Story Archives

by Jack Tafari/Dignity Village

Time dem a rough

JAH know de time getting' hard

When Rasta doan get fe live

inna no tenement yard

No, not a tenement yard

an' not a government yard

but get live inna de street

out upon de boulevard

Ah'm a tellin' yuh right now it is a hell of a ting

when yuh poor an' yuh Rasta fe get some housing

But it doan just Rasta yuh mus' andastand

plenty people got a housin' prablem inna Portland

Now Ah bu'n up de sensi, Ah'm a confess

Ah love mi sensimilla, it a pure niceness

Ah wrap it inna Rizla, bu'n it in mi chalwah

den Ah lift up mi hand dem an' give praises to JAH

But seem seh bu'nin' de herbs an freedom of religion

A go mash up yuh chance fe dem 'commodation

Ah'm a tellin' yuh right now it is a hell of a ting

when yuh poor an' yuh Rasta fe get some housing

But it doan jus' Rasta yuh mus' andastand

plenty people got a housin' prablem inna Portland

Between dem waitin' list at Housin' Authority

an' a nex' concern name Central City

dem got nuff poor people runnin' to an' fram

dem waan sign yuh up fe dem homeless program

waan come inna yuh life an' invade yuh space

an' put a case manager deh pon yuh case

Ah'm a tellin' yuh right now it is a hell of a ting

when yuh poor 'bout yah fe get some housing

No, it doan jus' Rasta yuh mus' andastand

plenty people got a housin' prablem inna Portland

An' it doan jus' Portland yuh mus' andastand

poor people got a housin' prablem all over disya land

people got it inna Canada an' fram dehso to Japan

an' inna disya time it is a global candishan

by Lynda Carson/ reprinted from The Street Spirit

On December 10, 2004, tragedy struck downtown Oakland, when a 33-year-old woman who felt brutalized by Oakland's kangaroo courts plunged to her death from the Oakland Tribune Tower.

Mary Jesus, a longtime Oakland renter, had a message that she wanted to get out to the public at large, and she was willing to sacrifice her own life to do so.

On that fateful day, Mary Jesus stood high above the crowd down below, and gazed upon hundreds of people gathered on the sidewalks beneath the Tribune Tower as they shouted out to her not to do it. Local attorney Bob Salinas was one of those in the crowd that tried to save her as he frantically yelled to her not to jump.

A moment before she died in a crushing pool of blood on the sidewalk seven stories below, Mary Jesus responded to the crowd by tossing down hundreds of copies of the suicide note that she wanted everyone to read.

All too often in American society, many people feel they are being pushed over the edge by greedy profiteers and the corrupt legal system that caters to their needs. According to Oakland attorney Matthew Siegal, Mary Jesus was one of those people that had been chewed up and spit out by Oakland's brutal eviction system.

"Mary Jesus had evidence that the appeal process was all screwed up," said Siegal. "The judicial system is biased against tenants and it chewed her up and spit her out. This case was not about rent: it was all about pushing her over the edge."

About 50 people came to an Oakland memorial on January 10 for Mary Jesus. "There were many people there that witnessed the suicide and were looking for closure," Siegal said.

Marion Vale of San Francisco was with Mary Jesus during her last evening on earth. and she states that Mary Jesus had taken her own life to bring attention to those that had forced her over the edge.

The suicide note mentions four names that Mary Jesus wanted exposed. In the suicide note, Mary Jesus starts by writing: "Mark Roemer, James Lewis and Dean Miller. They are the catalyst!" Alameda County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge was the only other name mentioned in the suicide note of Mary Jesus.

As it turned out, Mark F. Roemer and James L. Lewis were the landlords that owned the apartment building where Mary Jesus resided at 1515 Alice Street in Oakland. Dean .Miller was the attorney representing the landlords trying to evict her, and Judge Yolanda Northridge had ordered her eviction from the home she had loved for so many years.

In her last act on earth, Mary Jesus had pointed her finger at these four individuals, who in her mind had apparently held the keys of life or death to the world that she had loved and cherished.

