Story Archives

by Ed Willard/PNN Community Journalist and POWER Member

This is the story of how the POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) union, a union made up of poor people, homeless people, working class people, in coalition with several other grassroots organizations of poor and homeless folks took the first big step in fighting back against forces in this city that would like to take from us the things that are rightfully ours. Shortly I'll tell that story, but first...................

On a grim, rainy Saturday in November, 2001, scarcely two months since the events of 9/11, I hunched my shoulders against the cold as I pushed through the wind, walking down 9th St. toward the Quaker Meeting Hall, the site of POWERs monthly membership meeting. The bad weather provided a fitting backdrop for my queasy inner feelings of discomfort at the way things were going in the world. President Bush had declared "permanent war" and the bombs were already dropping on Afghanistan, killing thousands of innocent people in a dubious search for "terrorists". On the home front, the Patriot Act had become law, granting the police broad powers to lock people up without due process of law. I felt like I was living in a police state with the mainstream media screaming about the need for revenge, increased surveillance at home and the worst part................ most everyone seemed to be buying the lies, a fact driven home again and again by all the nationalist flag waving. Lies were everywhere and I wanted to see what my friends down at POWER had to say about things

By the end of that meeting I felt a bit better. Folks at POWER were worried too but everyone there was committed to getting at the truth and saw that as the first step in changing things. And then POWER folks had the attitude that the only way to change this system was for us to get together................. to unite to fight against repression and exploitation........................... to fight against the lies. When I walked back into the cold rain on that Saturday afternoon I had a spark warming my insides..................... an idea that went like this: Sometimes things have to get REALLY bad before they can get better. In the big picture things had been bad. Poor and working class folks worldwide had always been exploited by the system of imperialism and capitalism, the same system that waged unjust wars in the name of "democracy" and "freedom", more lies to cover up the greed of the huge international corporations. The thought I had then that was becoming a fire in my belly was that just maybe the forces of repression had gone to far this time.....

OK, that was nearly a year ago and my idea is being proved in a way that I hadn't anticipated then. I got back involved with POWER at a high level like in the old days when I was on GA and now we're in a local fight against Proposition N, a fight against Gavin Newsom, who introduced the initiative for vote on the November ballot and a fight against the forces who fund and support it. Essentially the Proposition seeks to slash folks GA benefits, cutting them from $320.00 down to 59 dollars per month. And Newsom tours the city making speeches about how all GA recipients are drug addicts ad that Prop N will "relieve" people of their drug money and provide services, (housing and drug treatment), instead. One lie on top of another, as anyone who reads the language of the bill will see: NO SUCH SERVICES ARE ACTUALLY PROVIDED FOR IN IT. In fact, if Prop N becomes law, it is sure to increase homelessness.

But just the way I believe that, in the big picture, the forces of exploitation have gone too far, I see that locally Newsom and his supporters have crossed the line. A month ago the POWER union and it's allies organized an action against Prop N and folks showed up in numbers to demonstrate and picket Newsom's fund-raiser. Since then anger against Newsom and Nasty N has been growing. POWER staff and steering committee members investigated and found out who the main funders of Prop N were. Turns out the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, (GGRA), was among the biggest funders. The association includes dozens of restaurants spread over the Bay Area and it's president is Kathleen Harrington, owner of Harringtons Bar and Grill. So an action was organized against Harringtons and it was set for 6PM on Friday evening.

Well, I knew that POWER members were angry about Prop N, but still I was unprepared for the scene at the POWER office last Friday at 4:30 where we had agreed folks would meet up. When I walked through the door it was into a packed office, dozens upon dozens of members, lots of them on GA, mad as hell and ready to fight! After some final preparations people left the office in waves getting on the Market St Busses with a prearranged meeting spot at a park a couple of blocks from the restaurant. From there folks marched down to Harringtons. I arrived a few minutes later in my car with food for the demonstrators and signs for everyone to carry. POWERs allies in the Coalition Against An Increase In Homelessness had arranged for a sound system to be brought down there, (actually the whole set up was a very cool, rolling PA system that hooked up to a bicycle), as well as several staff writers and media organizers from POOR Magazine who were calling for a boycott of the GGRA, members of Gays against Newsom, folk from Coalition on Homelessness and many more joined in a very loud protest.

