to. I am able to remain safe and lawful because of the privilege that comes with having a house and a life that isn't filled with constant terror and stress. However, I have had to move from house to house, not knowing when me and my mother will end up on the streets. I have lived in poverty, and it is only because of the landless peoples solution, Homefulness, that I currently have a stable living situation. Those moves and those sudden evictions were not just that. Those bred a fear within me about housing and financial stability that continue to plague my decision making and the way I see the world.

In our family, when the police are called, there is fear. We know exactly what the state organization that is meant to protect us will resort to if the situation gets a little hairy. Calling the police in our family means that as a child, my mother would be taken away because a neighbor called on my grandmother saying she saw a teenager living in her car with her mother. The police would be called because my mother and grandmother were sitting on the sidewalk for too long in too nice of a neighborhood. The police would be called because my mother at 14 didnt have a permit to sell painted clothing that would make sure they ate that week. “Little murders of the soul” as my grandmother would call them, were mostly caused when the police or other state agencies came knocking at your door. 

It is illegal to be homeless in America, and police love to prey on those people living on the streets because their job allows them to. Being houseless means by the standards of the United States you deserve to be treated like garbage. As a class-based system, our government needs to have people of higher class looking down on the lower class, and that goes all the way down the ladder. Houseless people need to be stepped on by everyone else, and that oppression ends most of the time in the death of the houseless person, which to the general public is not seen like a big deal. Police are used to arresting and brutalizing hosueless people on a daily basis, and my mother and grandmother very well might have ended up just like Luis Gongora if one wrong move was made. 

[the word BLAST with a brown fist in a yellow star] 

“When Mister George Floyd was murdered the citizens of this community could no longer hide behind the progressive platforms of white people and their privilege and power, which all have misled voters into thinking that people here in the City of Olympia were less oppressive and less harmful to the Black men, women, adults, and children who call Olympia home. Simply making a public statement is not enough. You know better and must do better than that,” said Talauna Reed from a podium, her words directed to white Olympia Mayor, Cheryl Selby (who was not present) at a BLAST Demands Press Conference on July 31, 2020.

 Taluana Reed continued, “You further acknowledged some of the systemic injustice and oppression by stating that after the racist shootings in 2015 of Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, two young black Brothers, the City of Olympia began addressing the systemic racism within its Police Department and that the Olympia Police Department has made changes to right its wrongs. At face value, we thank you for finally publicly stating that the Olympia Police Department employs racist police officers. But saying that these young men, Andre Thompson and Bryson Chaplin, were victims of police brutality is not enough. These young Black men survived a near assassination by police officer Ryan Donald. Though you now publicly compare his racist actions to that of the racist murder of George Floyd, it is time to make reparations. Fire officer Ryan Donald. Quit depriving Black people in this community a safe place to live and exist by upholding white supremacy and denying families impacted by police violence Justice.”

[Members of BLAST at the July 31st Press Conference, Talauna Reed at the podium with Ty Brown and Krystafer Brown to her left, Lanessa Inman to Talauna’s right.]

 The KNEW BETTER, DO BETTER demand has been echoed by Black organizers and Revolutionaries from podiums, platforms, Panthers, Poets, politicians, painters, Poverty Scholars for centuries, from The People who experience the pandemic of anti-Black racism.  Today it is demanded by organizers of BLAST. The People who experience the oppression are the ones who have the Power of solutions.   

 “Black Leaders in Action and Solidarity in Thurston County (BLAST) is a grassroots group, made up of long-standing Black community advocates in Thurston County who seek to elevate Black voices, promote respect for marginalized people, dismantle systemic racism, educate our people, and create a safe and trusting community for all,” said Lanessa Inman from the podium on the lawn of the Olympia YWCA.  

 BLAST collectively authored a number of DEMANDS that when put into action, are solutions needed for liberating all oppressed people.  The 7 demands were sent to the Olympia City Council on June 23, 2020, and the complete lack of response led to the Press Conference on July 30th.

 “After a month of foot-dragging and performative allyship through town hall meetings, BLAST demands to see results,” said Lanessa Inman.

