Story Archives

by Sam Drew/PNN

“Our beef is with the city,” explained Nick Pagoulatos of the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition (MAC). As he spoke, a large gathering and I watched behind chain linked fences as SFPD arrested 11 peaceful protestors. They had erected 4 tents in an empty parking lot to draw attention to the community’s need for affordable housing. Pagoulatus continued, “It (The City) should get behind the community.”

At the heart of the issue is the proposed project for 3400 Cesar Chavez (formerly Kelly Moore Paint Store) near the hyper busy intersection of Mission and Cesar Chavez. Seven Hills Properties Development has offered to build 60 condos(with only 9 being market rate) and a 24 hours Walgreens on the location. Of the 60 units being built only 9 will be market rate. The remaining 51 units will be priced between $500,000 and 700,000.

The average Mission household makes $48,733. Displacement is a dark reality in the Mission district. The displacement horror currently being experienced by co-founder of POOR Magazine and poverty scholar Lisa Gray Garcia, aka Tiny is an eye opening example. At the protest she explained to me, “As a single mama living in the Mission I am being attacked by displacement by a slumlord who wants to flip housing into a 400% increase. The only way to do it is to get me out by illegal means. We are systematically being irradiated.” As she finished her statement she turned around and began loudly chanting support to those fighting for a better community and affordable housing.

The energetic crowd yelled in approval as demonstrators were booked and photographed by police. Pagoulatos exclaimed, “We have enough high end housing but not enough affordable housing. We don’t need more big box retail.”

Unlike many problems in San Francisco, the issue of affordable housing is one with viable solutions. As Pagoulatos confidently stated, “We’re not just saying no we’re saying yes to something better.” MAC has already submitted an alternative project that does not encourage displacement and gentrification. This proposal seeks to develop between 60 and 70 units of affordable housing and would include a new home for the San Francisco Day Labor Program.

The current Day Labor Program is located in a drab white office that is much too small for the number of community members accessing its services. On each corner several men line up daily to exchange a day’s hard labor for meager wages. These men are easy targets for abuse and exploitation.

I was a witness to this reality when I visited the Day Labor\ Worker Employment and Resource Center that same day. As I asked people for directions I heard loud screams coming from across the street. People were pointing and police sirens were blasting while tires screeched in agony. When I arrived at the site of the commotion I saw a young man on the ground being restrained by police and a large group of people standing around in a state of agitation. Some were filming with phone cameras while others engaged the officers in hotly debated conversation.

According to Jill Shenker of the Day Labor Program when she came outside, “I saw a day laborer on the ground with his head bloody saying they’re torturing me!” Shenker added that, “The cops said they were arresting him for weed. There was no need to hurt him.” The San Francisco Day Labor Program provides these vulnerable laborers with much needed resources.

As we banged on the chain link fence, we witnessed several protestors being shown the inside of the paddy wagon I check out the signs that are being vigorously waved up and down while those being arrested bowed their heads and entered the van. “We Need Family Affordable Housing!” “No Walgreens Monopoly!” “No Luxury Condos!” “Low Income Housing!” Oscar Grande of PODER tells me of a grander vision for the Mission. He states, “We’re getting the neighborhood involved. We have a vision for the next 20 years. We are out here winning hearts and minds. We want everyday people to take control. This sends a message to the city.”

1,560 family members including 760 children (40%-0-5 years old) are in single room occupancy hotels. If ever there was a win-win situation, the proposed 3400 Cesar Chavez site is it. It offers 60 to 70 units of affordable housing and allows for a reduction in traffic congestion by avoiding big box gridlock. It combats the gentrification and displacement running rampant in the Mission district. It improves community services for individuals who are often exploited because they are the most vulnerable. “Otro Proyecto Es Posible! Queremos viviendas accesibles y negocios pequenos.”

Please help send a message to the Planning Department and the Mayor. These city agencies and elected officials are supposed to serve the community well being. Don’t let them pass up a win-win-win-win combination.For more information go on line to www.Myspace.com/missionantidisplacement

by Lola Bean and Jewnbug/PNN

We are under attack

The community,

The children, the elders, the parents.

The residents in the communities of the Mission, Western Addition, Oakdale.

A gang injunction is a restraining order sought by the City Attorney's Office and issued by the court against members of the community labeled by law enforcement as gang members from a particular gang. The current gang injunctions sought by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera targets 32 community members, including one young woman with child, in the Mission District and 44 of our neighbors in the Western Addition. Through a gang injunction, these pre-selected members of the community are prohibited from engaging in certain activities in certain areas. Currently 60 block area of the Mission district and a 6 block section of the Western Addition have been targeted.