"You can buy Gavin Newsom". Cindy Weisner from POWER was leading the chants in a loud, booming voice.

And the response from the crowd, "But you can't buy the people!"

"You can buy an expensive burger".

"But you can't buy the people!".

"You can buy the politicians".

"But you can't buy the people!".

There were 80 to 100 of us there and we had formed a picket line circling in an oval around the PA system in front of the restaurant. Actually the place is a sidewalk cafe with metal tables set up in front and some yuppies were sitting at these looking a curious mixture of confused and entertained, (after all we were putting on a good show). In front of the entrance was planted a uniformed security guard and a couple of guys in suits. (I later learned that one of these was Mike Farrah, Newsom's aide who had been sent there as a spy. Steve Williams got him into a conversation and asked him what he thought of Prop N and though he slithered out of any direct response, Steve said it was clear he wasn't any too happy with Newsom's brainchild.)

We had organized a delegation to go into the restaurant to present Kathleen Harrington with a list of demands, (basically boiling down to one demand, that being to STOP FUNDING PROP N!). When the delegation tried to walk through the front door they were muscled to a halt by the security guard and the suits. Later Garth Ferguson told me that he got hopping mad when the guard started to become physical with him. When it became clear that the delegation wasn't going to be let in, we started to chant, "Let them in............. let them in!" Harrington never did face us but finally sent her manager out, he listened politely to POWERs spokesperson, Teresa Guerra as she presented the demands and even signed our document, promising to give it to Harrington.

To wind things up Cindy POWER gave a rousing speech about how POWER wouldn't sit still while politicians, backed by the GGRA and other downtown big business interests attempted to steal GA money from homeless folks. About how that GA stipend was money we worked for. About how the politicians and lawmakers needed to start working on real solutions to homelessness like affordable housing for all and job programs paying a living wage.

Cindy's voice over that PA system was plenty loud but it seemed even louder because it was the truth and as I looked around at the faces of all the POWER members there I knew they felt it too, the volume and the power of the truth. And just then, I thought I could see the beginnings of the movement that I had first envisioned on that cold, rainy Saturday back in November, a movement that would start small but that would grow into something big, something big enough to challenge the lies and injustices all over the world.

by PNN staff

This is the story of three young girls

All inadvertantly seeking and believing in

Education

Assimilation

Repudiation

And recrimination

Myobe from west africa

Leticia from Southern Mexico

and

Lisa from southern california

Great students- all- drinking knowledge like water

They dreamed of books and words – numbers and places-

history and scholarship wafted through their brains- moments of learning were like
music and chocolate

To an unquenchable palate

They all heard the laughter –

Some knew… some didn’t

Myobe – it is time for you to join the rest of the family in the fields – you cannot go to
school anymore – her eyes stole away for dry tears –her mind wrapped around grain
and heat – survival and disappointment

She began to hear the laughter

Days turned into months – months into years

flys circled her parched lips –

and still she heard the laughter

the laughter emanating from mouths and hearts of other children not stealing time away
from struggle – and survival.. death and life

Leticia it is time you must help your mother at the jugo stand in el ciudad– you cannot
go to school anymore – there is no more time

It was always known

she only flirted with books and teachers – playgrounds and words-

this day was always known and yet

and yet…

her eyes opened and closed slowly trying to run back to the life before the sentence
was said – it was only a moment ago and yet it was forever

and then she heard the laughter

seasons and days – hours and years

and still she heard the laughter

IT was under her window in the morning – sailing through a smog filled sky in a so-
cal painting– giggles erupting into guffaws – unabridged – unweilding unstoppable
laughs of children who learned without end – who tasted the books and time – who
ate large feasts of history and snacked on words – who dreamt of futures filled with
more words and more time and more time…and

Lisa why are you late? You can’t be late again or you will be expelled

Her teachers hurled at her and then again

Lisa if you are absent another day I will mark you down

Lisa you can’t go to school anymore – you need to help me out

And the words didn’t register and the time wasn’t clear and the moment was never
spoken really but it was and Then she heard the laughter –

Of children not weighted with survival walking no running, to school to take part in
more…..