 “The ongoing systemic violence and murder of Black people across the country - George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony Mcdade, Riah Milton, Layleen Polanco are not isolated from the violence experienced by Black people locally - Charleena Lyles, Yvonne McDonald, Andre Thompson, Bryson Chaplin, and more. We are utilizing this moment, both as a reminder of what we’ve been urging elected candidates and officials to do for years, long before the current resurgence of the Black Lives Movement, as well as a call out of the performative and ineffective actions of the city in the face of nationwide unrest,” said Lanessa.

 Here are the BLAST demands (in short form) from that 9 page detailed document

• Divest from the Criminal Justice Apparatus & Invest in Community Based Solutions

• Towards Divesting: Immediately Adopt and Align with The Federal Justice in Policing Act of 2020 In 116th Congressional Session and WA I-940 Initiative/RCW -Chap.9A.16 - Defense

• Remove School Resource Officers from K-12 Education.

• Justice for Yvonne McDonald & Transparency/Accountability from the City of Olympia and OPD

• Enact a Good Cause Eviction Bill and Non Possessory Bill

• Investigate and Hold Accountable Armed Militia & Collusion

• Employ an independent Reconciliation and Oversight Board Made Up of Marginalized People

The demands were accompanied by this statement:

 “Although the blood of our murdered Black brothers, sisters, and siblings does not lie on your hands, the future of our well-being and safety does. The decision you will make from this moment forward WILL define your time in office. We have laid forth our list of demands, which quite frankly are the same demands our people have been asking for since the 60’s. At this point we have had enough, and demand this change to come now so our future generations will not have to fight the same fight our ancestors have fought, and the one we must fight yet again today. Although we applaud your open letter to the public (regards to the militia), that is nowhere near a step in the direction we need you to be going. The safety and well-being of Black people in our community continues to be at great risk. We implore you to take action accordingly.” -BLAST

 Detail of a Demand:

 “Employ a Reconciliation and Oversight Board Made Up of Marginalized People: BLAST is skeptical of the City of Olympia’s proposed Human Rights Commision, as historically these efforts have only served to further bureaucratic and educational racism that keeps our most vulnerable populations from being a part of these crucial conversations. We believe that our community would be better served by a Reconciliation and Oversight Board that is headed by black, brown, indeginous and latinx minorities with intersections in the LGBTQ+, disabled, shelterless and neuro-divergent communities.” 

[Krystafer Brown at the podium with Lanessa Inman, Talauna Reed to their left and Ty Brown to her right.]

 Krystafer Brown had a message for electeds:

 “You have the power to enact these demands, and doing so would help to protect the most vulnerable in this community. We call on elected and administrative officials to use their positions of power and privilege to create the change the community and Nation demand to see in the world. We wish to remind them that Change starts at home.”

 Krystafer also spoke this message directed to community members: 

 We need you to support the work of Black leaders and organizers by showing up at events, redistributing your finances, taking action, holding our electeds and people in power accountable, and breaking white silence. Be accomplices as well as allies. Call out white supremacy and acts of racism every time. Continue to support the work of local justice struggles. Support Justice for Yvonne McDonald by contacting city of Olympia and Thurston County officials along with the attorney general and Jay Inslee, and demand that the Murder of Black loved one Yvonne McDonald become a priority.”

 Enacting a Good Cause Eviction Bill and Non Possessory Bill was demanded by BLAST and renters rights organizer Ty Brown.

 “We are in a housing crisis. This crisis is impacting low-income, folks with disabilities, folks of color, single parents, immigrants, folks with criminal records, and women hardest. Because of the lack of protections, renters are made vulnerable to predatory landlords, financial exploitation, displacement and homelessness. This issue was here before Covid-19 and conditions for renters have only worsened since. 

 It is inevitably clear our community is a major risk for a mass eviction crisis. Agencies across the state are seeking Statewide and Federal assistance but funds are exhausted as quickly as they come. 

 Without protection from eviction for nonpayment of rent during the pandemic, payment plans will neither help those who have fallen so far behind that they cannot catch up nor help those who still do not have any means to pay rent.”

