Story Archives

by Leroy Moore/PNN

Krip-Hop: Tell us about Heavy Load.

Heavy Load: We're a five piece punk band from Brighton, England. We've been together for 12 years. Three of us have learning disabilities (Learning disabilities in the UK means people with developmental disabilities like Down Syndrome)¦Jimmy started everything by telling his support worker he'd like to be in a band. They sent out an advertisement and a week later the band had formed.

Krip-Hop: What kind of music you play?

Heavy Load: It's loud garage/punk rock.

Krip-Hop: Name the members of Heavy Load

Heavy Load: Heavy Load is Simon Barker (vocals), Jimmy Nicholls (guitar and vocals), Mick Williams (guitar and vocals), Michael White (drums) and Paul Richards (bass)

Krip-Hop: Name some titles of your songs?

Heavy Load: Stay Up Late, When will We Get Paid, Farty Animals, We love George Michael

Krip-Hop: Tells us about your documentary.

Heavy Load: The film follows us for 2 1⁄2 years as we try and take our music to a more mainstream audience playing at music festivals etc and particular challenges that face each member of the band in their lives. It's going to be broadcast on IFC on 23rd June and then at cinemas in the UK later in the year as well as being shown on the BBC.

Krip-Hop: How long will you be in the US?

Heavy Load: We're only in the US for five days and for all except Mick…it's our first trip to New York City.

Krip-Hop: Have you ever played with an all disabled Hip-Hop group like 4Wheel City?

Heavy Load: Last year we played with a young hip-hop group from London who had learning disabilities and we hear great things about 4Wheel City. We're really looking forward to it.

Krip-Hop: Tells us Heavy Load's experience in the music industry.

Heavy Load: I don't know what the US is like but it's difficult in the UK. It seems to be a lot about money. We've had a couple of meetings with record companies but no success. But with the Internet we can do our own thing, release what we want, and there's no shortage of gigs so we're happy do everything our own way. It seems to work for us.

Krip-Hop: Name some other disabled musicians in London/UK

Heavy Load: We're just about to release a compilation album called Wild Things “ songs of the disabled underground' which is a project we've undertaken to gather together learning disabled musicians from the UK together on one CD for the first time. There are some really great acts on it. Ones to look out for are Beat Express (also from Brighton), Vanessa and Kick Me Ugly, Dele Fakoya, Dean Rawat and The Coasters. It's a really varied album and we're really excited to be releasing it. We'd love to do a US version if people want to send us their recordings.

Krip-Hop: Tell us your Stay Up Late campaign

Heavy Load: For years we'd been playing gigs at disabled club nights and got frustrated at how early everyone was going home.
We soon realized that it was because support workers were
only scheduled to work until 10pm at night so would want
to leave by 9pm so they could get the person they were
supporting back home . We thought this was wrong so we recorded a single 'Stay Up Late', got some money from the
National Lottery and set about raising awareness and
getting disabled people to tell their staff that from time to time they wanted to Stay Up Late â“ and that this should be their right. After all most live music nights don't normally end at 9pm

Krip-Hop: What is your next project?

Heavy Load: We're currently getting the Wild Things album out there and then we'll be releasing our second album 'Shut It' at the end of June. After that we've got various gigs lined up across the UK either to promote the film or the Stay Up Late campaign. We also organizing 'mixed' nights that involve bands with and without disabilities as it creates a great vibe with the audience and introduces the public to music they might not have heard before so we'll be doing more of that later in the year. We've had a lot of requests to play gigs so the film will probably keep us busy for a good while – we hope.

Krip-Hop: Tell us about the disabled rights movement in UK compared to USA

Heavy Load: There's some great and challenging stuff going on with websites like www.bbc.co.uk/ouch which has got correspondents discussing all sorts of issues. There's also a healthy self-advocacy movement making sure that people are able to have a voice and know what their rights are. There's still a fair bit of work to be done though.

Krip-Hop: How can people get in touch with you?

Heavy Load: They can check out our myspace which is www.myspace.com/heavyloaduk or go to our website
www.heavyload.org and you can email us from there.

by Queennandi Xsheba/PoorNewzNetwork

"Yes, I called em' (cps) and reported abuse and neglect, because I didn't like her!" The voice of new SF resident Sherie Lewis still echos in my ears as she confessed to me her part in the separation of Christana Martel's family. As we further spoke, she also admitted that she called the calworks department (Alameda county) and falsely reported that Christana sold all of her food stamp benefits on her EBT card for in exchange for marijuana, (that accusation resulted in Christana paying a HEFTY price) which according to (then) neighbors Mertis Bowden and Michelle Howell was a "f-ed up lie!", and that Christana kept "plenty of food"- Michelle explained to me that she was a guest over for dinner often. Ms. Lewis boasted on with her vengeance against Ms. Martel, attacks ranging from "manipulating" Christana's family members just to cause dissent, and too in one case, to win a frivilous lawsuit against a former landlord.