Some of these activities are already illegal while other activities are legal. According to a news release issued by City Attorney Dennis Herrera, the injunctions seek to prohibit such activities as loitering, trespassing, intimidation, graffiti vandalism, gang recruitment or retention tactics, displaying gang signs or symbols, or associating with other gang members. The proposed injunctions would additionally prohibit gang members from possessing drugs, graffiti implements, guns, and other dangerous weapons within the proposed zones. This gives the SFPD authority to arrest and prosecute people for such legal and harmless activities as visiting family members and carrying basic school supplies.

We are under attack

The community,

The children, the elders, the parents.

The residents in the communities of the Mission, Western Addition, Oakdale.

As a child the police

Surveillanced us in the mission

As a mom the police

Survelliance us in the Western Addition

Legal action that can lead to jail time can be taken against someone that is accused of violating these restrictions. Since gang injunction violations can be pursued via civil lawsuit, those accused are not allowed certain protections such as the right to an attorney or trial by jury. In cities where injunctions are in place, we can find evidence of such abuses of power. In San Jose, for example, community members faced 6 months in jail or a $1000 fine for engaging in such legal activities as talking to someone inside a car, carrying pens, and climbing a tree. According to Herrera's release, "Violations of such injunctions could be pursued civilly by the City Attorney, for monetary penalties and up to five days in county jail for each violation, or prosecuted criminally by the District Attorney, as a misdemeanor for up to six months in county jail.�

Me and my brother

Got harassed

Cuz we dressed a certain way

Cuz we gathered in a certain place

Tha accountability on how to behave

was to hold back tears-n-rage

eventho filled with pain

The first gang injunctions were used in Los Angeles in the 1980’s. Today, there are 33 injunctions issued against 50 groups that city alone. In San Francisco, the first injunction was issued in 2006 against about two dozen people in the Bay View District identified as the Oakdale Mob. In California, gang injunctions can also be found in San Jose, Burbank, Westminster, Pasadena, Redondo Beach, and Oxnard. Other states issuing injunctions include Texas and Illinois.

They are being sold to the public as a way to promote community safety.

In San Francisco, Dennis Herrera's claims, " We have a moral obligation...to do everything the law allows to target and disrupt the activities of criminal street gangs before they escalate into still further tragedies. And gang injunctions have proven to be an effective tool for doing exactly that. "

We (the people) r under attack

We r the experts

Forming groups is the way we hold onto our interdependence

As a unit we survive

When we r individuated

We die

Violence isnt stopped by marginalization of family

Its displaced

We are under attack

But have they really made communities safer?

According to the Mission District's La Raza Centro Legal, the gang injunctions:

1. Make it easier to criminalize youth

2. Exclude those under the injunction from their communities

3. Make it easier to prosecute alleged "gang members" by making "gang signs" a crime, wearing certain colors a crime, associating with other folks under injunctions a crime, and much more

4. Legalizes Racial Profiling against Blacks, Latinos, and other People of Color

The police threatened me on 30th and Mission

When I was 16 years old

Cuz I refused to give up my backpack

They put my hands behind my back

My face lay down on the cop car

The officer says be quiet

Or he'll take me to

Juvenile Hall

A report recently released by the Justice Policy Institute declares, " the billions of dollars spent on traditional gang suppression activities have failed to promote public safety and are often counterproductive. " Gang injunctions do not reduce crime. In many cases, gang injunctions lead to increases in violent crime in the " Safe Zones " as well as in neighboring communities.

Co-author of the report, Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies , Kevin Pranis states, " Our review of the research found no evidence that gang enforcement strategies have achieved meaningful reductions in violence, but ample proof that science-based social service interventions can curb delinquency. "

The experts say

poverty and child abuse

causes violence

The experts say

Police presence

Police harassment

Police brutality

Cause violence

La Raza Centro Legal states, "The mission district feels that gang injunctions are an extension of gentrification because it is segregating more people of color out of their communities were they could receive services or interact with community organizations that can provide help to them. We also feel that we have directly been pushed aside from any decision making in this process. Where is the jobs for youth? Where is the money for rehabilitation programs? Why haven't our children's schools been getting more funding?
Our communities should demand to be included in policies that will directly affect our families, friends, and communities.

cuz I cant afford

to own a house

or own a car or to finish college

Born into poverty

Funding is cut in recreation and in school

Education is privilege

so we find other ways to be cool

and u do the math

Invest into education

Economic Stability

Less Police Presence

Can create safety.