[Ty Brown fields questions from the press, behind him is Talauna Reed and Krystafer Brown.]

 “Prohibiting evictions on debt accrued during this period is something city council members have clear legal powers to pass. A renter would still owe the underlying debt, but a failure to pay would not result in an eviction. Making the debt non- possessory. Good cause eviction policies so Landlords will not be able to have the discretion to put someone out of their home because of discrimination against race, ethnicity, disabilities, negative interactions, maintenance complaints. Without you taking action, the burden will fall not only on renters, but their landlords too; not only on civil legal aid, but on our justice system too.” 

 “By way of enacting such policies, you can keep families stably housed, while preventing our social services and judicial systems from being overburdened and stretched even more thin. We demand that you address housing with seriousness and sincerity and respect to those most impacted everyday. Treat housing as a human right. Provide your community with basic needs. Passing policies that do not perpetuate the systemic injustice we as a community of color have been facing since the beginning.” -Ty Brown and BLAST

 When Talauna Reed (Niece of Yvonne McDonald and matriarch of her Aunt’s Justice Struggle) was at the microphone, she directly addressed Mayor Selby and was countering Selby’s own press conference on June 6, 2020:

 “Since August 7th 2018 the murder of Yvonne McDonald has yet to be properly investigated and her killers are walking free. Also in your statement, mayor Selby, when asked by a member of the press whether or not the city plans on looking into the death of Ms. McDonald, you stated  City officials were waiting for this community to come forward. Mayor, remember the light is still glaring on you and this council and people everywhere can see and hear the thousands of citizens who show up to support Justice for Yvonne McDonald. Not only have citizens come forward, they stand behind her family shouting her name as they demand that an independent investigation by a state or federal agency take place to shed light on the truth and investigate those responsible for the original investigation, for covering up the truth, and to hold all perpetrators accountable. This includes the same Olympia Police Department that you stated was systemically racist. 

 “The call to action you made for people from historically marginalized communities to join you at the table was answered. We, BLAST, invited you and several other leaders and elected officials to a meeting to state our demands and you, the mayor of Olympia, were not present. You told one reporter it was because you were out of town. It was a zoom meeting; stop making excuses. There has been very little progress made during this nation's crisis due to the constant devaluing of Black lives. And yes, while progress moves at the Speed Of Trust like you stated on June 5th, when would you like to start building that trust? Mayor Selby, it is time you start  keeping that promise you made to the child you spoke of in your press conference. We implore you to do better as mayor. Justice can only be properly served if those who have been impacted, Black, Indiginous, and impoverished families, have been acknowledged by the oppressor and reparations made. If this Council takes the issues brought to light by the Death of George Floyd seriously and there is due diligence, then you all will meet our demands.”

 The message and demands from BLAST to electeds and community members, Mayor Selby and white Olympia, are a gift and an opportunity that we knew better, and must do better.

 For more information about BLAST please visit https://blasthurston.org/

 The press conference can be seen in it’s entirety on the Justice for Yvonne McDonald facebook page.  Link https://www.facebook.com/JusticeForYvonneMcDonald

[photos by Stevi Kamphaus, BLAST artwork courtesy BLAST] 

_____________________________________

Lisa Ganser is a white, Disabled, Queer, non binary/Trans, Poverty Scholar living in Olympia, WA tending to Squaxin, Chehalis and Nisqually land. They are a sidewalk chalker, a copwatcher, a dog walker and the daughter of a Momma named Sam. 

Dear Honorable Judge, 

CC District Attorney Jeff Rosen 

August 10, 2020

My name is Kimo Umu, a youth poverty skola from Decolonize Academy, and I pray that you release Joey Villareal from custody. He is the prime example of many incarcerated people who have been in the system for long periods of time who made a choice with integrity to turn his life around. From being portrayed as a villain, he flipped the script and became the role model for not only for other incarcerated folks but for the many future troubled youth to know that there's more to life than the streets. Jose Villareal is an innocent man and is very important to the health of many communities especially the Raza. I can say this because I am that troubled youth and he gives me the chance to see light.

