Story Archives

by Picture the Homeless

by R. G. Hall, Jr./PNN Prison Correspondent

When I turned on my TV on September 11, 2001, I couldn't believe what I saw, when the TV screen focused the picture, and a devastated Federal building, smoke, and flames encompassed my vision.
It was bad enough to witness a jet stuck in the top of one of the World Trade Center Towers. The horror was further magnified by the sight of a second jet coming out of nowhere and crashing head-on into the second tower. Suddenly, I reflected on the TV images of madness during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and came to the sorrowful revelation, how ignorantly destructive some people turn out to be without conscious.

I watched one skycrapper collapse, then the other. I was stunned in utter awe. Then I realized that a whole bunch of people were in the inside and around the outside of the crumbling catastrophe. It was later reported that was indeed the case. Hours later I was hurled for yet another moment of disbelief when a choir of politicians on the steps of the Nation’s Capitol appeared on the TV screen singing "God Bless America." Just when you thought they say the damndest things, they proved they can sing such oddities as well. I'm sure if all the innocent people holding on for dear life, under unimaginable tons of concrete and steel, heat and thick smoke, had heard them, they would have seriously wondered where their empathy was. One thing that God knew, and all the victims and public servants at the scene knew ... This was hardly a blessing. Nor was it something to sing about.

As the days and weeks passed, like most Americans, I awaited the chaotic plot to thicken. The national media and press made damn sure everybody stayed glued to their seats in utter paranoia. As they assured us all, "Stay tuned for the next terrorist attack..." From sea to shining sea, they had no clue from where it would come. Then out of nowhere, Anthrax hit the screen like "the snowstorm of the century." Just when folks thought they were far from harms way, they looked at their mailbox and ate crow.

Before you knew it America went about its normal business... in a way, and the Major League play-offs started up again. And then the World Series was under way. They sure said it right: "Life would not be the same as we knew it."
It all started on a Major League baseball field. Neither God, American History, or anyone living on the planet today have ever read about or witnessed Americans so patriotic. Ultra -patriotic at that. You don't see that many American flags on the 4th of July, or Flag Day. A whole lot of folks brandished a flag for the first time in their lives.

If only they had been hit with super-duper patriotism a few a few months earlier, they could have bought a flag, or stars and stripes apparel for a cheaper price. The symbolic American bald eagle wasn't the only feathered friend sensationalizing the prompted hoopla. A whole lot of free enterprising vultures were flying around, too. And you can bet your jacked-up dollars they are not on the endangered species list.

We also discovered that tragedy does in fact bring folks together. It also gets the heat off people for awhile. Congressman Gary Condit, Rudy Guliani, and certain brutality mongering New York policemen will attest to that. Suddenly because all hell broke out and countless innocent people came up on the dirty end of the stick, others became stars as they basked in the heavenly glory of moments of fame and horror.

Nevertheless, they should all reap our utmost respect and highest regard for so valiantly rising to the occasion, like true champions of humanity for others. I am sure that no member of the New York City Fire or Police Departments had a publicity stunt brainstorm and went out of their way to make sure countless heads wore department caps for all to see. It just happened, and without question, they all deserved to be remembered and shown the utmost acknowledgment and appreciation.

But somewhere in the midst of the sensationalized ceremonies, the new threats and war developments, many people were buried under more than tons of rubble. They were overshadowed by the direction the media’s cameras turned, by the direction the journalist’s pens rolled. They are the everyday John and Jane Doe citizens who, like New York City public servants, were injured or killed. Many of these brave souls, some untrained, some uniformed, valiantly rose to the occasion and risked their lives to save others.

It would have been nice to hear one of them sing the national anthem during the World Series. It would have been truly noble if only a few people wore a cap in remembrance and in honor of them. Hopefully, someone in the near future will unveil a statue in their honor and memory. Most important, people need to start recognizing the suffering and efforts of everyone, without exception, with equal momentum. It seems that the whole root of the evil is that we too often demonstrate selective empathy for our fellow human beings. This is the root of racism, injustice, and disunity. And without a doubt, it is the motivating seed of criminality, and terrorism as well. The most effective national and global security starts with how we think of, acknowledge and treat each other ... without exception.

by Staff Writer

Today is the second anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 tragedy when everything changed in America.
I for one don’t want to dwell on it too much.

Twin Towers falling in New York, by two hijacked planes turned into fiery flying coffins for all on board those two doomed flights.

The Pentagon bombed by a third plain and if not for a few brave passenger’s knowing their fate The White House could’ve been hit.

All I can think at this time is a similar thing happened in that I was up early on an assignment going to a federal building for a report on something.

I’m told all the fed buildings are closed because of what happened in New York near or around 6 am. I race
home and see two planes slamming into the twin towers over and over like a movie.

said something about its like watching a Speilberg (as in Steven the mega movie magic guy, sadly all of this is real!