Community members have been intentionally left out of the gang injunction process. Organization that have succeeded in curbing violence and uplifting members in their communities are all speaking out against the gang injunctions and demanding that this attack on their communities be stopped.

I am the expert

Born into poverty

Born in the Mission in San Francisco

Incarcerating youth and giving police authority to harass people in Oakdale, the Western Addition, and the Mission will only increase community fear and violence.

The next gang injunction hearing will be on September 18 at 9AM - 400 McAllister in rooms 301 and 302. Please come out and show your support for the community.

If you are in need of information and resources, or you are one of the 76 people targeted by Denis Herrera, there are people out there that can help you. You can call Ana Maria Loya from La Raza Centro Legal at 415-575-3500 or Jennifer Leslie from the ACLU at 415-824-8717.

by Dee Allen

There is no peace between classes.

Only war.

The war may have begun several centuries ago,

But the latest battle began the moment

Certain words fell from certain lips of

Sons & daughters of privilege----

The line was drawn between factions

Before any shots were fired

Created distance through actions

Cooperation had expired----

Refuse to share living space under one roof*

Disrespecting the elders

Indigenous to this land

Disrespecting the POOR----

No solidarity

Just toxic air

Seperated from the community

In the basement, unfair

Security guards, tall gates

Disturbing & vast

Restricting my movement

Unless I wear a pass

Where's the equality?

Where's the social justice?

They are non-existent

In this "progressive" artifice

Sharing skills & resources?

They refuse

Even here, the indigent lose

Due to states of abuse

Became enemies hen we should've been allies.

I was prepared to fight the good fight

Against a common adversary.

The concealed weapons of

Race & class privilege put an end to that.

In its place, a petty conflict

Without corpses & blood.

The ones who broke our trust:

Born with a silver spoon

Bred with the world's luxuries

Served to them on a silver platter

So they are free from stressing over

Starvation, thirst, destitution, want

And security.

Because they have been sheltered

Away from poverty, the

Privileged will never know the needs of the

Impoverished.

The will remain in darkness, despite their

Efforts to reach out to us, half-hearted.

Unless they toss their baggage aside.

Or kick it down.

Dedicated to saving an

Endangered woman's CHOICE in the USA

Whether or not to carry a growing seedling

Inside her 9 months long----

From the other side of the battlefield:

Pledged to making media

Untainted by corporate world influence

Through the lens of common people

Honourbound to saving this world from

Cataclysms manmade

Through their stories

Became enemies when we should've been allies.

They the privileged perpetrate

During activism on parade

Screaming: "WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE!

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!"

Another world will be impossible

To reach if oppressive systems

Stil stand erect

In us & in movements.

Lessons learned in a battlefield

Called the United $tates Social Forum.

by Rob Rooke

The nine letters of the HOLLYWOOD sign up on the hills are visible for many of Los Angeles’ rich and poor alike. While the working poor of East Hollywood can always see the sign, Hollywood Inc, it never looks back at them like it does for the rich.

Hundreds of thousands in LA live in housing with rats, roaches, broken windows, mildew, leaking roofs, insufficient hot water, faulty electricity. Many of these people make up the millions of working people that propelled themselves into the headlines on the recent May Day marches. These are the same people that scared Capitol Hill’s Congressmen into retreat in their attempts to isolate and crush America’s undocumented. These same families, with or without papers, continue to live in the slum conditions that LA landlords’ impose.

One slum-like building stands on Lockwood Avenue in East Hollywood. The eight-unit building is divided into one bedroom apartments that are smaller than 700-square feet each. The squeeze of high rents and low pay can mean up to 3 generations sometimes living in one small unit. For years, broken windows here have been duct-taped, while the landlord promises to ‘get back’ to tenants. Roaches vastly outnumber all other species in the building. The proliferation of cucarachas are so normal for the children that they have invented games revolving around killing them.

During the winter, children in these units got sicker than their school friends. Tenants were expected to buy their own space heaters, but with the electrical wiring so ancient that microwave and television-use can’t co-exist it is usually only luck that prevents deadly electrical fires in these apartments.

But on the day I visited this building, the past was getting pushed aside and the future was rolling in. Angelica, from the Campaign for Renters Rights walked me around the buliding. There was every sign of an active construction site. Brand new windows ready to go in, cans of paint, sheets of plywood and workers walking back and forth.