On January 20. 2005, I reached Juanita Moore, the court clerk for Judge Yolanda Northridge, to ask how this tragedy could have come about. Both the clerk and the judge declined to comment on what had occurred in their courtroom and how it led to the death of Mary Jesus.

Also on January 20. 1 contacted Dean Miller at his residence in Piedmont and he confirmed that not only was he the attorney that went after Mary Jesus. but also that James Lewis and Mark Roemer are some longtime high school friends of his from Piedmont High. many years ago.

This trio of friends were the ones that Mary Jesus had named in her suicide note as the "catalyst" that led to her personal tragedy of eviction and suicide.

Mary Jesus had resided for 13 years at the beautiful Dunsmuir Apartments at 1515 Alice Street in downtown Oakland. The 29-unit apartment building, built in 1912, was loaded with beautifully crafted oak trim on the doors and the windows that added a look of elegance and old world charm to the spacious building.

The records show that the Dunsmuir Apartments were bought on January 16, 1998, for $1,320,000 by the landlords of Mary Jesus, listed as the Dunsmuir Apartments Limited Liability CX.

To get to the heart of the message that Mary Jesus had wanted so desperately to give to the public at large, one must first take a look at a press release that she sent out to media outlets on October 27, 2004, less than two months before her death.

Her press release reads as follows:

"This is a newsworthy story that the public would definitely be interested in. The Building I live in, in downtown Oakland, was purchased five years ago. I had already been living here for seven years. I was the manager for a brief period of three years, then fired without cause. They have harassed me consistently since. then. Even attempting to evict me in July of 2003, then again in September of 2004 I am very poor, so had to represent myself. It seemed to me that this particular judge (Yolanda Northridge) a Superior Court Judge in the limited jurisdiction, has a tendency to decide against Pro Per litigants. My case NEVER should have gone as far as it went, because the Oakland rental hoard had already stated that I did not owe the landlords any money. They sought to evict me anyway; the judge allowed their attorney to stifle my evidence. It was all totally illegal!"

The above press release referred to an Oakland rental arbitration board case that Mary Jesus filed against the two owners of the Dunsmuir Apartments, where she was fighting an illegal rent increase. Even though the Oakland rental arbitration board had ruled in her favor as of September 1, 2004, because of an improper notification by the landlord, four weeks later Judge Yolanda Northridge of the Alameda County Superior Court over-ruled the rent board's decision, and ordered Mary Jesus to pay the landlords $1,018.77 in back rent and to vacate her long-term residence of the past 13 years.

Mary Jesus felt crushed by this cruel, corrupt, heartless system in Oakland, after having done everything possible to defend herself from the rent increase imposed upon her by the greedy landlords.

Any way that one looks at this tragedy, Mary Jesus was overwhelmed by a four-some of professionals wielding great power over her. The four of them were unrelenting in their efforts to run her out of the home she had lived in for 13 years, and the eviction resulted in the violence of her death by pushing her over the edge.

It is no secret that Oakland renters have been up against a brutal eviction-for-profit system for many years. Nor is it a secret that Oakland renters have held several protests these past few years against landlords and judges that act together to evict renters. Indeed, Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge is not the only judge in Oakland that has come under the scrutiny of the public during these past few years, nor shall she be the last.

The tragic message of Mary Jesus is a testimony written in blood and death. It cannot escape our attention, not should it ever be ignored. She sacrificed herself to deliver her last message. The suicide note is her last testimony about a corrupt and brutal system in Oakland controlled by the rich and the powerful. Her suicide note stated:

"Mark Roemer, James Lewis and Dean Miller. They are the catalyst.

"Goodbye cruel world, and all that. Just look up the case, and you'll see why. Just listen to the August 31st 2004 Authenticated recording from rent adjustment. And everyone will say what they always say when something totally preventable wasn't prevented. `Why didn't anybody do anything.' A couple of people did, but they had no power, and those that did have power were more concerned with technicalities, than justice. Except for Yolanda Northridge, she just does this to people too poor to afford an attorney, and attorneys only take your case if you have money. It's all about money! The love of money is the root of all evil!

Mary Jesus

P.S. Just cremate me and I have no family.