Today two years later I over slept and didn’t get to see the live memorials around the country only reruns so it does look like I’m staying true to honoring what happened who know in 2004, 6 or 7 I’ll be somewhere else missing the whole thing in various new ways like skipping that day all together or being in another country.

I pretty well don’t like what Select ‘Prez will use this to cement his 87 billion dollar for further expenditures on this now no war.

It came to me why don’t he get bulletproof kevlar flack jackets, boost G.I. pay, and bolster up surviving wounded veterans who will be returning from this conflict and free medical and educational opportunities for those who want it?

I don’t know maybe part the 87 billion could help rebuild neighborhood schools, get more updated book, PC’s, pay teacher, nurses, and other health related service workers more for they do;it just seems that would start to help both the soldiers here and abroad while spreading excess monies to others areas needed.

I don’t know if people read what I say or care but it don’t matter I said my say and that it, that’s all.

Any Woman, Man, Various S/O’s(Sexual Orientations) email me at askjoe@poormagazine.org.

Copy it, I usually don’t place it down like this and women, in certain chat rooms, other places also, thank you again for your gentle kindness it is deeply appreciated.

Donations C/0 Poor Magazine

1448 Pine Street #205

San Francisco, CA 94103

Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

by KEN MOSHESH

‘“HEY LOOK AT THIS!” OUTFLYS THE FIRST SALVO FROM THE HERE-TO-FORE INVISIBLE NEIGHBOR OCCUPYING THE SEAT DIRECTLY BEHIND ME AS OUR SMOOTH SONOROUS FLYING LIMO SIGNALS THE LINGERING DESCENT TOWARDS THE WAITING STATION BELOW.

CAVALCADING HORIZONTALLY BY SMILE-STAINED PORT -OVALS, STREAM DAZZLING ARRAYS OF VERTICAL ILLUMINATED SNOW FLOWS EERILY TOPPING CHOCOLATED PRECIPITATIONS, DELICIOUSLY INTERSPERSED WITH ASCENDING MARSHMELLOWNG CLOUDS ALL WHIPPED TO PERFECTION AMIDST JETTISONING SOUNDS UNCURTAINING MUTED BRIGHTS AND TWINKLING LIGHTS DIMMING THROUGH THE NIGHTTIME DIN... WINKING BACK...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

THUS I BEGIN MY TRIP BACK EAST VIA AMERICA WEST AIRLINES
HOWEVER, THE RETURN TRIP WAS ANYTHING BUT TASTEFUL.....

FIRST OFF, I WAS ALMOST STRANDED IN AN AIRPORT (3000 MILES AWAY FROM HOME) WHEN AN AIRLINE TICKET COUNTER AGENT TOLD ME I COULDN’T BOARD THE PLANE BECAUSE A RESERVATION PERSON’S CONFIRMED CHANGE COULD NOT BE DONE AT THIS AIRPORT.

I HAD TO CALL RELATIVES WHO HAD JUST LEFT THE AIRPORT TO TAKE ME BACK TO A NEIGHBORING AIRPORT WHERE THE CHANGED DEPARTURE DATE COULD BE AFFECTED.

MY FAMILY AND I CHALKED IT ALL UP TO HOLIDAY VOLUME ETC., AND THE SEASONS SPIRITS STILL RULED THE DAY.

AT THE NEW AIRPORT, BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (BWI), MY FIRST SCHEDULED FLIGHT OUT (DEC 25) WAS DELAYED, THEN INTERRUPTED BY ANOTHER SCHEDULED FLIGHT, DELAYED AGAIN AND FINALLY CANCELLED LATE INTO THE EVENING.

ACCORDINGLY, AS IS CUSTOMARY THE AIRLINES HOUSED US IN A LOCAL MOTEL OVERNIGHT, TO BEGIN DEPARTURE PROCEDURES AGAIN THE NEXT DAY.

THE NEXT DAY I WAS GIVEN RESERVATIONS ON A ONE O’CLOCK FLIGHT IN THE CABIN SECTION AND A STANDBY POSITION IN FIRST CLASS, FOR WHICH I WAS TICKETED.

WHEN THIS FLIGHT TURNED OUT TO BE OVERBOOKED, COMPANY PERSONNEL SUGGESTED THAT I VOLUNTEER MY TICKETS ON THIS FLIGHT
IN RETURN FOR A FUTURE TRAVEL VOUCHER CONSIDERATION AND HAVE A BETTER CHANCE AT FLYING FIRST CLASS ON THE FIVE O’CLOCK FLIGHT.

STILL FULL OF THE HOLIDAY WARMTH AND SPIRIT ENGENDERED BY MY VISITS, AND NOTICING THE NUMBER OF FAMILIES TRYING TO GET ALL OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS ON THE SAME FLIGHT, IT SOUNDED GOOD TO ME.

UNFORTUNATELY THE FIVE O’CLOCK FLIGHT NOT ONLY HAD NO FIRST-CLASS SEATS, IT WAS ALSO EVENTUALLY CANCELLED.