I stood there in awe as I literally watch this sista take sadistic pleasure in tearing down another sista. When I asked Ms. Lewis why, the sad and simple answer was that Christana was a poor mama. Far as CPS goes, people like Ms.Lewis whom in this case overstepped her boundaries and abused it (the Sssystem) tend to do this to "get back" at someone who was either an adversary to them, or out of plain jealousy. Either way, what is more than always overlooked is the children and their feelings towards being torn apart from their families, for no ligitamate reason other than their mama wasn't very well liked, or "crossed" by a certain individual. CPS "stands" for Child Protective Services, indicating that if a child is in immediate danger, or if the child is being abused, there is a hotline number to call and report such actions- granted. However, there are mamaz like myself, tiny, vivian and jewnbug who strongly believe in "Tribal Intervention" and the "It takes us to heal us" theory, which is unfortunately not practiced amongst all of the members of our tribes (communities), thus the results are tribal dissent, and definitely reasonable (understatement) mistrust for the outside Sssystem.

The impact of being removed from the home affected baby girl Destiny a bit more than her brothers, Dalevon and Deshawn. She was depressed, withdrawn and suffered from massive hair loss, but has been improving since Christana was given more time to spend with the children, and to see about Destiny's mental well-being. Why is this type of CPS abuse allowed to continue? The question remains in the "smokeblower", while mamaz such as Christana and myself ponder on non-exsistent penalties for folks like Ms. Lewis who abuse the law and walk away laughing, taking high stride pride in helping to break up fellow black families.
"Looking back at the Hassani case, in my opinion, placing the children in foster care isn't always the best option." Ms. Martel said. "If a mother is able- bodied, mind and willing, she should be given more access to resources that would enable us to become indpendent caretakers, rather than just snatch our children away from us."

Christana Martel is a single mother of four now, who loves her beautiful, talented children dearly. Fighting and overcoming a heartbreaking situation like hers took alot of strenght, and we @poormag call for others to press on, at the same time we commend Christana on her perserverance.

Ms. Martel is currently a supervisor at a popular eatery and keeps in close contact with her children regularly, since the children are with family members, Christana should have all the love and support from the family to help her and children repair the temporarily broken bond.

by Joseph Bolden

A Death, a town, one Play.

Last week at the end of May on Berkeley’s K P F A’s
Dee and Tiny radio show I finally did a commercial for
Ask Joe, He Don’t Know.

It is thrilling and nerve racking simultaneously.
I’ve always said I’m available for commercials be it televised, radio, or possibly internet.

But the first time blowing my own horn or
website it’s a near flop-sweat incident.

Here’s my second commercial [money can be made by doing this, right?]

Umm, a large part of it is from an email addressed
to me by the Laramie Project.

The Laramie Project WRITTEN BY MOISES KAUFMAN AND THE TECTONIC THEATER COMPANY.

Moises and company traveled to Laramie to interview the townspeople and see if there was a deeper story there.

After more than 200 interviews they came up a truly in-depth look at a town and their reactions to Shepard's death.

This is not the story of the killing, nor of Shepard - although clearly he is there throughout the story.

It is a look at a small t
own rocked by tragedy and their reactions to it.

This part of the email I received near the end of May. Date:Sun, 27 May 2001.

To:(Help Bay Area LGBT Families)
Subject:Laramie Project 6/9 Benefit for LGBT Families.

Hi Friends,
Dateline Berkeley-From: Our Family ourfamily@ourfamily.
org>Save Address.

OUR FAMILY STILL HAS MORE TICKETS TO THE BENEFIT PERFORMANCES OF THE LARAMIE PROJECT AT BERKELEY REP'S LOVELY NEW THEATER.
CALL 510-540-7784 to order tickets now.

We will have to return unsold tickets to Berkeley Rep soon, so please help us sell out the shows and raise badly needed funding to help keep Our Family's programs
and events alive and available to everyone.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT, HAS PLAYED TO SOLD-OUT AUDIENCES IN NEW. YORK, LARAMIE AND DENVER, MAKES IT WEST COAST DEBUT HERE. A few weeks after the murder of Matthew Shepard, Moises and

PLEASE JOIN OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS FOR THIS EVENT
WHICH IS A BENEFIT FOR OUR FAMILY-THE LGBT FAMILY GROUP.