PROFOUND IMPACT OF HER DEATH

The death of Mary Jesus had a pro-found impact on the deepest levels of my consciousness.

On December 20, 2004, 1 received a call from a dear friend, Sue Doyle. Sue works for a number of pro-tenant attorneys in Oakland that I happen to know. Sue told me the unfortunate news about the death of Mary Jesus. I felt stunned.

I had not seen Mary Jesus since the day I was wandering up and down Alice Street in Oakland on a warm Saturday afternoon, using a bullhorn to call tenants out of their sleepy apartments to sign a Just Cause (anti-eviction) petition. I was with Sue Doyle and John Reimann at that moment, and we were part of a group known as the Campaign for Renters Rights.

People streamed out of their apartments that day to join us and sign the petitions we had brought with us. Some of the landlords were screaming at us from their buildings and threatening to call the cops if we did not start moving along.

Sue Doyle had briefly met Mary Jesus that sunny afternoon as we were out collecting signatures for an initiative that rewrote Oakland's rent laws, and gave the renters some protections from unfair evictions and the eviction-for-profit system.

Once upon a time, I had resided on Alice Street in a lovely building for about eight years; and I lived directly across the street from Mary Jesus for much of that period. Of course, that was until some greedy landlord bought the property I resided in and immediately evicted me because I had the cheapest rents in the building. My anger at that bastard knew no bounds. To this day, I still miss the garden that I nourished for so many years in the backyard of the property.

Mary Jesus was a splendid character and was unmistakable in the neighborhood. She generally dressed all in black, with dark shades and long, flowing, dark hair. She seemed rather fierce in her own way. Not the type of person that I would want to get into a feud with.

We got to know one another a bit, and at times we went out for a bite to eat and a chat. At one point, I helped her to plant some new flowers and other plants in front of the building where she resided. She was the resident manager at that time.

In a crazy world that's gone totally mad, Mary Jesus was no crazier than any-one else; and it's a shame that the media pundits insinuated that she was a lunatic who lacked therapy, when they wrote the stories about what had occurred on December 10 at the Tribune Tower.

Neither therapy, nor the leather restraints and Thorazine at John George Psychiatric Pavilion, would have done a thing to keep the profiteers from evicting her from the home she loved, even though she had lived there long enough to be a part owner of the building by now.

Mary Jesus was targeted and the whole weight of the legal system was set in motion to push her over the edge.

Many landlords in Oakland have been cruel enough in their pursuit of profits to make many a soul in Oakland consider suicide as an escape from their greedy grasp. Believe it. I get calls and e-mails from desperate tenants all the time, and at times suicide seems like an option in a world where the rents are so high that people become convinced that they will never come up with the cash needed to move into some other slumlord's rat-infested hellhole.

Her landlords are lucky that Mary Jesus did not do to them what she had done to herself. That would have given the Tribune and the Chronicle something to write about; but that was not what her message was all about. Instead, Mary Jesus took her own life to expose the legal system that exists here in Oakland, and the greedy landlords that use the system to push their renters over the edge.
Eviction Defense Center, A Non-Profit Law Corporation
1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 726 (near 16th Street)
Oakland, CA 94612
Voice (510) 452-4541
Fax (510) 452-4875

Provides legal services to prevent evictions.

On October 18, 2004, I received an e-mail from V. Vale of Re/Search Publications, asking for help to stop Mary Jesus' eviction. I immediately responded, and sent off a good-sized list of attorneys' names and phone numbers, including the Eviction Defense Center. I gave instructions for Mary Jesus to take action as soon as possible to stop the eviction and to con-tact an attorney immediately for assistance.

I was happy to do what little I could to stop the profiteers from dumping her out onto the cold-hearted streets of Oakland. I live for moments like this.

Indeed, when V. Vale contacted me, he had no idea that I actually knew Mary Jesus, and was totally surprised that I knew a few things about her. I sent him a list of attorneys and instructions which he handed over to Mary Jesus. Vale also called some of the attorneys to see if he could line one of them up to help Mary Jesus in her time of need.

It felt good to hear back from Vale, and to receive a thank you for being there to help. I thought that I had done my part to help, and set my mind to other tasks. I did not see, I could not see, the dark future that was looming just ahead.