WE FORM THE USUAL, HOLIDAY, TIME CONSUMING, SINGLE FILE, LONG LINE FOR REBOOKING. FEELINGS GET FRAYED, AND ALTERCATIONS ERUPT. (I HELP COOL DOWN ONE PARTICULARLY POINTED ALTERCATION INVOLVING AN ELDERLY, DISABLED, BLACK MALE, AIRLINE PERSONNEL, AND OTHER WAITING PASSENGERS THAT ULTIMATELY INVOLVES THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES).

AS THE LINE CREEPS UP TO MY PLACE, THE TICKET AGENT WHO IS IN THE PROCESS OF REBOOKING ME IS ORDERED (BY ONE OF THE AGENTS INVOLVED IN THE PREVIOUS POINTED ALTERCATION WITH THE BLACK MALE) TO STOP THE PROCESS AND BEGIN ONBOARDING THE PASSENGERS FOR THE NEXT SCHEDULED FLIGHT TO OUR DESTINATION, WHOSE DEPARTURE TIME HAD ARRIVED DURING OUR DELAY.

MY AGENT APOLOGETICALLY ASSURES ME AS SHE STOPS THE REBOOKING PROCESS THAT IF I STAY RIGHT NEXT TO THE COUNTER (THERE IS ALSO A BLACK FEMALE WITH ME SEEKING TO REBOOK),SHE WILL CONTINUE MY REBOOKING PROCESS AS SOON AS SHE FINISHES ONBOARDING THE NEWLY ARRIVED FLIGHT PASSENGERS.

FINALLY THE NEW PLANE BUSINESS IS COMPLETE, AND WE AGAIN BEGIN MY REBOOKING PROCESS. THE SAME AGENT WHO HALTED PROCEEDINGS BEFORE AGAIN INTERRUPTS WITH; “WE ARE NOW GOING TO FORM TWO LINES FOR REBOOKING”

SHE TELLS US TO FOLLOW HER TO THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTER BEHIND ANOTHER BLACK MALE TO START ANOTHER LINE. PORTIONS OF THE LINE ORIGINALLY BEHIND THE THREE OF US MOVE FORWARD TO WHERE WE WERE JUST ESCORTED FROM, TO BEGIN THE SECOND LINE.

THIS SAME TICKET AGENT REITERATES THAT IN SPITE OF WHAT I WAS JUST TOLD BY MY AGENT IN HER PRESENCE, SHE WILL NOT RESUME REBOOKING ME AND MY FRIEND, BUT WILL NOW SERVICE TWO OTHER LINES.

THE OTHER BLACK MALE WHO IS AT THE HEAD OF OUR NEW LINE (I’M SECOND, AND MY AFRICAN FEMALE FRIEND IS THIRD), WHO WAS THIRD IN THE ORIGINAL LINE, SUGGESTS THAT THE NEW AGENT IN CHARGE SHOULD, AT THE LEAST, TAKE ONE PERSON ALTERNATELY FROM EACH LINE.

TO MAKE A LONG WORSENING STORY SHORT, AFTER BOARDING SOME PASSENGERS WHO ARRIVED FROM PHILADELPHIA ON “OUR” FLIGHT, THE NEW AGENT REBOOKS AND BOARDS AT LEAST THREE CONSECUTIVE PEOPLE FROM THE OTHER LINE (NONE OF WHOM WERE BLACK) SAYING; “WE WILL COME BACK TO BOARD SOME MORE PEOPLE”.

HOWEVER, WHEN THE AIRLINE PERSONNEL RETURN FROM THE PLANE TO OUR BOARDING AREA, THEY REPORT THE PLANE HAS LEFT.

ALL INQUIRING COMMENTS ARE STIFLED BY A CALL FOR ATTENTION BY OUR NEW AGENT WHO ANNOUNCED THAT WE WILL ALL BE HOUSED OVERNIGHT AGAIN IN THE LOCAL MOTEL AND A SPECIAL FERRY PLANE WILL BE CREATED (SINCE ALL OTHER FLIGHTS WERE FULL) AND MADE READY FOR US AT 3PM THE NEXT DAY. WE WERE THEN TOLD TO MAKE RESERVATIONS FOR THE 3 O’CLOCK FLIGHT “AROUND” EIGHT IN THE MORNING.

SO BACK TO THE LOCAL MOTEL MANY OF US GO. OTHERS ARRIVE LATER. THE THOUGHT OF MY COAST TO COAST DEPARTURE (WHICH BEGAN ON THE 25TH OF DECEMBER) PUT ME TO SLEEP QUICKLY THAT NIGHT, AND AWAKENED ME WITH A SMILE THE NEXT DAY.