Education

Assimiliation

Repudiation and recrimination

And she wanted it so bad that she could not feel anything anymore except desire

Years became days and days became minutes and then suddenly –

the desire was changed…

responsibility for family over self felt right…

Phds were earned in poverty 101 – a liberal arts degree in survival, a Master’s
Degrees in pain a thesis in resistance until they no longer wanted…

Education

Assimilation

Repudiation

And recrimination

And only

Regeneration

And revelation

to community survival and..

identification

by PNN staff

Last week the POOR staff honored Youth in the media intern Isabel Estrada’s departure to Columbia Univ with a poem, statement or song and community dinner;

This gathering was part of POOR’s Intentional Community Project which is a key part of surviving poverty and racism

by PNN staff

My dentist was born in Cuba

Dr. Chang

A Chinese Guy

(Chorus) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

I am deathly

Afraid of Dr. chang

(Chorus) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

I was supposed to see Dr. chang Friday –

I wished someone else could go to Dr. chang in my place

(Chorus) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

to get a root canal

because a filling came out along with a piece

of tooth

(Chorus) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

See,

I did not see

Dr. Chang

(Chorus- Very LOUD) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

On Friday

Born in Cuba

Because I was afraid

Dr. Chang would

Do something to

My tooth

(Chorus- Softly) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

that would cause me to not do the send-off for

Isabel

Who unlike Dr. Chang

(Chorus-LOUDLY) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

wants to live in Cuba

and has just returned from Cuba

unlike..

(Chorus-LOUDLY) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…
(Chorus-Softly) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

Men;(Chorus-LOUDLY) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

Women: (Chorus-LOUDLY) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

Men and Women; (Chorus-softly) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

All together (Chorus- louder) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

All together (Chorus-louder still) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

All together (Chorus-Softly) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

All together ((Chorus –still softer) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

All together ((Chorus- a Whisper) Dr. Chang/Dr Armando Chang…

by Joe B.

To you lovely one.

For luminous Isabell Estrada.


May you be helped and protected by angels,


Succeed in all your endeavors.


May your Best Destiny always


be known and controlled by you.



By Joseph Bolden

by Joe B./PNN staff writer

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 Power People Organized To Win Employment Rights (POWER) held their 5th year anniversary celebration, which also acted as a POWER-ful fundraiser for the cause, held in the Women’s building at 18th and Valencia in the Mission.

From its start in 1998 to 2002 Power has pissed off many a politician; the rich and powerful embarrassed and made to give a damn about poor folks and growing problems that are created from rabid business models’ blockhead, bloodless, bottom line ethic.

In their five short years members from all walks of life have joined including a few individuals with money, in control of their own hearts and minds.

POOR's editor, a former welfare recipient and myself are both former POWER members and alumni, knowing the truth the people of POWER speak.

I had lunch earlier and would not have eaten, until I saw long lines forming for the excellent meal they provided to the capacity crowd of over a 150 people.

There were powerful speeches by Steve Williams, Cindy Weisner and more. There was also a very-corporate-ish slide show of P O W E R’s history, written and narrated by Ed Willard and Libby, as well as a well-done financial requisition by Van Jones and others.

Poetry, music, dancing and freedom fighter award presentations were among the many parts of a party to celebrate the ultimate power poor folks have if they band together in the common cause of need of resistance and survival.

I am glad as a humble office manager and columnist of P O O R, to be part of this cavalcade of brave, courageous, savvy men, women and children in this honored organization.

When people have worked so hard, so long, for almost no recognition, at first laughed at and then taken seriously; well its long past due for a party.