The proceeds from this afternoon and evening will go toward hiring some permanent staff coordinators to make sure OF can keep up it's programming and continue to provide quality
services to LGBT Families throughout the Bay Area.

**THIS IS OUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT RAISING MONEY AND WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please call some friends and colleagues and encourage them to come.

We have arranged ticket prices the best we could so that this should be affordable for many folks. It is a theater event, however, and good theater is not cheap.

We did the best we could to provide pricing at all
levels and hope that you will give at the level that is comfortable for you.

REMEMBER ALSO, THAT THE AMOUNT YOU PAY OVER THE MARKET PRICES OF THE TICKETS IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE.

Our sister organization and main collaborator, All Our Families Coalition,
is a non-profit org and is acting as our fiscal agent.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE THIS A SUCCESS!

CALL 510-540-7784 to buy tickets. Call 510-540-7774 for more information.

SATURDAY JUNE, 9, 2001 FOR 2 SHOWS

Performance Times/Ticket Prices:

Matinee at 2PM:$50, $75*, $125* and $250**Evening at 8PM:$75, $125and $250

* Wine and hors d'oeuvres reception after matinee performance and before evening performance at 6:30PM, both held in the
beautiful courtyard.

** Reception PLUS Dinner (which begins at 6PM and will be a Berkeley culinary masterpiece!) and donor recognition in our newsletter and web page.

Dinner will be catered in the new major donor room at the new theater. It's a beautiful location and our caterer is the best in town.

If you can afford it, this is a great way to enjoy a relaxed evening of culinary artistry and first-rate theater! And I forgot to mention, it's a great way to support Our Family!

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW BY CALLING OR EMAILING:

510-540-7784 or laramie@ourfamily.org. Leave the following information:

1) Name as it appears on your credit card (VISA or Mastercard)
2) Address that the card is billed to
3) Phone numbers, day and evening
4) Number of tickets AND for which show time
5) Ticket price you wish to buy
6) Specify VISA or MC and the NUMBER
7) Expiration date of your card Tickets will be held at the door and can be picked up 1.5 hours before each performance.

Your credit card will be neededfor id and your signature will be required.

If you need any further info, please emailLARAMIE@OURFAMILY.ORG.

Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard and to all of you who have helped by buying tickets.

We look forward to seeing you and your friends on June 9th.

That's it.. Now my column’s a commercial space.
this is a freebee, because killing of any human being
for not thinking, looking, being, like ourselves means.

We as a society, culture, global, racial, species have not matured.

As long as we make alien's out of our own human species we will not reach the zenith of our human potential.

SEE THE PLAY, DONATE, AND ENJOY THE FOOD FOLKS.

Hi, Laramien(s) I'm the Ask Joe guy again. I might be able to afford the one ticket maybe two.

However as to the rest, all I can do is pass on some kind words. OH, I may forget
the exact date writting the wrong one I appologise for that not cause I know I'll get so busy at work it'll happen.

I've heard the town of Laramie is slighly ill-at-ease... Their town will be in a spotlight and would rather all the fuss go away.

But Mr. M.Shepard, a young citizen's who's life is taken from him for his
Sexual Orientation is a problem for some of its citizens.

As long as certain 'Hetero's have psychological problems with it. To kill is no solution but a symptom of a killer,(s) heterosexual's extreme insecure unease of their own orientation.

Berkelely use to me my home years ago, I'd be nice to visit for this controversial play about an American's Town's private
reaction to something so public and tragic.

P.S. Money Orders is how I pay then cash in evelope or donation bucket, jars, or baskets (Its a church-give thing)

Hope this gets to you in time, I'm not good at email; I do pray you get this letter in time so I can learn from the play and with limited funds, give more than a buck or two.

Thank You for sending me an email. May the people of Laramie Heal quickly.

Joseph Bolden/Staff Writer. for Poor Magazine.

Please send donations to Poor Magazine 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
Email:askjoe@poormagazine.
org

by Alex Cuff/ PoorNewsNetwork Community Journalist

Room 551 at 850 Bryant Street was filling up when I arrived for the Police Commission meeting this past Tuesday,
January 8th. Before it began we all stood to go through the motion of pledging allegiance to the amerikan flag. (I
was amused later on to look at the official meeting agenda and see that the Pledge of Allegiance was actually the
first item.) The reason I was there was to cover the scheduled hearing regarding the banning of SFPD practice of
consent searches. I was ready for a comprehensive report from those who are advocating the ban and accounts of folk
who have been victims of racial profiling. What I got was almost 2 hours of police-affiliated speeches on the
necessity and constitutionality of consent searches and less than an hour of personal accounts where folks have been
victims of consent searches.