WHEN I CALL TO MAKE RESERVATIONS AROUND 7:30AM AS PREVIOUSLY INSTRUCTED ON THE MORNING OF THE 27TH OF DECEMBER, I AM TOLD THAT A FLIGHT LEFT AT 6:30 A.M. THAT MORNING. I AM ALSO TOLD THAT THERE ARE NO OTHER FLIGHTS AVAILABLE FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS... AND, THERE IS NO 3 O’CLOCK FLIGHT!

“ NO WHAT??!!!”

AT THIS POINT I CONTACT THE OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT OF AMERICA WEST. I EXPLAIN MY SITUATION TO A VERY CORDIAL, EFFICIENT ADMINISTRATOR WHO FINDS TWO POSSIBLE FIRST CLASS SEATS DEPARTING LATER IN THE DAY, AND MAKES RESERVATIONS FOR ME ON A 6:40 P.M, FLIGHT OUT OF BWI.

SHE ALSO TELLS ME HER RECORDS SHOW ME AS BEING ON THE 6:30A.M FLIGHT EARLIER THAT MORNING!

WE BOTH REMARKED THAT IF THAT WERE IN FACT THE CASE (A DEPARTURE FROM THE STATED 3 0’CLOCK FLIGHT) IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE AND PROFESSIONAL IF THEY WOULD HAVE INFORMED ALL OF THE OTHER PASSENGERS AND MYSELF SENT TO THEIR DESIGNATED MOTEL WITH THE ERRONEOUS 3 O’CLOCK FERRY PLANE INFORMATION, RATHER THAN DISSEMINATE FALSE DEPARTURE INFORMATION TO INQUIRING RELATIVES.

I THANKED HER FOR HER HELP, AND SHE THANKED ME FOR MY PATIENCE.

WHEN I GOT TO THE TICKET COUNTER AT BWI TO SECURE MY GATE PASS FOR MY NEWLY CREATED RESERVATION, I WENT TO THE FIRST CLASS SECTION OF THE COUNTER AS INSTRUCTED.

AFTER BEING IGNORED BY AGENTS WHO ARE “TOO BUSY” OR “ON BREAKS” ETC. FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES, ONE OF THE MANY PERSONS IN MY LINE UTTERS A TEARSE , “DAMN, FIRST CLASS DOESN”T MEAN S***AT THIS AIRLINE”.

HOWEVER, THE AGENT WHO IS SERVICING THE CABIN LINE, NOTICING MY CONTINUING DILEMMAS, COMES OVER FROM HER NON-FIRST CLASS STATION TO GIVE ME MY GATE/BOARDING PASS, AND HER CORDIAL APOLOGY.

AT THE BOARDING GATE (SINCE I’M VERY EARLY), NOW FAMILIAR, PERSONNEL SUGGEST I DISCUSS THE 6:30AM, 3 O’CLOCK SITUATION WITH A SUPERVISOR BACK AT THE TICKET COUNTER.

BACK AT THE TICKET COUNTER A PASSING SUPERVISOR IS FLAGGED DOWN TO SPEAK TO ME BY AN AIRLINES EMPLOYEE. CALMLY I EXPLAIN TO HER OCCURANCES LEADING UP TO MY NEW RESERVATIONS.

SUDDENLY, THE SUPERVISOR SNATCHES THE AIRLINES ISSUED ENVELOPE CONTAINING MY NOW EXTENSIVE TICKETING PAPERS (ALSO CONTAINING A PHONE NUMBER OF PERSONS TO CORRESPOND WITH AT A LATER DATE) THROWS IT AWAY, WHILE SAYING, “ YOU NEED A NEW ONE”.

DURING THIS TIRADE SHE MAKES COMMENTS LIKE, “ WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO”. “WE CAN’T TAKE CARE OF EVERY ONE” . SHE TAKES OUT THE “VOLUNTEER” TRAVEL VOUCHER FROM MY TICKETS ISSUED ON THE 25TH, HOLDS IT UP, AND SAYS, “ WE ALREADY GAVE YOU THIS, SO WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ELSE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED!”

SHE REITERATES” YOU DIDN’T PAY THE ITINERARY CHANGE FEE!” I AGAIN POINT OUT THE PERSON WHO I PAID IT TOO. SHE THEN CHANGES TO,” YOU MADE THE 6:30AM RESERVATION ! “ HER VOICE BECOMING LOUDER WITH EACH PROVOCATIVE FALSE ACCUSATION, AS THOUGH SHE RESENTED (AMONG OTHER THINGS) MY GOING OVER HER HEAD AND SECURING RESERVATIONS AFTER BEING TOLD EARLY THAT MORNING THAT NONE WERE POSSIBLE.

SHE AGAIN TELLS ME I SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE 6:30AM FLIGHT IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION TO THE 3PM ”OFFICIAL” INFORMATION I WAS GIVEN THE EVENING BEFORE.