POWER made up for it this night before heading back to work to give those so called powers-that-be more headaches by exposing their crass, greed obsessed money grubbing ways of cheating honest working people out of their hard earned pay.

As long as there are fools bleeding silver, gold or green out of their asses, POWER will ride their backs and minds like the ax-swinging fighters they are,
like barbarians gone berserk.

Happy 5th P O W E R, may you pick up more speed, members, and honors as the years roll on. Bye.

by Joe B.

Two days from America’s waking Technicolor 3 dimensional nightmare reality caught on tape, two day for family, friends of all nations to again morn citizen’s and rescuers as the two World Trade Centers Twin Towers fell.

The War on Terrorism is still on, in anger, frustration, fear, and revenge "The Patriot Act" quickly passes into law as "Home Land Security" is formed.

at airports a bomber with hidden explosives in his shoes, and a child’s brightly colored toy gun in confiscated as "possible weapon"

Also native and foreign born American’s are profiled as always forgetting their own home grown terrorists like the KKK, extreme Evangelical Right; those that bomb abortion clinics, or target doctor’s, nurses, and staff in clinics on a popular if not infamous web-sites.

I just they’re not on an invisible site bouncing signals off servers and satellites to stay hidden yet remaining open for that deadly business.

We find that indeed in the 2000 elections there may have been purposeful disenfranchisement of more than 90,000 og Florida’s overwhelmingly of African decent, most of whom would’ve voted democratic.

More and more American’s of all nationalities are speaking out, showing proof of America’s peculiar "back to the good old days" syndrome and how it effects today’s generation.

The good is more of us are learning about the world and that we are just a part even as a "Super Power."

We too can still be wounded by others willing to give their lives to hurt us badly."

I’m waiting for all the new and old patriotic songs, on VHS, DVD, CD’s, video’s and/or books to be on sale.

I can buy them all at once.

Between the Enron scandal Vice Pres. Cheney and President G. W. Bush Jr’s involvement’s in it and Bush’s hard-on for continued bombing of Iraq.

Whew, what a year of tears ‘n’ fears as all of us redefine what being an American is.

Besides parades, parties, waving Old Glory and honoring both the dead and stars and stripes what else will mark this national day of both morning and celebration?

My choice is after going to church to visit the South of Market’s Museum of Modern Art and again be silent and as I did in church hold or let go tears in prayer for the many souls lost on September, 11th 2001.

I wore no patriotic shirt last year to show my patriotism maybe now I can do it because inside and out beside being a African descended I’m an American, no matter my personal love-hate with this country has been in nightmare and pleasant dreams I will where the symbol on my shirt on 9/11 and 12/02.

But don’t expect a radical change in my views because above all American’s are freedom lovers not just for themselves but for all people’s as all freedom nations naturally are.

I’d like to visit other countries, live abroad for a time expanding my knowledge of the world maybe have duel citizen- ship.

Someday I may and I’d like to be alive and healthy for another two centuries to see how America has changed and what September, 11th 2001 did to alter her/him.

That’s another thing Amber’s do dream, scheme seemingly impossible things but with our many people’s hunger what is seemingly impossible takes a bit longer we’ve been doing impossible things for over 200 and some odd years and will continue to do so or until a huge asteroid hits our world…

Even that is preventable if we can destroy it, mine it, make it an observation base, or a floating platform for training astronauts.

Other nations did dream those dreams, have fabulous thoughts but American’s might be the only folks crazy, bold, gutsy, and maybe smart enough to actually do it.

How has this year in America affected us and other people from foreign lands visiting or in their own lands?

And how all of us of every nation changed?

Don’t know what I’ll be saying on 9/11/2002 but I know what I’ll be doing. To everyone celebrate, pray, be aware of living, being alive, it all can go in a blink of an eye… Bye

Please send donations to


Poor Magazine or in C/0

Ask Joe at 255 9th St.
Street, San Francisco, CA.