Angelica introduced us to Marta and her two daughters. Marta works what she describes as a very low paid childcare job. She has held onto this apartment because of Rent control. She proudly showed us her brand new wall-mounted heater. All 8 units now have these same heaters. By law, a landlord must provide one, but for the last 12 years of Marta’s tenancy her landlord evaded this minor detail. They’ve also remodeled Marta’s bathroom, slightly haphazardly, but it has been somewhat improved.

The landlord put in a new sink and counter top and painted. I looked under the sink to see where Marta showed me they had attached the new counter to mold-ridden wood: a gang of cockroaches scurried out. Marta was very impressed with the improvements and very grateful for the help in organizing. Another tenant made it clear to me that much still needs to be done and the repairs are far from over; however, he also, was both pleased and surprised that the landlord, after years of inactivity, was doing repairs.

Julia, Angelica and Arturo, over recent months, spent many, many hours talking to the tenants, eating with them, detailing all their housing problems. Arturo’s folks have lived there for years. They put flyers up around the neighborhood. They took tenants down to the City. They did their best to embarrass our public servants. And shy tenants, used to getting second best, or worse, rose up and demanded a voice. Their collective voice and their courage is currently transforming their slum conditions.

The landlord, Alfredo Alvarado, is a major shareholder in a factory in Peru and the owner of a number of apartment buildings. He has done his best to resist spending any of his money. He tried to scare tenants with evictions. He told them they could be fined for complaining. He called the police on the organizers and reminded everyone that he has “big lawyers.� But his old tricks did not work this time around.

On leaving the neighborhood, Julia walked across the street and took a yellowing flyer off the windshield of a dust covered old van. SE BUSCA – Alfredo Alvarado: WANTED – to do repairs, with the landlord’s picture on it.

This great drama between the poor and those intent on keeping them poor will continue in all of the world’s “other Hollywoods�. And as that tide gathers steam and people continue to raise their collective voice, all that has been stolen from us - will be taken back.

by Sam Drew/PNN

According to Webster’s dictionary journalism is defined as "The collecting, writing, editing and publishing of news in periodicals." At Poor Magazine, we practice Webster’s kind of journalism, but we take it a step further. Actually we just flip corporate media right on its head. At POOR, we practice "I" journalism. The "I" is the life experience that the individual brings to each article. The words of our unique experiences with poverty, gentrification, racism, sexism, classism, and displacement breathe life and hope onto blank pages.

Recently the John Stewart Company, a developer of public housing in San Francisco, demanded a retraction of statements that appeared in the May 17, 2007 San Francisco Bay View article "Selling of the City." In the article, several current and former tenants of John Stewart properties tell their stories about the slumlord style conditions they have had to endure. They recite a litany of violations of human rights experienced first hand. Their words come directly from experience, not from spin-doctors or well-groomed and rehearsed "experts." By demanding the retraction of the statements made in the article, John Stewart is saying these people’s experiences don’t matter. John Stewart is saying the experiences of these people are false. John Stewart is calling them liars.

On July 26th at high noon, scholars from POOR Magazine arrived at John Stewart’s door. We were there to rebut what John Stewart Company had claimed in their "slap" suit against us and the Bay View Newspaper. Several of the people quoted in the article were also present. We stood there with our own ammunition - our experience of struggle against the bad practices at John Stewart.

Poverty scholar Laure McElroy defiantly reaffirmed the truth of her quotes regarding John Stewart. She said, "Yes, I was quoted and yes those were my experiences…I applied for housing 4 times at 3 different locations … and I was told conflicting stories about income verification."

Some curious San Franciscans approached us. We handed out informational leaflets recounting John Stewart's unethical practices. McEloy continued, "John Stewart you are making housing inaccessible to people like me with a family."

John Stewart Company did not ask for retractions of statements such as, "The elevators were often out of order… they were extremely dangerous. Once a small child’s finger was chopped off when it got stuck in the door." Or statements such as, "After a major fire in one of the towers where a Black firefighter was killed authorities discovered emergency exits chained shut preventing residents escape." No one questioned the statement, "Police moonlighted as security guards harassed and molested the residents." These uncontested quotes speak more loudly as to what type of housing developer John Stewart.

The types of statements being contested are statements of fact and squabbles over mailing dates. POOR Magazine editor and poverty scholar Lisa Gray-Garcia sums up the retraction demand. She said, "How can they say these statements are not true when we have actually experienced these things. We are the low income housing residents."