REMEMBERING THE INSTIGATIONS, QUICKNESS, AND DURATION OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN THE ALTERCATION INVOLVING THE BLACK MALE ON THE EVENING OF THE 26TH, I RESPONDED TO HER CONTINUOUS ATTEMPTS TO GOAD ME INTO AN ARGUMENT THAT COULD RESEMBLE THAT SITUATION AND POSSIBLY CAUSE ME TO MISS MY NEW FLIGHT BY SUGGESTING CALMLY, “ THAT SHE CHECK HER RECORDS.”

WALKING BACK TO THE WELCOMED SANITY OF MY BOARDING GATE, I SMILED WRYLY AT THE ANCIENT RACIAL/CLASS NIGHTMARE THAT I WAS DETERMINED NOT TO LET MAR THE BEAUTY OF THE HOLIDAY VISIT, MY PERCEPTION OF THE PROGRESS MADE IN RACE/CLASS RELATIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS NEW MILLENIUM, AS WELL AS THE OVERALL CORDIAL PROFESSIONALISM OF THIS AIRLINES.

LATER AS WE ARE PREPARING TO DEPART ON THE 6:40PM FLIGHT THE SAME SUPERVISOR ASKS FOR “VOLUNTEERS” WILLING TO GIVE UP THEIR SEATS FOR “FUTURE TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS.”
AS HER VOLUNTEER PROCURING SMILE PAUSES AT MY EXPERIENCED EYES FOR THE SECOND TIME, THE DAY’S RECENT EVENTS LEAVE ME WHISTLING DIXIE TO MYSELF AT EVEN THE THOUGHT OF “VOLUNTEERING” TO GO THROUGH THIS AGAIN.

I DIDN’T KNOW I WASN’T SUPPOSE TO GO FIRST CLASS!

by Leroy Moore

This is my third article on the increase of racial attacks, police
brutality and senseless crimes toward disabled people of color and I wonder,
am I talking to myself?! I ask this because racial attacks and brutality
continue to happen to disabled people of color, but no one is picking
up the mantle and voicing this issue. This issue hit home for me last year on my birthday, November 2nd. I was standing in a San Francisco Muni bus, and suddenly an African-American man pushed his way to the front of the bus, yelling. He grabbed my shoulder bag, dragging me to the steps of the bus.

I grabbed the inside pole, fearing that if he pulled me off the bus, it
would be all over for me. Fortunately my bag broke, and he fell off the bus, leaving my bag and my self inside.

As I sat down, tears came to my eyes. The man's girlfriend had been the only one who tried to stop him, and not one other person on the bus spoke up. The driver closed the doors and continued on her route.

I escaped that attack with only two deep scars on my neck, a broken bag and a new outlook on how I am an easy target because of my physical disability. I also thought about my disabled brothers and sisters who are not alive today because of racial attacks and police brutality.

Recently I've been keeping a list of incidents of police brutality, racial attacks and other senseless crimes towards disabled people of color, and every day this list grows like a weed.

The latest case brought tears to my eyes when I read it in the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper. A 13-year-old African-American boy with cerebral palsy was approached by two white teens during class. They asked him if they could tie him up. The boy firmly said,"No," but the two teens proceeded to tie him up and then placed a noose around his neck,and joked about tossing the rope over a pipe to hang him. What is even more shocking is the teacher witnessed the thirty-minute ordeal and did nothing. The boy's mother was quoted as saying "If my son was white, everybody in Texas would know about his case." This comment tells me that when you add race to the picture, it becomes even harder to one's your case.

My list of crimes towards disabled people of color is so hard to research because, until recently, the disability was not reported when a person with a disability was a victim of a hate crime. Many leaders in the disability rights movement refuse to talk about this issue, especially when it comes to disabled people of color, and so it goes unnoticed.

Almost five years ago Kathi Wolf authored an article entitled "Bashing the Disabled:the New Hate Crime" in The Progressive. The article reported that the Hate Crimes Statistics Act was amended to include bias on disability. The FBI has collected data about disability-based hate crimes, as well as those based on race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. In this same article, Mr. James Nolan, a coordinator of the FBI hate-crimes programs, said that his department will work with disability groups to understand and identify hate crimes, and will also work with police departments and law-enforcement agencies to make them more knowledgable and sensitive about disability issues.

Now, five years later, we have many documented cases of police brutality and hate-crimes against disabled people of color. For example a recently published book
entitled "Stolen Lives, Killed by Law Enforcement" recorded many cases
of police brutality and hate-crimes among disabled people of color. The
following are some cases:

1997: shooting and killing of Kelvin Robinson, a Black deaf man who was shot three times in the back by LAPD and bled to death because the officers refused to call the paramedics.

April of 1998: an Ethiopian man in Maryland was shot and killed by officer George Byce, a White cop with a history of racism and hostility toward mentally impaired people.

Last year Magaret L. Mitchell, a Black homeless woman with mental illness, was shot to death by a LA police officer.

Many people are surprised when I tell them that James Byrd, the Black man who was dragged to his death behind a truck in Texas, had a disability!