A consent search is when police officers ask permission to search an individual, or the belongings of an individual, in the
absence of probable cause. Although people have the absolute right to refuse, most of us don’t know we have that right. Data
collected by the SFPD shows that the practice of consent search is used twice as often against African Americans as whites and
that the searches usually don’t find anything. According to an ACLU report on stops and searches of motorists titled "A
Department in Denial - The San Francisco Police Department’s Failure to Address Racial Profiling" the SFPD is failing to take
the issue of racial profiling seriously. The author of the report Mark Schlosberg, who was present at Tuesday’s meeting, states
"The department’s consistent failure shows the need for a clear policy prohibiting racial profiling and an independent auditor to
oversee the data collection program."

The first speaker to address this report claims "we didn’t see racial profiling as an issue until we saw a report. The data we
have is clearly flawed...We need to work to change the perception because racial profiling isn’t a part of the SFPD." He assured
us that by June 2004, all SFPD officers would have received racial profiling training. He said that the proof of racial profiling in
the report is flawed due to "statistical problems" or a problem of "technology."

Although it’s nothing new, I am always terribly dumbfounded that individuals and organizations that devote their entirety
to a specific topic such as police brutality, homelessness or mental health issues are not paid any mind by the state when it
comes to a remedy for the proposed problem. A great example is the Care Not Cash campaign victory over folks who knew the
"care" wasn’t there and who are veterans of poverty and homeless advocacy such as the Coalition on Homelessness and Poor
Magazine. So there we all sat for almost 2 hours while the SFPD took up our time and the Police Commission’s time defending
consent searches and the US Constitution while those who had experienced the intimidation and injustice of these unwarranted
searches, were given 3 minutes each to speak sometime around 7:30pm.

I was sitting next to Gregg Lowder, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. The entire time before he went up
to speak, he was pouring over a document filled with so many red marks and scribbled out sentences that it looked like
anyone’s
worst nightmare of a graded paper. At the podium, he claimed that a consent search is a sound strategy for criminal
investigations because it is a psychological strategy that catches those who are guilty. He pointed out that a guilty person
thinks differently than someone who is not guilty so they consent to a proposed search. According to Mr. Lowder, a guilty
person will a) think they are too clever to be caught and consent or b) figure they are already caught and will win favor with the
police for cooperating.

Lowder apparently believes that in most cases of consent searches, the police are not using intimidation, threats (verbal
or with drawn guns) or other forms of coerciveness such as telling a victim that a warrant is on its way. He did though relate
that "the mayor is aware of this problem – nobody tolerates racial profiling, racism, certainly not in the police department." He
went on to say that the stats are wrong since the police didn’t collect the data they were supposed to and that "the mayor is
concerned about inaccurate numbers." We were told that a leading authority in this area, from Harvard…I’ll stop right there and
say, Who gives a shit what an academic from Harvard has to say about the relationship between the SFPD and the men,
women and children who are being targeted by them, in their own neighborhoods, as criminals? Stay in Cambridge with your
analysis – we are trying to address local topics such as the military-esque intervention of a fight in a Bayview Hunter’s Point
high school or the epidemic of youth who are sleeping in their cars due to HUD’s One Strike policy. These
issues are not quantifiable especially by ivy league numbers - they have to do with accountability of police practices
in SF and of oppressive policy effecting the poor, people of color, and disabled persons and youth.

Another SFPD affiliate remarked that consent searches are embedded in our law and social systems – we learn from our
parents that if we want something, we ask politely for it - which is what the police are doing when they seek compliance for a
consent search. When it was finally time for those who are trying to get consent searches banned to speak (the same persons
who actually asked for this hearing to take place) it was 2 hours since the meeting had begun.

Mark Schlosberg was given 5 minutes and it was said that each additional citizen that wanted to make a public comment,
would be given 3 minutes! Schlosberg began by pointing out that after an hour and a half, he probably wouldn’t be able to
respond to the pro-consent search rally in 5 minutes. He responded to SFPD’s "wrong stats" excuse by admitting that the
"unreporting" doesn’t invalidate the ACLU report but that it could be worse! He pointed out that we don’t have the data from
those officers who didn’t do what they were supposed to do. He also talked to the fact that among the persons who spoke
earlier about consent searches, some said they are used a lot; others said they are hardly used. He proposed that both of
those claims couldn’t be right…who could argue that?