I cannot get the picture out of my head of Mary Jesus standing there high above the street, just before she plunged to her death. I keep thinking of what she may have been feeling those last few moments and days of her life. I keep wondering how her short life of 33 years finally ended so tragically atop the Tribune Tower.

I wish I could have done more to help keep a roof over her head and preserve her right to remain in her much-loved home.

It was somewhat of a comfort to learn that Mary Jesus spent the last evening of her life with Vale and his wife Marion in San Francisco. These two had tried their best to help her fight the eviction proceedings that ended up pushing her over the edge. They had offered her shelter from the storm when she needed it the most.

I can't help but cry when I think of the last few moments of Mary Jesus, and what she must have been going through as she gazed upon the crowd of 200 onlookers that witnessed her death. I can't help but think about her final hours as she made copies of her suicide note and the message she wanted the people to read.

The message of Mary Jesus is splattered with the blood of her ultimate sacrifice — a sacrifice that ensured her voice would be heard loud and clear.

She is pointing her finger at the land-lords, the judges and the legal system that pushed her over the edge. I call for an immediate and thorough investigation into the cases that Mary Jesus refers to in her message to the people.

It will be up to each and every one of us to take the message of Mary Jesus to heart, and to do whatever is necessary to make certain that the injustices that pushed her over the edge will be exposed and held accountable.

May Mary Jesus rest in peace, and may her troubled soul find some happiness in the next dimension of reality, far removed from the greedy landlords and war criminals that have wreaked havoc on the American people and the world at large.

Lynda Carson may he reached at (510) 763-1085 or tenantsrule@yahoo.com

by tiny

"We have kids to support, we have bills to pay" The brown eyes of Larry Montoya glistened in the morning glare. He spoke to me over the sounds of horns honking in solidarity with the over 40 street cleaners who were protesting their illegal and wrongful termination from The Department of Public Works. He concluded, "We are protesting to get our jobs back, they fired us cause of nepotism"

Mr Montoya was referring to the reasons why the protest had been called by the workers and their advocates, La Raza Centro Legal, who began assisting the general laborers after they were unfairly, and illegally, terminated from their jobs due to corruption and nepotism in the Department of Public Works.

"I was an Environmental Control Officer there before Deputy Director Mohammad Nuru and Edwin Lee began retaliating against an entire unit in DPW ( by firing us) because he didn’t like that our unit was making complaints against him publicly, " I spoke next to the very powerful looking Derek Maderis, one of the protesting DPW workers, an African Descendent general laborer with seniority who was wrongfully terminated. He concluded, " He tried to call this a service cut and its not."

"40-80 DPW workers in San Francisco were fired from their jobs and replaced by people further down on the DPW seniority list, as well as by people who were friends and relatives of Management, " to get the details on the claims of nepotism I sought out the fierce civil and human rights advocate and executive director of La Raza Centro Legal, Renee Saucedo who was protesting alongside the workers outside of the DPW offices on Cesar Chavez Blvd on Tuesday morning " The workers, the majority of whom are African American, Latino and Asian came to La Raza Centro Legal for help"

She continued, "We are fighting to get the hiring system investigated and to make sure the practices of the DPW, particularily by Mohammad Nuru are above the table and to make sure these folks get reinstated with full seniority" Renee concluded with her usual real talk," these are general laborers that work their asses off to keep this city clean, they do the hard jobs and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity "

It was interesting to this reporter to note that the small but loud huddle of workers were overrun with an awkward looking array ( or perhaps: display) of cops, called out for what reason, I can't imagine as these peacefully powerful DPW employees were only exercising their constituional rights to free assembly and free speech. Its also important to note in the workers charge of nepotism and favoritism that Nuru was originally hired for another position under Willie Brown's Administration, well-known for its rampant nepotism and favoritism, including the hiring of the man who is now our Mayor.