According to an LA Times study last year, since 1994 LA police officers have shot 37 individuals who had some symptoms of mental illness. Many were people of color. The study also found that LA police recruits receive only four hours of training on how to deal with people with mental illness.

On June 21, 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article entitled "Senate Okay's Broader Hate Laws." The Senate voted on June 20th to strengthen federal hate-crime laws by extending civil rights era protections, for the first time, to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation and disabilities, but it's hurdle is in the House. If the Bill becomes law, it will provide the first major expansion of hate-crime law since the original bill that was passed in 1968, which covers only crimes involving race, color, religion or national origin.

Although this expansion will include people with disabilities, the real voices behind this Bill are gays and lesbians, not people with disabilities. The same article mentioned James Bryd, but did not identify his disability as part of his identity, and the article also talked about Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who died after being beaten into a coma and tied to a fence. The article did not identify a disabled victim of a hate-crime.

I have many questions regarding the inclusion of people with disabilities when it comes to hate-crimes, but one sticks out to me. Why are the feds giving local authorities grants to help them deal with these crimes? A
great portion of these crimes among disabled people of color are at the hands of local authorities, i.e. law enforcement, the INS and prison guards!

Have disabled organizations voiced their opinion and advocated on hate crimes since 1995? My research on this issue has mainly come my way via mainstream media and the ethnic press, not through disabled organizations.

With the silence of the disabled community and local authorities inadequately training themselves on hate-crimes dealing with people with disabilities, no wonder things are worse since the Kathi Wolfe article of 1995. Reva Trevino, of the Los Angeles County of Commission on Human Relations Network Against Hate Crimes, was quoted in the Wolfe article. He said that while it is well organized on other concerns, the disability community hasn't yet organized around the issue of hate-crimes.

It is the year 2000 and Trevino's words are still true. Five years later
and still nobody is reacting while many of our disabled brothers and sisters continue to be under attack, and many were forced to leave this earth.

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.,

Founder of Disability Advocates of
Minorities Org.,DAMO

(415) 695-0153

by Tiny AKA Lisa Gray-Garcia

by Tiny/PNN

"It's the snow that appears late at night on our TV... it can reach across oceans and mountain ranges and beyond...it has the potential to provide a channel of access to many independent broadcasters, which is why the big telecoms are trying to seize it,"explained Eloise Rose Lee, from Media Alliance based in California, one of five people speaking at "The Future of the Internet" panel at the National Conference of Media Reform held in Minneapolis last week

The walls of the conference hall auditorium were white and tall and engulfed the humans who sat in rapt attendance. I sat quietly, in panel after panel, afraid to move or make too much noise as tech-embedded words like, White space, Bit Torrent, Net Neutrality and Blogosphere floated past my ears. They bounced off the walls and knocked up against my head like thick steel rods, knocking my fingers off their tenuous hold onto the edges of the digital ravine, which seemed to grow sharper and taller with each obtuse reference to a technology I had never had the time, privilege or the access to learn in all of my 38 years of poverty and homelessness.

"I want to make sure that everyone knows about the plans by corporations for the take over of white space", panelist Jef Perlman, from Public Knowledge, concluded an extensive talk on the current and future plans of corporate take-over of the internet, the recent acts of censorship of our cel phones and text messages by telecoms like Verizon and the very strange phenonena of "white space"

Perhaps this "white space" was also a metaphor for the conference, the internet in general and/or much of the race and class divide that exists between poor people of color and rich, mostly white people in power locally and globally? I mused.

The panel was one of over 50 panels and workshops on issues ranging from New journalism to Faith based Organizing and Media Reform, as well as films, presentations and plenaries featuring former corporate media stars Bill Moyers and Dan Rather and progressive media producer Amy Goodman from Democracy Now.

"I am asking for 10 ambassadors for OneWebDay," Susan Crawford, another panelist spoke about her personal crusade to create one day a year that was dedicated to the preservation of a free and open internet, which this year will fall on September 22. Ms Crawford was hoping to engender as much excitement as there is for Earth day with the mission to create, maintain, advance and promote a global day to celebrate online life.

"In this way we will insure access for low-access people who are lacking skills, and access to the internet," She concluded her presentation on why the internet should remain open and free and then added the strangely codified term of "low-access people" to her list of beneficiaries.

This reference sounded strange to my ears and yet oddly similar to several other terms used in this conference for poor folks of color like myself. When she was finished the other members of this and other panels at the conference followed suit with references like the "so-called digital divide", "unskilled people" and "people on the margins of the net"

Once again I mused, would we all be members of the "low-access" tribe if we had more of that handy "white space"?