"Plug the biggest loophole in the 4th Amendment – consent searches." These words came from our own Public Defender,
Jeff Adachi, who went on to say that if he had a dollar for every police report which said that the accused consented when the
accused denied the consent, he would be a very rich man. He said the 3 problems with consent searches are 1) most people
don’t know their rights 2) it’s a coercive environment (being stopped by the police) 3) it is ineffective – less than 10% of
consent searches result in finding anything.

Now the line of citizens waiting to speak their mind about consent searches filled the room and poured into the brightly lit
hallway. Ishmael Tarik of the Bay Area Police Watch, a project of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, took part of his 3
minutes to tell the overcrowded hearing room a story: The story was about Mr. Lies who was naked, and Mr. Truth who was
clothed. Mr. Lies steals Mr. Truth’s clothes while Mr. Truth is asleep. Mr. Truth who is now naked chases Mr. Lies around town.
The moral of the story is: When you see Lies, you’ll soon see the Naked Truth. After the amusing and palpable anecdote,
Ishmael’s clear voice of reason related that consent searches are inherently coercive – to everyday citizens who unfortunately
don’t know their rights (as I surely didn’t when the cops busted into my apartment and scared the shit out of me), a search is
clearly an affront.

Quentin Adams, an African American network engineer and SF resident, told his story of being stopped by 2 officers for
stepping off of the sidewalk and then back onto the sidewalk when the light was red. I can’t even count how many times I’ve
"jayed" all over town in the presence of passing police vehicles. I’ve never been confronted like Quentin was: he was asked if
he was on parole, if he had any sharp objects on him, he was patted down, asked for ID. They found nothing on him but he
was given a citation.

When he asked how much the ticket would be, one of the officers replied that the fine for running a red light is $170. The
only other interaction Quentin has had in the past with the police is through the check he sends each year in support of the
Police Activities League. Before he stepped away from the podium he commented that he doesn’t want to vilify the SFPD but
there seems to be a problem with racial profiling when a "computer geek gets stopped and frisked on the street."

A white woman came up and testified that while driving home she saw several police cars pulled over and they had 5 or 6
youth cuffed against a wall near 3rd Street. She pulled over to see what the problem was and learned that the cops found
nothing on the kids. Another time while at home, she heard sirens and saw lights outside of her house. Someone had been
pulled over. The cars were blocking another woman’s car who was yelling that she had to get around because her children were
home with a babysitter who was due to leave. The cops pulled her out of her car too. After the officers released both of the
victims she heard one say "It’s not even worth writing up but I don’t feel like getting yelled at." She commented that the
police actions are demoralizing for the youth in the city and although the police have no problem harassing the kids, she
knows of actual shootings that aren’t even investigated.

Although a ban on consent searches won’t eradicate the racism and classism that infects our criminal justice system and
fills our prisons, it is a start to prohibit racial profiling by law enforcement. I didn’t know that we have the right to say no to
police. If you are asked for consent to be searched, remember you have the right to say no! If you do consent, keep the
following in mind: the request for consent must be uncontaminated with duress or coerced stress; once consent is given, it can
be withdrawn; you can consent to only certain areas of a house or car – for example, you can search the car but not the trunk,
etc.

by Lisa Gray-Garcia/PNN

When I read with terror and disbelief about the proposed Gang Tours of Los Angeles, I was reminded of the well-meaning, neo-liberal, writer of the early 20th century, Charles Dickens, who launched a deadly media-based campaign of poor people fetishizing when he toured, surveyed, studied and reported on the Manhattan tenements a.k.a the dwellings/residences/ roofs of thousands of poor immigrants in the New York at the turn of the century. When Dickens published his report in the New York Times which became instrumental in the displacement of thousands of poor people out of New York, he characterized the tenements as deplorable cesspools. The subsequent demolitions of thousands of buildings in New York housing poor folks was for our own good, the social workers, city planners and real estate speculators told us, for the betterment of us seething, unwashed masses of poor people, unable to care for ourselves, speak for ourselves, or think for ourselves, our children or our homes.. Silenced people they were, we are, intentionally unheard , talked about, studied, gazed upon, critiqued and researched.