Marie Harrison proudly confronted John Stewart’s demands for retraction. Harrison said, "I don’t have no reason to lie." She went on to say, "Every property John Stewart works on, I’m called in with complaints."

As more and more speakers approached to tell their stories I could see the Security Guard nervously eyeing us. We were confined to a small
space on the public sidewalk.

Lisa Gray-Garcia slammed John Stewart on their false claims. She said, "They make a claim that there is a one for one replacement. Meaning when one family is displaced one family gets housing. This is just one of many ways they lie to the community. Another way is to claim they are providing affordable housing for poor people." Gray-Garcia continued on, her voice demanding attention of all, "They displaced people out of their homes. We don’t need mixed income housing. We need real housing.”

As the short but powerful demonstration came to a close we all gathered up our signs and any left over items. The ground was cleaner than when we found it. What a novel idea, coming clean and being a good citizen our corporate counterparts. I think they need to be taking notes from us.

by Christina Geovany/Xicana Moratorium Coalition

It has been 37 years between the first Chicano Moratorium and the present day. Raza is still constantly facing the same struggles and dealing with similar problems such as the war, immigration, deportation, gang violence, poverty, etc.

The first Chicano Moratorium was a march that took place on August 29, 1970 when people gathered to protest the outstanding number of casualties in the Vietnam War that were of Raza decent. On that day 20,000 to 30,000 Raza peacefully gathered and protested for the cause, which until recently was the first time that such a large amount of Raza had come together to unite their voices in protest here in the Aztlan/U.S. Territory.

It was a peaceful gathering until the East Los Angeles police used the excuse of a stolen six pack to suddenly riot against the protestors. As a result three young people died, many were injured, families were greatly affected and countless Americans were shocked by the brutal measures that the law enforcement acted upon that day.

On that day a young boy named Angel Dias, Lynn Ward, a teen Brown Beret and Rubén Salazar, a Mexican-American columnist, activist and reporter that worked for the Los Angeles Times, were killed by the police. Rubén Salazar was killed by being struck in the head by a tear gas canister shot at short range. Many people still believe that this was done purposefully because he was one of the public figures at the time that was shedding light on the struggles that Raza folks were facing and called people out to make change.

August 26th will be the 28th annual Xicana Moratorium Day where we will commemorate what happened that day and continue the fight to rid our people of injustices.

The Xicana Moratorium is a significant event for Raza because we remember those that have given themselves for the cause by commemorating them with an event that unites people to organize and fight for change.

This year the event will be held in San Francisco at Dolores Park on 20th and Dolores in the Mission District and will last from 11am to 4pm. There will be a sunrise ceremony at 5am with Danza Xitlali, vendors, food, fun activities for kids and the whole family to enjoy as well as live music and other performances from talented individuals from all around the bay area.

Our theme this year is “Con Nuestras Raices Rompemos Fronteras”or “With Our Roots We Break Borders.” As young folks we constantly see the borders in our neighborhoods by gangs and turfing, but through embracing and acknowledging our indigenous roots we can come together as Xicanas and prove that NO BORDER whether it may be physical or mental will ever stop us and our legacy of resistance. The youth organization Huaxtec, H.O.M.E.Y and the Xicana Moratorium Coalition organize this event for our community to come together with our families and friends to speak out on the injustices in our community.

by Joseph Bolden

To all the reader folks if I have any left pre or post ATA especially after what happened that day! I say my public appologies to anyone who is offened by this.

The Hooter’s Affair
Our 3 day trip to the 1st U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta is cut short by a day because our two designated drivers, Ms. Yaya and Anulfo were so efficient in that skill.

Though we all slept some do better than others.

Humid,hot,I and our Poor Magazine contingent quickly signed up before going to our temporary living quarters.

Day 2 is blurred with an early protest/march planned with heartfelt speeches of many people.

I’m tired,feel slow, groggy, and dazed.

Don’t know where the march began,do know to keep hydrated constantly drinking water so my brain won’t boil over or so I’ve been told.

In this long sketchy march is Tiny,Vivian,Hain, Jewnbug,Ryata,and myself.

As humid heat drench us in our own sweat I’m breathing shallow.

Mercifully,as we near the end of the march Jewnbug steps ahead of me.

In front of her is a public fountain.

Like everyone else she splashed her face looks like a pixie at play among mortals ["She would be wearing a bra"] my reptile brain said as I too dunk head,face in the warm pool loving the wet relief the fountain gives me.