To my queri of what the next move for these workers would be Renee said, " Well ultimately, Newsom is responsible for all of this and because Nuru didn’t have the courage to meet with them (the workers) today they are gonna go straight to the mayors office – probably within the next two weeks ."

by Riva Enteen/reprinted from www.struggle-and-win.net

The day after the outrageous conviction of attorney Lynne Stewart,
the New York Times, doing its daily duty as the mouthpiece of the
corporate state, led off its front page article on the case with
the declaration that Lynne had been "convicted... of aiding Islamic
terrorism by smuggling messages out of jail from a terrorist client."
But the Times article itself eventually gave the lie to this bold
assertion of terrorist conspiracies. Here is the last paragraph of
the article, way back on page 21: "The government never showed that
any violence resulted from the defendants' actions... The defendants
were not accused of aiding terrorism in the United States." Very nice
of them to work these inconvenient facts into the article.
The main accusation against Lynne is that she issued a press release
on behalf of her client. Since when is publicly issuing a press release
"smuggling messages?" The Times article also opined that "Ms. Stewart
sometimes appeared deaf to the vicious anti-American preachings of her
client..." Now, there's a crime worth 40 years in prison. I suspect that
a goodly percentage of you reading this missive might also "appear deaf"
to "anti-American preachings."

In an op-ed in the Times, on the very same day, titled "Torture,
American Style," Bob Herbert asserts that "Any government that commits,
condones, promotes or fosters torture is a malignant force in the world.
And those who refuse to raise their voices against something as clearly
evil as torture are enablers, if not collaborators." Here the Times is
not only "deaf" to "anti-American preachings," but actually prints them.
Herbert cites an account of the "Special Removal Unit" that is part of
the US program of "extraordinary rendition," whereby the US kidnaps
alleged "terrorists" and whisks them off to torture chambers, in places
like Syria and Egypt. Lest we forget, Stewart was representing a man
who was aiding the resistance to the brutal regime of Egyptian murderer
and torturer Hosni Mubarak. Egypt is the second largest benefactor of
US foreign aid, right after Israel. So is it Lynne who is guilty of
aiding terrorism, or Bush and his cronies?
The struggle continues. Lynne is free on bail, and will be sentenced on
July 15. The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee has initiated a letter
writing campaign urging the judge to sentence her to probation. Click
on www.lynnestewart.org/lettersjudge.html to send a letter. Lynne is
scheduled to speak in San Francisco at a Free Mumia demonstration
in April, although at this point she is not allowed to travel outside
of New York.

2. US military vs. dead journalists.

Not only are the neo-fascists in Washington going after the lawyers,
there is new evidence that they are going after the not-so-embedded
media as well. According to Rep. Barney Frank (Democrat, Massachusetts),
the head of CNN's news division, Eason Jordan, told a panel at the
recent World Economic Forum that -- this is the New York Sun quoting
Frank -- "he knew of about 12 journalists who had not only been killed
by American troops, but had been targeted as a matter of policy."
After Jordan made his comments at the World Economic Forum panel,
he was surrounded by numerous European and Middle Eastern attendees
at the panel, and congratulated for his "bravery and candor." Jordan
also reportedly detailed the story of an Al-Jazeera reporter who had
been imprisoned in Abu Ghraib, and forced to eat his shoes. Officially,
63 journalists have been killed covering the war in Iraq. More journalists
have already been killed in Iraq than in the entire Vietnam war.
In 2002, Jordan publicly accused the Israeli military of deliberately
targeting CNN personnel "on numerous occasions."

At first, CNN would not return phone calls or emails seeking comment
about Jordan's remarks. Subsequently, CNN put out a statement which
asserted that Jordan was only answering a question by Rep. Frank
about dead journalists and "collateral damage." Frank denies that
either he or Jordan used that phrase. Then, last Friday, Jordan was
forced to quit CNN, and issued a statement claiming that "my comments
on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not
as clear as they should have been. I never meant to imply U.S. forces
acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists..."
Such is often the fate of those who tell the truth to power.
(See www.nysun.com/article/8866 for more info.)