To be fair Dickens didnt invent poor people/indigenous people fetishizing, we have anthropology, ethnography, politicians and psychiatry to thank for that since the beginning of time. From Daniel Moynihan pathologizing , single, African descendent, mother headed households as broken, which led to the criminalizing welfare codes we welfare dependent mamas struggle with today to the poverty tours of favelas in Brazil people have been speaking for, studying on, and talking about poor people without ever really listening to us, talking with us, or properly compensating us for our images and knowledge for hundreds of years, but nowadays we have reality shows, tourism, corporate media and the non-profit industrial complex to truly progress us all into the complete and utter zoo-ifying of us poor people of color or as my fellow PNN poverty and migrant scholar Muteado Silencio says, "We are not animals in the 'hood."

And in the case of the bizarre, wrong-headed-ness of the LA Gang Tours and its non-profit organization of the same name, once again it is staffed by well-meaning advocates who aim to Save Lives, Create Jobs and Rebuild Communities, as their tag-line says. We are told by staffers and their corporate and non-corporate advocates that bus tours through gritty, neighborhoods peopled by poor youth of color caught up in violence, drugs and poverty, is for our own good. It will bring us jobs and opportunities and hope.

One of the many oxymoronic aspects of this concept is the notion, just like Dickens reported, that our neighborhoods, our communities, our corners, our schools, and our homes, are crazy, dirty, sick, disgusting and must be cleaned up, cleaned out and eradicated, hygienic metaphors about humans scattered about with impunity. And the complete and utter disregard for the fact that in everyone of these so-called, blighted neighborhoods, filthy apartment buildings and poor people schools, homes and communities, there are families and elders and children of color who are living, thriving, learning, and resisting. There are heroes, and leaders, and lecturers and healers, and dreamers and teachers, and poets and artists, revolutionaries and scholars. And it is only the people who have engaged in philanthropy pimping, colonized learning and formal institutions of helping that get honored, recognized and listened to for their heroism, beauty, power and agency.

It is the reason that POOR Magazine launched the PeopleSkool and promotes the notion of poverty scholarship. It is the reason we launched PoorNewsNetwork/PNN and a non-heirarchal form of media creation based on indigenous teachings and eldership. It is why we create our own research and up-end all forms of institutional domination. It is the reason we resist the notion that there is only one form of legitimate education, research and media production.

Try raising a child in poverty with very little money and almost no support, try taking care of an elder, or keeping your family fed, try healing outside of the western Medical industrial complex. Try eating well in the hood or being endlessly po'lice harassed, racially profiled and messed with. These things happen and they dont happen. Heroism happens, beauty happens, art happens, violence happens, just like it does everywhere.

Last year when I did a walk-through of the Tenement museum of New York, I learned that several hundred extremely poor mothers and fathers of 9 and 10 children managed to raise and feed and clothe their children with no indoor plumbing in a room the size of a closet. Try doing that. Tell me that mama or daddy isnt a hero, a scholar.

My poor single mama of color raised me alone in several of the neighborhoods slated for gang tours. In our Compton, Wilmos, East LA neighborhoods, we had gangs, which arguably were many more things than one colonized notion of violence, but we also had tamale vendors, muralists, break-dancers, poets, micro-business people, hip hop DJ's, low-rider car-art, lovers, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles and aunties.

I started this piece by saying I had terror in my heart about the gang tours, but be clear its not terror for the poor, unsuspecting tourist, default colonizers and 21st century missionaries, stumbling and trampling over our communities and cultures as the well-meaning gang tours commence, rather, its terror for the residents of the proposed tour sites, and so I caution all of the community members, families and young people to hold on carefully to their purses, wallets, belongings, poetry, art and scholarship, cause, well, you know how dangerous those tourists can be.

by Bruce Allison/PNN

After getting the fifth degree from a security guard who wanted to know
more about me then my own parents, I got approved to go into 1095
market street. A seven story building with only six or seven companies
in it. (also the site of POOR's previous office where we were unceremoniously gentrified out of!

I walked into environmental action non-profit, Green Actions’ headquarters for an interview with POOR Magazine family friend and long-time Bayview activist and power-house Marie Harrison. I sat down
while she had lunch, we had a half hour interview about Lennar, the
nuclear dumpsite, and biohazards all of which are located in Hunter’s
Point. The area where Lennar Corporation are planning to build low income housing
has been capped five times due to toxic and nuclear leakage.

As my interviewee explains “Newsom and his Auntie gave Lennar a 3 million dollar
loan” and magically Newsom’s brother in law got a job in Lennar’s
executive ranks. This area is so toxic that the Navy has lost all
records of how much has been dumped there. It goes back to WW2 when
Fat man and little boy were assembled there, and parts which weren’t
used were dumped into the water. Letterman Hospital in the Presidio
has records of animal parts being dumped there after experiments.
According to my host she mentions that pockets of retardation in the
hunter’s point area has been high for that community. A fire started
at a former hunting lodge that the SFFD was told not to put out, for
unknown reasons. My host also informed me “Us poor people have no
place to live because of Lennar”.