Trudging back I hear a voice call "Joe,joe." Its Vivian’s.

Feeling exhausted from the march and hungry I look up, saw in huge orange letters ‘HOOTERS’

Simultaneously, there are three women calling me beckoning to enter.

I’m thirsty,hungry,the two Nubian beauties outside call decided my next stupid move… to enter Hooter’s.

The women,gorgeous but at the moment it is all about the food.

Somehow,after going to the restroom,ordering food, I’d forgotten all about the march, my buddies,find I’m lost in an Atlanta Hooter’s establishment!

I find a phone,call, relay my predicament,hear raucous laughter,think Jewnbug says "You betrayed the revolution for Tits and Ass!"

I’m picked up by Anulfo grinning "Lost huh,Joe." Later,what Jewnbug really said was "It’s a pity, Joe sold out the revolution for Ass and Tittie."

At least day 2 in Atlanta,G. is a great day!

I wasn’t feelling tired anymore.

by Queenanndi/POOR Press

You want to apologize for slavery?

Why don't you just put raw onion juice on the whip and hit me again?

What a slap in the face to the afrikan!

Other nations that were victims of amerikkkan atrocities got reparations, regardless of those tragic events happening on amerikkkan soil, or not. What's due to the poor slave and his/her descendants, whom for centuries by force shedded blood, sweat and tears. Families were sacrificed, names, language culture, manhood, womanhood- lives were lost, just to primarily profit the Europeans and their descendants.

So what's in it for the afrikan slave? An apology? Try again!!! The damage has been done and recycled, upgrading to a terrible level that resulted in my people being psychologically murdered, full of self-hatred, but yet still willing to kill one another to protect massa's plantations (ghettos, sets), or to protect massa himself.

After hundreds of years of intentionally destroying a people and their land, you apologize? You want us to forget-just like that? Your apology to me is like a rapist violating his victim, apologizing to her, then returns to violate her again! Plain insane!

Even if you apologize today, a descendant of a slave is still going to die tomorrow, due to amerikkkanization, and the Willie Lynch Syndrome? , just to name a few ailments my people suffer from.

If you are truly sorry for the inhumane, brutal conditioning that was inflicted upon blacks (especially), then why are you (the powers that be for now) repeating this psychotic, bloodthirsty behavior? Why are nooses being tied to trees as constant reminders to slave descendants? Why are the perpetrators left unpunished and powerful? Why the offspring of slaves are still being railroaded, framed, and blamed in the kourt systems? Why such vicious attacks on all peoples of color around the globe? You even sacrifice your own children if they dare challenge your sickly plans of world domination and war.

So as for your Apology?? Not accepted.

But cash, checks, money orders, lumber, land, liberation, equality- write it out to:

Descendants of Stolen People?

P.O Box R.E.P.A.R.A.T.I.O.N.S

To all people of color, misplaced and scattered in the lands-777

That WILL be accepted!

Queenandi is the author of the recently published POOR press book, Life, Struggle and Reflection . She will be reading at Modern Times Book store on September 5 @ 7:00 p.m.

by Sam Drew/PNN

The last time I was at cozy Mosswood Park nestled comfortably in the North Oakland flatlands, I watched with awe playground basketball legend Hook Mitchell dunk a basketball over a parked VW beatle- with room to spare. Wandering around the park this peaceful Sunday afternoon in August, I wasn't here to watch basketball, but rather to report and sup-port for POOR Magazine on CURB's (Californians United for a Responsible Budget).

The event- aptly named I scream against prison expansion- was an ice cream social shouting out against the largest prison expansion in history. As usual, I arrived a little early. I quickly walked over to the basketball courts hoping to catch a glimpse of some hoops before listening to the voices that were screaming, "increase the peace and stop the violence." Amazingly, the basketball courts were all empty on this heavenly Sunday afternoon.

So I dejectedly loafed over to the baseball diamond, where a group of young gents were attempting to play softball. I was greeted with a wary hello as the batboy eyed me with concern. Soon a heavy set woman dashed over near me to gather her precious items thinking they would vanish into the Oaktown haze. I noticed then and there that the fear of something of personal value being stolen had become paramount in this community and so many others.

However, a real, much bigger theft- one of the greatest in history- is going on under all of our collective noses- this theft was the one I was here to learn about today. This spring the California State Legislature and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed bill AB900 a 7.8 billion dollar program to build 53,000 new prison and jail cells without public input. This massive buildup will be the largest prison building project in history.