"We use the internet to do research, to reach across the channels of access and without it being free and accessible, poor people like us would never be able to get this information and help to make change for our communities," Gloria Esteva, one of the reporteras from POOR Magazine was suddenly speaking in Spanish on the big screen into the minions of Auditorium One, breaking through the malaise of euphemisms about people in poverty that were being thrown about with such ease . Quite unexpectantly for me, Eloise Rose-Lee who was the sole woman of color on the panel, centered her presentation on the future of the internet, access and in some ways for me, the real notion of media reform itself on the powerful voices of poverty scholars from POOR Magazine's Voces De Inmigrantes en Resistancia Project, a new project that teaches POOR's brand of revolutionary journalism to migrant workers in poverty, who spoke at an FCC hearing last month at Stanford University in support of keeping a free and open internet or "Net Neutrality"

Her presentation loosened the imaginary chains that had begun to tear into my hands, I was free to question what I believed to be real media reform. True enough, the words of Bill Moyers were important, the "radical" actions of Dan Rather were crucial, but so was the words and actions of poor youth, adults and elders of color across the globe who everyday are systematically silenced and excluded from so many channels of access on the internet, in racist , classist school system , in the criminal Injustice system, in the access to resources and beyond.

So if we were to truly achieve media reform as this conference stated was its goals, it must be with the inclusion of the Dan Rathers and the Gloria Esteva's, with the Amy Goodman's and the poor youth of color from West Oakland and Spanish Harlem.

I know that the conference organizers were beginning to try to practice some inclusion with panels on Hip Hop Activism and Grassroots Lobbying but they have a long way to go.

As I left the Minneapolis conference hall I reflected on the strange concept of "white space" and how it actually has the potential to provide real access to poor people of color locally and globally – which sounded oddly like some kind of 21st century digital reparations and how it was potentially being ripped out of our hands by possible corporate take-over before we even have the chance to benefit from it.

Which made me wonder if there will be any white space left for me..

After this conference was over and I began to write this piece I heard from my fellow fighters for media and economic justice at the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) that after multiple attempts to get some coverage from media, independent and mainstream alike on the fact that the PPEHRC are being threatened with arrest if they march at the republican National Convention which will also be held in Minneapolis in August, they were forced to do an action on the Media Reform Conference in an attempt to get some real media reform and media justice. As well, I heard that there was an impromptu appearance by my comrades in media justice JR and Chairman Fred Hampton from the P.O.C.C.

Lisa Gray-Garcia aka Tiny, poet, poverty scholar, revolutionary journalist and lecturer is the founder and executive director of POOR Magazine/ PoorNewsNEtwork (PNN), the author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing up homeless in America, mama of tiburcio and the daughter of Dee.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

The Governor caused letters (one of several sent about various services to folks with fixed limited incomes) to be sent to folks with in-home support services, a deliberately confusing communication which will cause many to lose those services. It will create major hardships for them and home-care workers (independents and/or relatives).

Folks should call (Consumer Rights For Community Living) 415-703-0286 or (Bay Area Legal Aid) 415-982-1300 to get help understanding what to do if it is necessary to ask for a Fair Hearing. If you are a social worker or case manager at a SRO or senior housing, confused about the letter, you too can call those numbers. Anyone who wants to help Consumer Rights For Community Living as a volunteer can call
415-703-0286.

Fair Hearing appeals will help folks using in-home support hang on to 2 or more months of services. There are only 5 “Administrative Law Judges” for the entire state of California, the more appeals the slower the process—which is a good thing! This should be done immediately, Fair Hearings can only be requested 10 days after the post mark is stomped on the letter, a nasty little piece of the Governator’s “practical joke”.

Social workers and case managers with clients living in SRO hotels that still don’t have in-hotel mail box service from our “wonderful” U.S. “Probable” Postal Service—which still has hostility in its semi-corporate heart for SRO tenants—should energetically encourage them to check their mail EVERY DAY (which seems like every day…) that they are in the Governator’s crosshairs.

If the client is vision-impaired or doesn’t speak English or Spanish, this, too, must be mentioned in the Fair Hearing request because the letter is limited to those languages and was printed in very very very fine print that even challenged the eye sight of the writer facilitator of this article, and the trans-gender staff writer for POOR Magazine, sitting nearby kibitzing on the writing of this article.

Due to the limited number of “judges”, this elder scholar believes that if virtually everyone affected by this situation appeals the process it will take 9 months to slog through the case load, which will create a lovely end-run effect around the Governator’s horrible strategy.

by PNN Staff

PNN Courtwatch staff was disturbed by the recent story of a very poor mother accused of felony child neglect by Idaho county officials;

Excerpts from Associated Press Article

May 31, 2001

…SANDPOINT, Idaho – Six children, believed to be armed, refused to leave their rural home and instead released a pack of dogs on sheriff’s deputies who had arrested their mother, authorities said…

…Officers were concerned yesterday about a boy who had taken a leadership role at the house.

“It’s not worth a confrontation with a 15-year-old who believes he is protecting his family,” Jarvis said. “We are trying to talk him down.”

The children, ages 8 to 16, would not respond to calls from social workers or law enforcement officers. They were being told over a loudspeaker they would be fed, housed and taken to see their mother if they would come out, Jarvis said…

…“We know there are six children in there and guns in the house,” Jarvis said. “The kids are trained to use the guns.”