This area historically was a mixed use area through WW2, you had a
Japanese fishing colony and a hunting lodge in Hunter’s Point. During
WW2 a building was there for working people, which is presently the
ghetto, this building was for shipyard workers and their families
originally and was to be torn down at the end of the war. Now it’s the
Evan’s Street/Candlestick projects, this building was only meant to
last until the end of the war.

Also, the politicians that are involved in this fiasco goes as far as
Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi on the Federal
level. On the state level there is a friend of mine called Mark Leno
who I didn’t think would be so mean and Fiona Ma who is not a friend
of any poor person. On the city level those who are responsible are
Willie Brown former mayor and Gavin Newsom. Sophie Maxwell will get touchy if you mention the name
Lennar.

The housing set aside for the people who paid money for it will be 3 ten story towers that will be put in hunter’s point
where presently low income people are living. For the working people fifty percent of the area medium
income is $100,000 for family of three. The majority of these people
have already been moved across the bay to Oakland or other places
outside of San Francisco. This makes San Francisco have the lowest
population of families that live in a major metropolitan area.

From a sixth generation native of this city and an elder, my city has
been robbed and raped by many corporations and agencies, Lennar and the San Francisco redevelopment commission as their partner in
crime. The redevelopment commission is the back door the mayor uses to
do this dirty work without leaving his fingerprints on it.

by Staff Writer

Yeah it's me Anjia the little black girl

that gets judged by my peers

Yeah I was born in the bay

but that doesn't mean dat everyday

I should pay

Being misunderstood just because

they feel that I 'm hood


by: Anjia Glover Age: 17

by Joe B.

As I read the S.F.Guardian, you know the one with the clean 'shavin, homeless 'looking guy with the bright blue eyes carrying a poster.

He reminds me of someone but I degress. It seems Sup.Gavin Newsom is looking at former Mayor Giuliani's New York Model of helping homeless folks lead better lives but as I read further SF"G" informs me of flaws in the model.

Minor flaws such as working poor and homeless people sent or outside of Manhattan in centralized areas for Doe Fund (after a unknown nameless homeless woman) Mr. George McDonald, founder, former business exective.

He said "That people have to except personal responsibility and require regular drug testing."

Also known the Ready, Willing, and Able program where men, women trade welfare benefits for shelter beds and a street-sweeping job. Sound good but look below there is a kink or two in this yarn.

Dow Fund workers are paid $5.50 to $6.50 an hour, it also charges them $65 a week for room and board.

I don't doubt Mr. Mcdonald's heart is in the right place but don't know about this $65 weekly thing which seems like a locked-in, closed-in deal.

Another thing is Centralization.

In New York with its grid upon grid streets though most of it is flat it is still spread wide.

It reminds me of Malls,Supermarkets, Warehouse Stores, and neighborhood grocery store debate - in that Malls and giant supermarkets have nearly everything you'd need or want which is fine and good execept when it does not have an item such as food, medicines, or desserts
you are fond of; they tend to say "If its not here, you won't find it anywhere."

That's a false statement because the odd little one-person grocery or family run store may have that item.

Centralizisation in New York is only works if it way out of the way of businesses, neighborhoods, the only problem is people in need of help come from all over.

Unlike San Francisco it could help but here too people being people are not all able bodied mentally alert or willing to walk, take, busses, or cars to place way out of the way when multi service centers can be even scattered to where people are.

I distrust all-in-one-places it reminds me of killing fields or grounds (pick your own metaphor's) where everyone is gathered in one place to... Die.

Melodramatic?

Think Sup.G. Newsom is looking at New York as a model supposedly to help homeless folks off the streets but in The Old Apple homelessness has increased they not seen on Time's Square but hidden away from public view.

Could that be the game plan:

1. One centrilized location peope have to go to.

2. Banned from where they cannot be seen (did I say they?)

3. High fines working poor and homeless folk cannot be paid so
jail time is impossed plus working free for the city to pay off their dept.

4. Finally out of sight, out of mind and problems LOOK Like its solved meanwhile homelessness increases but John and Jane Public doesn't see people urinating, doing number-2, or aggressive panhandling which they did in the first place
BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO PLACE TO GO BUT THE PUBLIC STREET. How come there are more homeless folk on the streets.