California is facing multi-billion dollar budget deficits. The more money we put into our $9.9 billion prison budget the less we have to spend on health care, education, social services and community programs.

Master of Ceremonies Micia Mosely bounced out to greet the crowd, smiling as she got straight to the point of the event saying, "We are here to make sure we shut the prisons down, when prisons expand there are cuts in education, young people need schools to give them alternatives." She then invited everyone to partake in music, spoken word, ice cream and cake too. "This is a celebration and education" she beamed.

Suddenly, a group of performers from COV Records inhabited the stage. COV Records, a part of Art in Action, is a group that shows what positive things youths can do for the community if there're shown love. The artists began to energetically jump around as they rapped, "I'll be damned if I'll lose my life to violence." As they continued to patrol the stage they reminded us that last year alone in Oakland there were148 homicides. “We need to silence the violence,� they yelled.

As the audience basked in the sublime slice of conscious rap, the names of the youthful performers were announced to the crowd, who answered with rounds of appreciative applause. .. “Queen Deelah, The Faculty, Trinidad, Little-O, D-Knock, Lucian and D.J. GeoD.� As the young troupe left the stage, M.C. Mosley said, “We want to educate not incarcerate.�

California houses more inmates than France, Great Britain, Germany and Japan combined The main beneficiaries from the prison industrial complex buildup are those who provide services to the prisons; those who build the prison facilities and supply the prison guards to watch the inmates.

Nat Smith(Critical Resistance) and Serena Huang(CURB) came to the stage to talk about how AB900 effects them personally. Smith somberly stated, “Thinking about my Uncle Kelly, I can’t even remember what he looks like because he’s locked up… I’m thinking about 53,000 more beds. That’s 53,000 more faces people won’t be able to see.�

Huang spoke about what it’s going to take to stop AB900 “They met behind closed doors and decided to build 53,000 beds. We need to mobilize to stop this,� Huang continued, “We need to realize this effects all of us. These beds are being built for us.�

Six out of ten people in prison or jail are African- American or Latino. Out of every five people sent to prison in the United States, one is sentenced in California.

Spoken word artists Biko and Omar Sandoval (Youth Against Youth Incarceration) slung words to expand minds and win hearts. Biko posed the question, “If 66% of students don’t graduate why are we shutting the schools down?� While Sandoval took dead aim at the embedded mainstream media as he spat, “The media is a tool to hypnotize.�

CURB isn’t just about educating and mobilizing the public against AB900, but is also about creating solutions and has produced a position paper to dramatically reduce the prison population, called 50 Ways to Reduce the Number of People in Prison in California The book shares substantive ways to heal our state and return our stolen property .

Ms. Major from TIP(Trans/Gender Variant In Prison Committee) articulated how the prison industrial complex continues to rob us blind, “Transgenders are people who suffer in this system too… On Monday in front of the San Francisco Courthouse we will have a silent protest for a transgender prisoner that was killed in prison.�

MC Eddie Zhenz (Asian Prisoner Support Network) strolled to the microphone and breathed a long sigh of relief as he strongly declared, “I just spent 21 years in prison. We need money for education. Let’s shut this prison industrial complex down.�

The California Youth Authority spends $220,000 per child per year to keep each in incarceration. Over 40% of prisoners are incarcerated for non-violent offenses. 200,000 young people are doing time in adult prisons.

As the ice cream social came to a close MC Mosley reminded everyone to visit the various tables set-up too inform us about what we could do to help shut down AB900.

“Be sure to write State Senator Don Perata and tell someone else what went on here today.. De-colonize your minds,� exclaimed Mosley.

I wandered past the basketball courts again. This time the courts were packed full of agile hoopsters sweating and straining for playground glory. Ensconced on a bench was a greyheaded OG wearing a basketball uniform that hadn’t felt sweat in years. He was screaming advice to any player willing to listen, “Always keep your eye on the ball…Stop all that dribbling and pass the ball to the open man.�

It seemed no one was heeding his sage advice until one baller snapped off a crisp bounce pass that lead directly to an acrobatic lay-up. Just shows you what great things youths can do when they are given good guidance, love and resources.

by Sam Drew, tiny and Tiburcio/PNN

"Stop making a mess," screamed a worker from the Sunset Scavenger Company truck as the lonely hunched figure leaned over the soiled trashcan quickly transferring cans and bottles into his sturdy cart. The old man's face remained impassive as people barked orders at him. You could tell he was used to being belittled for doing his job picking up recyclables from various trash bins and garbage cans in the area. He quickly finished his task and headed for the next can as we watched him from our hidden spot.