3. SF Bay Area Muslim activist Samina Faheem Sundas threatened.

Samina Faheem Sundas is a courageous voice from the
Muslim/South Asian community. Since 9/11, she has struggled
tirelessly and righteously to denounce the round-ups, detentions,
forced registrations, deportations, hate crimes and endless lies
directed at the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities.
Recently, one individual posted several e-mails on the listserve
of United for Peace & Justice -- rabid, hateful diatribes against
Muslims and Arabs. After Samina posted a response to these diatribes,she received several very personal threats from the racist. The most
chilling threat indicated that he knows where she lives. Samina runs
a small family child care center out of her home.

The local authorities have been notified about this racist threat.
Just as Samina has clearly expressed her determination to continue
to speak out, her friends and supporters are resolved to use this
attack to intensify our own efforts to speak out for her and with her.
To find out about her organization, American Muslim Voice, go to
www.amuslimvoice.org. There will soon be a letter posted to the
website which supporters can sign.

Coincidentally, before this incident, Samina called for a Day of
Solidarity Open House at her home in Palo Alto. Please join her
and express your solidarity on Saturday, February 26, 2005,
from Noon to 3:00 pm. RSVP to samina

by TJ Johnston

"Last summer under the shade of a tree on the Boston Common, I spoke often with a man who'd been homeless for ten years. He was in his late fifties an had an alcohol problem. He described the daily humiliating routine of checking in and out of the shelter at night and morning Food and clothes were available to him as well as a bed. Yet when he got up to leave he'd say, 'Back to the concentration camp.'

"He was articulate about his life in the shelter that was as if
he'd allowed me to visit his reality."---Poverty and Language

The reality of this unidentified homeless person mirrors that of
George Wynn's characters in Back To The Streets, a collection of
stories,essays and poems in which he fabricates a vivid reality of
society's dispossessed. It has just been published by Freedom
Voices in San Francisco.

Most of the stories are set in Boston and have been originally
printed in Spare Change, the local homeless paper (they've also seen publication in Bay Are a counterparts Street Spirit and Street
Sheet). "Exiled and Eyeless" and "Dinner in Chinatown" depict
Beantown's gentrification on those not affluent enough to live in the Back Bay neighborhood or attend the city's universities.

But the travails of the down-and-almost-out aren't just confined to New England environs. They fit just as easily in Texas, Seattle, Montreal or, for that matter, San Francisco. Wynn reminisces of the SF of his youth in his poem "Radio Trance": "Restless Tenderloin room/ On Golden Gate roof/ Listening to Stella Dallas/ Dusty silver radio."

Wynn was born in San Francisco and spent a dozen years in Boston. Upon his return, he observes the proportionate increase in
homelessness and hostility towards the homeless. "Who swallowed
up peace?/ What happened to love everybody?/ What happened to
the new age?" Wynn beseeches in "San Francisco, New Year. He
displays the grit in this picture: "Hobbled men piss between dumpsters/ Grizzled men piss on every corner/ Restless Men in Blue---clean shaven---/ stampede homeless folk through Tenderloin/ alleyways to Market Street encampments/ Without pity/ Tinged with blood."

In "UN Plaza: A City Attacks The Poor," Wynn points out that such harassment of indigents belie images as a beacon of tolerance San Fran portrays. The Proclamation of the United Nations (founded in SF in 1945) is etched on the plaza. The lofty ideals espoused are but mere words where the desperately poor have their human rights ignored.

However, the humanity of Wynn's fictional outsiders is acknowledged. Behind every person written off as a statistic in a
headcount, there is an individual's story and Wynn aspires to detail that person's own narrative. Aside from immediate housing, each person longs for a human connection. When it is received, it could take the form of language lessons (and food) in "The Chinese Teacher" or even justice afforded an ex-football player who is falsely accused of avoiding payment on a meal.

In this milieu, literary references are abound. The Characters read and cite Camus, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Kafka and Nikos Kazantakis.Literature is a respite, compulsion or redemption. Note Dexter from "Keyboard Jockey": a former journalist, he doesn't let his hard times deter him from writing or taking the young narrator under his wing.

In his essays, Wynn charges the reader to recognize the persons who characterize homelessness and to those who want to write about their condition (including those experiencing it for themselves). His language is obvious and lucid and urges the would-be street writer toward similar clarity in his/her advocacy.
By the same token, he also recognizes that the voluntary silence of the homeless person is also valid and must be respected: "While personal experience of the homeless may be related vividly or kept private, language in defense of the homeless and advocacy for the homeless must be direct and aggressive."