94103 USA

For Joe only my snail

mail:
PO Box 1230 #645

Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102

415- 626-4405

Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by PNN staff

When I am at my best I make people laugh until they cry. I am the
first up to dance and I drag all the rest of my friends out onto
the floor with me. I decide in an instant where we will go next,
and pick the perfect place. I am the one who calls all my friends
and spills interesting stories into their ears. At these times I
live with a winning smile on my face. At these times I'm all my
friends' best friend.

But some days I have to drag myself out of bed in order to get up.
These are times when nothing I put on looks good. I'm even
embarrassed to go dancing because I'm afraid of awkward dance
movements that look as though I'm trying to get the music off my
body instead of dance to it. These are times when I don't call
anyone and feel alienated when no one calls me. This is when I
feel that I don't have anything to say to anybody, when looking at
the paintings on my walls becomes oppressive because they seem to
be caving in on me to prevent me from leaving my room. At these
times the only thing I have the courage to do is lie on the
Bishop's Bed in my living room and watch the movie Woman On The
Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown over and over again. These times
welcome Bessie Smith's scratchy voice as she sings, "It's mighty
strange that nobody knows you when you're down and out."

It does seem that many friends are only around when there is fun to
be had, but once their help is needed, they stay away so as not to
be sucked into my depression. However in my case, my extended
family, whether they are related to me or not are the ones that act
as my friends when I feel that I have none.

When I'm depressed, I can always depend on my editor Dee's voice
leaving ten minute messages on my voicemail telling me to get it
together and get my next story started. I can depend on my
mother, my roomate and their friends converging after their days at
work. Even though I sulk and say I don‚t feel like talking they
refuse to close their mouths and continue probing me with questions
and trying to make me laugh. They fill the house with warm smells
of lamb curry or lemon and garlic salmon. They pass out the wine
and pile on top of the bishop's bed, with me squeezed in the
middle, to drown out the movie with their talk about men, Turkey,
museums, Cuba, politics, pending trips, food and on and on and on
until my bad mood finally gives up.

by PNN staff

Isabella, She is off to see the Wizards!

The Wizards of Columbia "U"

Where minds are formed

Intelligence not scorned

Creativity born

She is Four kinds of Cool, Our fair Isabella!

Compassionate

Competitive

Considerate & Courageous

Secure in this knowledge

She is travelling Columbia "U"

Yeah, with a Capital "C"

Yeah she is a Cutie

She helps people who are in a "Sea of Despair’


GOT a whole Lot of Wisdom up there!

She writes with an excitable Curve!

She got a whole lot of Nerve!

So congratulations with a Capital "C"

It’s a Celebration

Fare "de" Well!

Fair Isabell

A. Faye Hicks

August 2002

by Michael Vizcarra/PoorNewsNetwork Community Journalist

Redlining. I had never heard of this term before I received this
assignment to write an article regarding the practice of redlining in San
Francisco and the Bay Area, even though as a Filipino-American, my community has experienced this type of economic profiling for many years.

Broadly defined, racial redlining is the direct refusal of banks and lenders to lend money in minority and low-income neighborhoods. It is the practice where banks and lenders figuratively draw a red line around communities of color and low-income neighborhoods and refuse to make loans available inside the red lined area. Redlining is practiced by all banks and is against the law.

The Community Reinvestment Act was enacted by Congress in 1977
and is intended to “encourage depository institutions to help meet the
credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and
moderate income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound banking
operations.” (www.ffiec.gov/cra/history.htm
) But even after searching through
this website I did not find any details as to the criteria the four federal
bank supervisory agencies, the Office of the Controller of the Currency
(OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Office of
Thrift Supervision, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) used to
rate banks in their database.//www.ffiec.gov/cra/history.htm>

What is disturbing to note is the ratings these agencies gave to
banks here in the Bay Area regarding their fair lending practices as
described by the Community Reinvestment Act to low- and moderate-income
families. Bank of America, who the city of San Francisco banks with,
received an “Outstanding” rating, despite Bank of America’s horrific lending
practices. Bay View Bank received a “Satisfactory” rating. This data might
look good on paper and to the casual observer, but this does not reflect
what is really happening to everyday people of low-income who are in the
day-to-day struggle. For us, the reality is much different. Also, there
are ways for banks to get around the parameters set by the CRA. While Bay
View Bank may have received that “Satisfactory” rating, in reality they have
a redlining policy that does not allow them to make business loans of less
than $500,000. In low-income neighborhoods, asking for a loan of that
amount would be ridiculous. Most stores and businesses in these
neighborhoods would not be able to borrow that much money nor would they
want to.