Sincerely, Kimo Umu 

From: Ziair hughes 

Dear Honorable Judge 

Cc  District Attorney Jeff Rosen 

August 10, 2020 

I am a 11 year old Decolonize student and I pray that you release Joey Villareal from custody. Mr. Villarreal was always kind. No matter what he always would tell the truth. Mr Villarreal never sugar coded and he is a teacher to the community. Mr Villarreal did artwork for the Decolonewz newspaper for my school. Mr Villarreal read my book and said “I like what you're doing, keep up the good work.” He is a Grandfather, Uncle, Son and last but not least a mentor. Mr. Villarreal has had a criminal record but everyone deserves redemption. And he needs to come back home so he could teach the community

Sincerely,

 Ziair Hughes

August 8, 2020

From: Tiburcio Garcia

Dear Honorable Judge,                                                                              

I am a youth scholar at Decolonize Academy. I am a 16 year old, formerly homeless latino youth who has been a friend and student of Mr. Villareal while he was incarcerated and since he has been released. Mr. Villareal has made sure to talk to me and pay attention to my questions I had as a mixed race brown youth growing up in Oakland and San Francisco, and never failed to give perfect advice.  while after being released, he did an amazing piece of artwork and gave it to me as a gift for sending him letters when he was incarcerated. He has also helped me further as an artist, as one of my passions is painting. I look at the painting he made for me, propped it up in my room and It inspires me to pursue what I am passionate about and not give up, because although Mr. Villareal was incarcerated; he still drew beautiful art pieces. Also, Mr. Villareal is an inspiration to all young people of color who have struggled with poverty and racism which is why I'm praying that the court will release Mr. Villareal back to the community.   

Sincerely,

TIburcio Garcia                                         

*** Update: JV was finally released from the kkkage on Sept 24th with an INSANE ransom of $250,000.- tune in for a virtual press conference sponsored by POOR Magazine Tuesday, Sept 29th at 10am - Zoom Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/9432352233- Meeting ID: 943 235 2233

The HisStory-

Joey Villareal, a true community leader, teacher, author and what we at POOR Magazine call, a Poverty scholar is back in a kage.(jail ) being held on No Bail in Santa Clara County Jail.

He is a victim of the racist, classist "Gang Enhancements" and the extremely racist  "Injustice System that ensnares every poor person it gets.

Joey, like myself and many of us at POOR Magazine came from a life in struggle and poverty. He was incarcerated for much of his life and while incarcerated reached out to become a participant in our Notes from the Inside project, sending articles and original art while still incarcerated with the goal of teaching and sharing his struggle with other young men and women of color in poverty/struggle so as to change, transform and heal their journey. He did all of that and more. He was and is such a powerful voice that he helped countless youth while still inside, choose another direction and see clearly their worth.

As soon as Joey was was “free”, he was on the ground running, launching educational media projects, teaching youth and adults in poverty and creating art and building movements for further change and transformation of his community and the world. 

He has done so much powerful educational , media, radio  and community work with POOR Magazine, which is a poor and indigenous people-led media, arts, education and healing-based non-profit organization that my mother and i launched when I was a child and we were houseless. Our entire organization isl in grief without his voice. 

On the personal side, Joey changed my life. As a formerly incarcerated very low-income single parent, the struggle to stay grounded is very real. The struggle to stay inspired and on track is absolutely key and Joey has helped both me and my sun when we were in extreme depression due to the realities that poor families struggle with everyday. 

In addition, Joey was and is an amazing artist and was one of the illustrators of this powerful childrens book about poverty and homelessness The Hardworker/el Trabajador Fuerte that we released last year. 

Due to the system lies and twisting of the truth we are not able speak on any details on the case but suffice to say he was teaching, mentoring healing like he does every Sunday when he was re-caged.

Please help him be free by sending letters to DA Jeff Rosen demanding he be released back to into the community so he can continue his powerFULL work creating Po Peoples Radio #FreeAztlan, his books, his teaching and all the work Joey does all the time, because his healing work is so needed.