Wynn acutely observes the hopes and despairs of the downtrodden and, need it be said, makes a damn fine read.

Back To The Streets by George Wynn. Available from Freedom Voices, San Francisco. 80pg. www.freedomvoices.org
> --

by Michael Phillip Glynn

This is the house that dope built.
The house of death and money-
milk and honey soured and spoiled -
Of soiled diapers and absentee fathers -
Where no-one bothers to count the cost-
of the futures lost to the house of iron doors and
concrete floors filled with whores of one stripe or another
you have no friend and you have no brother .
In the house that dope built

by Ace Tafoya/PNN

Surrounded by the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean Sea sits Jamaica. An
Island slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut with a population of
roughly 3 million people. A third world country famous for sugarcane,
coffee, rum, bananas, the"Luminous Lagoon", ganja and Bob Marley and the
Wailers.

Sadly, this nation which broke from British Commonwealth in August 1962
faces a major crisis:
Prejudice and Homophobic Violence.

On February 15th, Amnesty International's OUTfront program together with
Community United Against Violence presented at the Swedish American Hall in
San Francisco, 'J-FLAG Breaking the Cycle of Homophobic Violence in
Jamaica.'

J-FLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays) is the isle's one
and only organization helping the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender
community.

Growing reports of torture, stabbings, stonings, rapes and even murder
against people with alternative lifestyles are reported to police. But the
cries seem to be falling on deaf ears, because nothing ever happens to the
culprits.

The reception and discussion on these and other issues featured prominent
activists form the land of the yellow, green and black and by local
speakers. Unfortunately, we were prohibited from taking pictures of the
four-member panel because of confidentiality. Gareth and Karlene (J-FLAG),
Andy Wong (CUAV), and Rebecca Schleifer from Human Rights Watch (who wrote a
80-page booklet entitled "Hated to Death - Homophobia, Violence, and
Jamaica's HIV/AIDS Epidemic") came together to speak out of the concerns of
anti-gay violence and HIV cases on the rise in Jamaica.

"We're just trying to rally people...around a common cause, a very specific
issue, which is an international one, which is the discrimination against
people of Jamaica who are in same-sex relationships," voiced Brian Griffey,
Field Organizer of AI's Western Regional Office. "A discrimination against
gay people with HIV/AIDS, or people who are perceived to be gay."

Jamaica's laws regarding homosexuality and sodomy are archaic. Many
individuals and activists are calling on the government to repeal those
outdated and outrageous sodomy laws. I know the United States has had
horrific murders such as Gwen Arajo, Matthew Sheppard and Brandon Teena,
but we are way ahead of the game in terms of civil rights.

Speaking about people being verbally harrassed and physically abused almost
everyday, Gareth (for protection I can't use his last name) has been an
active member of J-FLAG since 1998 and has manage to have a full-time job
and go to school full-time. "I went to the police station to file my report
(of being harrassed) and when I reached that station, I was laughed at by
every police officer in the station," he said. Basically if you've been
victimized by these harrassments you are virtually on your own. "It sends a
clear message to me: The fight that I'm fighting, I had to do it by
myself."

Gareth also witnessed a man being beaten, whipped and chopped in the streets
but was afraid to help him because of intense pressure of his situation.
"They left this guy to the burden of these people...I was just hoping that he
would make his get-away and everything (would be) okay. When I woke up in
the morning, the first thing in the local paper was that this guy was
killed."

For her part, Karlene told the audience of about 50 people of a friend of
hers who was raped because she is a lesbian. "Unfortunately," she sighed,
"she was unable to report it, because of fear and embarrassment. A year
later he told her if she said anything, he was going to kill her."