Banks can also relocate to another part of a city as a way to get around the
CRA. A few years ago, Wells Fargo Bank moved out of their Bay View/Hunter’s
Point location taking with it 20 million dollars in assets to an affluent
downtown location. The main depositors were senior citizens and homeowners
in the Bay View/Hunter’s Point district with a steady flow of income that
not only relied on the bank’s location for its convenience but also for its
personal/human customer service. But this did not matter to Wells Fargo
Bank. As a result of this move, Safeway, on Williams off 3rd Street, also
moved out, which left a void in the community. This leads to a problem
called “retail leakage” where very few of the industries within a
neighborhood consist of retail good. Thus, basic needs such as food,
supplies and clothing are not available since businesses go elsewhere. But
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Bay View Bank are indifferent to
merchants. Small businesses in low-income neighborhoods cannot sustain
themselves when banks practice racial redlining.

Such is the case with Willie Ratcliff and the San Francisco Bay View
Newspaper, a Bay View Bank customer for many years. He and his newspaper
were declined a line of credit for $50,000 to cover expenses while they
waited for money from advertisements. He was given a $5,000 overdraft
protection while the paperwork went through. But nothing happened for
several months. The San Francisco Bay View Newspaper almost went out of
business two weeks ago had it not been for donations and private loans from
the community. Bay View Bank did not do anything for its community or for
Willie Ratcliff. All they did was raise his overdraft protection another
$5,000. That’s all.

I spoke with Kevin Williams, Senior Contracts Compliance Officer
for Human Rights Committee for the city of San Francisco. Mr. Williams is
not new to racial redlining. He has worked many years for the city fighting
for equal lending practices for minorities and people of low-income. “San
Francisco is diverse, cultural, and has many different lifestyles, but it is
very conservative in regards to lending,” he says, “and poor neighborhoods
are the targets.” There are three criteria you must meet known as the 3
C’s: credit, collateral and character. Most small businesses
(predominantly African-Americans) are denied loans because they are
considered a high risk for not meeting all three criteria. One negative
credit “glitch” will get you denied, Williams says.

Williams was also a co-founder of the former Greenlining Coalition. This
coalition, made up of a diverse group of people (African-Americans, Latinos,
Asians, Women’s groups), worked to agitate banks into recognizing their
illegal practice of racial redlining. Their grassroots tactics of
protesting made a difference and had some small success. They would file
documents opposing bank mergers and raise issues of minority inclusion in
lending decisions (since there were no people of color who had
decision-making power within the banking system; the people who had that
power were predominantly white males). Some banks agreed to “broad”
greenlining agreements in which they had to make a long-term commitment to
invest in minority communities. But in reality, the money would not reach
the small businesses that needed the chance.

Racial redlining has a deeper effect than just affecting businesses. It
contributes to joblessness and to homelessness. Redlining stops businesses
owned by people of color from hiring employees. Thus, young folks do not get
the chance to work. Also, in direct economic terms, racial redlining reduces
housing finance options for borrowers in minority neighborhoods and weakens
competition in the mortgage market. This often results in higher mortgage
costs and less favorable mortgage loan terms. More subtly, racial redlining
discourages minorities from pursuing home ownership opportunities and in the
broadest sense further entrenches the debilitating sociological effects of
racial discrimination
(plsc.uark.edu/plsc3253/Classnotes/racial_redlining.htm).

This is the first in a PNN/Bayview series on racial redlining. If you have
experienced or have a story you would like to report regarding racial redlining please contact us at POOR Magazine (415) 863-6306