Try asking City Mayor's all over the country about developers, landlords and real estate co.,[should I mention the honest folk of Enron or is it End-Run?] speculators and other business cronies in both Oakland, San Franciso, New York and anywhere else the homeless population is rising.

I was thinking of an old thought picture.
Four or five men, women, or young folks are artistic they draw or can render pictures of animals, objects or humans perfectly in wood, glass, plastic, metal, clay, or using light and in ice.

They all have work spaces to concentrate, and create, then cell their works. They are hard working bonafide artisans.

Now Imagine those same persons without homes...
finding nitches to do their works but always told to move on.

The told exact same artwork mind you is worthless junk.

Are the homeless people with the exact same talents when done on the street worthless?

Decentralization seems a better model that will help more people than one huge bureaucracy getting people hung up in more rules, regulation, red tape instead of higher education, technicals skills journalism, or higher income so people become more productive.

This New York "Magic Model" isn't working and I don't think 23-28 or a hundred "Get them out of sight and mind will help unless both noprofits, business, schools, and the jail system come together to prevent a problem and create more by keeping it out of sight.

That's all I can think of maybe other folks have better ideas.

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
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

As a House-Care Watcher Professional or [H.C.W. P.]
I'm a non drug user, smoker, drinker, pill popper - drug test me
anytime. Light vacuum, no windows or laundry.
Pets have their routine - make a list of walking times, foods, and
moods. INFORM FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, POLICE; IN FACT
INVITE THEM TO PERSONALLY SEE ME, ASK QUESTIONS
THEN NO MISUNDERSTANDING, MISHAPS OR ACCIDENTS
OF IDENTITY CAN HAPPEN.

Prices: $25 a day apartments/flats

$50 a week for 2 to 4 bedroom cottage.

$2000, or $3,000 a month depending on home not area.
$50,000 to $100,000 monthly for certain homes with
7to10 room TO BE TRUSTED EVEN A LITTLE BY THE COMMUNITY MAKES EVERYONE MORE SECURE AND LESS LIKELY TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS.All prices are negotiable.

by Staff Writer

Everyone survived or recovered from Labor Day?
I had my rest, helping people, visiting friends, lover's and
family out of the City.

I had a good time not thinking of work, assignments, or late night, last minute to-do things.

Then I've recieved a troubling email from a quiet, green, place called Fairfield California. Below is the whole email I
recieved.

FLASH ! FLASH! Tugboat Fish & Chips #13 - 1350 Travis Blvd. Suite 1360-B, Fairfield, CA j94533
(Westfield Shopping Town Solano) Serves excellent meals but have no in-house bathroom available to their customers who wait 10 to 15 minutes for their orders. Feel free to call - (707) 421-9228  to find out if they have corrected the problem.  Jameelya.

That's it,call is all I can say. My feeling is have a restroom so customers can clean up before, during, or after
meals. If I spend my money in an eatery I'd want to be able
to use the restroom or it will not be a place for me to frequent ever again plus word of mouth and soon it ends up on an internet site.

by Lester the cat and Dee

Hands tells me secretly, “Why don’t we invite those pigeons over for
dinner sometime soon?”

“Good idea,” I tell him.

The reason I’m writing about pigeons is that this guy named Joe sent
me something that he wrote about pigeons taking over the world (not with
us cats around, someone should tell him). This Joe wrote to me and Hands:

“Pigeons and cats mostly run Planet Earth!” Human’s destructive
capacities are their own traits. Let the humans believe that they’re in
control, stumble on to discoveries that we drop in their minds. Their
hidden control continues: These are Birdview, Pigeon mind(s). Are
You Sure That What You Think Is You Or Are They P-Minds?”

And he also sent us some photos- I’m including a few. Don’t notice if
they’re a little spotty: me and Hands had a little trouble with our spit
the day that we looked at them. We had a drooling problem for
some reason.

As soon as I finish this column, which is now, I think I’ll send this
guy Joe a Hands-written invitation to dinner with me and Hands- for him
and for his pigeons. We’ll talk Joe (humor him) into going out
and taking many more rolls of film of many more pigeons, lots and lots
of pigeons. We’ll give him categories: most beautiful pigeon, most happiest
pigeon, and so on- whatever takes him the longest.

Meanwhile me and Hands will amuse ourselves, discussing with the pigeons
this plan for taking over the world, and how “Pigeons and cats mostly
run Planet Earth”, and the Delicious Dinner we will make OF, for,
I mean, the pigeons that this Joe guy leaves with us.