Gareth and Karlene are on a 7 city tour of the U.S. that started January
28th, spreading the truth about discrimination, HIV/AIDS issues and sexual
orientation. Their journey started in New York, from there they spoke in
Washington, DC, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco and then they move
on to Los Angeles. We have a chance to help these courageous people during
their process.
You can pick up 'Action Alert' cards at the AI office on 350 Sansome, Suite
630 in San Francisco or we can write to the Prime Minister of Jamaica in
support of these people to have him repeal these ancient laws. His address
is:

Right Honorable P.J. Johnson
Prime Minister of Jamaica
Office of the Prime Minister
Jamaica House
1 Devon Road
Kingston 6 JAMAICA

Or to get in touch with J-FLAG for donations or support of any kind, their
address is:

J-FLAG

P.O.Box 1152

Kingston 8 JAMAICA

Their website is: JFLAG.org

We can help these people, we've done it before by protesting current
dancehall music artists that promote anti-gay violence in their lyrics by
boycotting their concerts. Brother and Sisterhood has to be restored for
the people of Jamaica suffering these horrendous hate crimes. And in the
words of Bob Marley, "One Love, One Heart, Let's get together and feel
alright." It's basic human rights and it's time.

by Charles A. Houston/A Homeless Poet

Passed by as though a crook

I took the time to look

His old black shiny face

Still bore the trace

The depth in his eyes/shown no disguise

Of his true station

Right world/wrong nation

Revered in his motherland

A leader in his clan

An elder, a “Groit” and so

Protected, respected

Above suspicions

A holder of oral traditions

In America, an old manumit,---ne’griot

Holder of false papers

Holder of a fallacy

Holder of empty Starbucks’ cup

7th St. and Market/ at quitting time

Brother can you spare a dime

© 2005

by Laurence Ashton/PoorNewsNetwork

I am back jack

From an illegal occupation

Invasion..colonization..

That is totally whack

Done kilt, and spilt

With no thought to who

To’ up with guilt

And now I am back jack

With a mixed-up mind

Wanting to know

who I should blame

and what should I do

(kilt and spilt by Corporal P)

As I walked home from the powerful anti-war, anti-colonization march and rally in March the words of my friend and poet, Corporal P, who just returned from Iraq began to flood my mind., "Watch out brutha, they’ll get you next"

My friend spoke in his deep, foreboding voice which makes him seem a lot older than his 19 years. He was trying to scare me about an upcoming draft which he is convinced the current Amerikkan goverment has in the pipeline. At first I didn’t listen but recently, my editor suggested I look at the Bigga Pikcher i.e., the impact of what my editor refers to as the No Child Left Alive Act (No Child Left Behind) on the youth of amerikka.Upon examination of the messed-up "act" which was co-opted by Bush Cheny Inc for their latest coup it requires that parents who enroll their children in public schools automatically register them with selective service.

Selective Service spends every hour of every day planning for the heinous crime of conscription. That is who they are. It is what they do. They are like the Terminator- they would draft your grandmother if the order came down.

In my research for information on the draft I discovered www.draftresistance .org who refers to selective service system as the Selective Slavery System and lists 7 reasons why you should Never register for Selective Service including the fact that the more people register the more it appears like Selective Service could actually launch a successful draft.

Personally as a very low-income young African Descendent man who is trying to come up and out of poverty by getting an education, I ended up registering cause I thought I had to but through this website I learned that that too! is another fallacy. They gave an alternative resource for college funding; The Fund for Education and Training (FEAT) will give you money for college if you refuse to register. So don't register! FEAT address: 1830 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington DC 20009-5732 202 483 2220 fax: 202 483-1246

And of course all of this draft mess will, like all military recruitment have the worst impact on poor folks. College not Combat held an anti-military recruiting coalition protest in front of an army recruiting office in downtown San Francisco in March. The main point of their campaign is kicking out all army recruiters from Bay Area schools because the military systematically targets for recruitment those most harmed by the misplaced priorities of the political establishment: working class children and people of color and more often than not like in the case of my now homeless Iraqi veteran friend, the military promises of financial support amount to nothing.

As I got on the Bart to return to Oakland, filled with truth from the day and the strength to resist the pervasive pro-military lies, I couldn’t help noticing a pile of military recruitment brochures emblazoned with the oldest lie of them all, Be all you can be, or as my friend re-named it kill all that you can see