More than 20 dogs have been running free at the scene, he said.

“They hunt; they pack like wild animals,” he said. “They took down a moose a little while ago.”

The home lacks power, water and heat. The children essentially have been caring for themselves for the past year, Jarvis said.

The incident was set off by Tuesday’s arrest of the children’s mother, JoAnn McGuckin, on a warrant charging felony injury to a child. Authorities believe McGuckin, 46, is mentally ill. Her husband, Michael McGuckin, died May 12 after a long illness.

Deputies lured JoAnn McGuckin from the house with grocery money Tuesday. She was taken into custody after going to a store with a deputy who had brought the cash.
Deputies returned to the home to get the children and put them in state custody, but one of the boys ran to the house and yelled, “Get the guns,” Jarvis said. He said the children then let the dogs out of the basement…

Excerpts from New York Times Article

June 2, 2001

…[the family] had been living in squalor in recent months as their father lay dying in the house and their mother sank into what the authorities describe as paranoid schizophrenia…

…The mother, JoAnn McGuckin, 45, has a court-appointed lawyer representing her. In the meantime, a lawyer from Sandpoint, Edgar Steele, who represented the Aryan Nations in a trial last fall that resulted in a $6.3 million judgement against the northern Idaho white-supremacist group and its leader, Richard Butler, said he had been authorized by JoAnn McGuckin to speak out.

“These kids are not neglected, abused or unloved,” Steele said. “These are poor people. Their real crime is to happen to be poor and living in north Idaho.” Steele blamed the county government for having moved in to arrest the mother and for “harassing” them by pressing her to pay off a tax bill that had mounted to at least $5,400 over the years.

The McGuckins’ financial troubles date back as far as the 1980s, when the local sawmill owned by McGuckin went out of business. The family went into bankruptcy as well.

“This is a very close-knit family whose greatest nightmare for years has been that the government would come and take their property and take their kids,” Steele said. “And that’s what’s happening.”...

PNN Response to McGuckin Family

To: JoAnn McGuckin- PERSONAL

From: Dee @ POOR Magazine

Re: YOU ARE A MOTHER!!!YOU ARE A HERO - DUE TO THE SIMPLE FACT THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN LIFE TO SEVEN CHILDREN!!!!!

Dear Ms. McGuckin,

This is our second letter to you and your children. What we are hearing in the news about you is making us very angry.

The news reports say your children have been taken into “protective custody” and given to three families.

The children are reported to be healthy and well – yet you are in jail for “felony neglect” – FOR WHAT??

We as a society are guilty of “felony neglect”- we and your neighbors, townspeople, and the judge that handed down that charge.

Where was that judge and townfolk when you were struggling to care for your ill husband through his death while also caring for your children?

They are guilty of “neglect” for not supporting you emotionally when your husband passed away.

That judge is not aware of your struggle or is just a plain misogynist.

You are a mother!! Instead of a criminal sentence you should be receiving an award .

Seven children- all healthy; they are all so desirable that three families want them.

Well, how did those kids become so desirable – because you and your husband- and especially you- cared for them and raised them well.

County Social Workers in child Protective Services for the most part are trained to blame the parents and remove the children from the parents.

All you need is some time, crisis counseling and an in-home care provider and some financial support – food stamps, rent subsidy, an attorney that believes in parental rights and perhaps some training in computer technology or another field that you might like and could make some money in to help support your family.

You have been carrying a very heavy burden and yet your children are all well. I am a social worker and a therapist and I am giving you advice based on much experience in my field (and personal experience as a mother ).

DO NOT BE A VICTIM HERE- DO NOT LET THESE PEOPLE BLAME YOU– DON”T LET THEM BREAK UP YOUR FAMLY!!!

THEY want to care about your children- what about you?? They need to care for you!!

You are the children’s mother!! You gave life to 7 children. You are a HERO!!! These people did not help you in your struggle to raise these children, in your crisis, in your pain- they are the only ones guilty of felony neglect!!

Respectfully,

Dee Gray, M.S.W., M.F.T.

Co-editor, POOR Magazine

Lisa Gray-Garcia (daughter of Dee )

Co-editor, POOR Magazine

PS: We believe what you need first is a rest. Someone needs to donate a trip for you for 3 or 4 days to a resort. Then another trip for you and your children to Acapulco, Mexico, or any other place that has an ocean, for a week to swim, scuba dive, and build sand castles.

by Dee

When fully armed soldiers stand on the steps of government buildings in Third and Fourth World Banana Republics it is a sign that a coup has occurred

Are the fully armed soldiers standing on the steps of the White House in Washington DC signifying that a coup has taken place by the Bush Administration?

Does this image bother anyone but me - why are we letting this happen?

Has the US become a Banana Republic for the Bush Administration ? – do they want us to believe that by constantly showing us this image…?