Today POOR Magazine was going undercover to do a story on recycling in the Mission district. With me was POOR Magazine editor Tiny and her observant son Mr. T. We were up at 6a.m. to follow Sunset Scavengers on their routes for our groundbreaking, under cover piece on recycling waste.

"Have you got the camera and the video cam," asks Tiny, as she keeps checking her purse for keys. I think to myself " Yeah, But I don't know how to operate them." This is my first 60 minutes-type undercover article. You know, the hard-hitting journalistic piece where they pop out from behind the wall with tape of the crooked politician taking the bribe money. It might be hard for me to hide considering I'm 6'5" and almost 275 pounds with a large Dr. J afro, but I'm tryin' hard to be invisible.

As we follow the huge trash trucks in our blue Volvo I feel about as undercover as O.J. Simpson at a Bronco dealership. Tiny asks me to try to be inconspicuous as we pass by the loud black and white trucks. As soon as we pass by the truck operator spots me. I guess it's the afro. But we run into our lonely recycler again doing his quiet efficient job at a new site. He doesn't even look up as we peer at him with our honed eyes. His round bearded face stares without emotion as he rapidly separates cans from bottles. Little did we know that this unassuming man would be the main player in the story that was going to unfold this early morning.

"In the month of June the company started to import strike breakers and train them on the trucks. They had them follow the drivers on their routes." said Chuck Mack Secretary-Treasurer of the Brotherhood of Teamsters and Auto Truck Drivers, local No. 70. He was telling to what lengths Waste Management of Alameda had gone in preparation to lock out its 500 workers in the ongoing labor dispute covering Alameda County. Mack was quick to inform me that this is not a strike, "we are locked out the company would not let our members work."

Going into the second week of the lockout trash and garbage is pilling up as poorly trained "replacement workers" miss many locations in poorer areas. The missed trash pickups have become a public health issue that various cities have addressed by taking Waste Management to court.

As I'm surveying the sickly mess, I remember the words that were screamed at the lonely recycler the morning of our secret mission," Stop making a mess" What a mess has been made by Waste Management, who had no real plan to pick up trash after the lockout but seemed more intent on delivering a message to the union. I guess the old man who recycled the cans and bottles so efficiently wasn't such a nuisance after all.

Cities the size of San Francisco and Oakland create so much waste no one can handle it, so why are recyclers like the old man being criminalized for removing unwanted stuff? Why are cities being punished by companies that have beef with unions? Could the solution be to give these street corner recyclers, the ones who are so often looked down upon and publicly harassed, real rights like the ones of the big recycling companies?

My editor, myself and Bruce Allison, a poverty and disability scholar are therefore proposing, the Independent Recyclers as Subcontractors, a revolutionary solution to the harassment of these workers and the cities waste management problems.

Independent Recyclers as Subcontractors

All independent recyclers should hold the same rights as all the major recycling companies. Independent recycling should be decriminalized, recognized and appreciated for the meticulous work it is. POOR's proposal for independent contractors should include not only decriminalization but remuneration and benefits for the independent contractors. This could be accomplished in many different ways. One proposal is if the recyclers were able to obtain vendor cards that would allow them to acquire their recyclable products without being harassed. One option is vendor cards could be made available to them for no charge. These cards do not need to be too complex, just a simple card with their name, address and photo should be sufficient. Two cross streets could be used as a valid address if if the recycler is houseless. The cards should also provide free medical care for the holder.

The minimal cost of this program to the cities who enroll would be offset by the millions of carbon footprints saved from the quality of work standards that would practiced by the independent recyclers as well as the drastic increase in recycled products actually being recycled, and the revenue that would come from that increase.

If a proposal such as this would be implemented, then maybe this whole big mess could be cleaned up once and for all.

Editors Note: The Editors and Scholars of POOR Magazine want to make sure that the community understand that in no way was this expose meant to disrespect or dismiss the very hard-working union workers who work for recylcing and waste management companies and belong to unions. Rather, this proposal and expose was written with the goal of achieving long deserved rights for the
micro-business people who do recyling and are not recognized as workers, but rather criminalized for the work that they do. And that perhaps through this licensing/subcontract proposal could be
an adjunct worker to the union laborer through a cooperative agreement in an increasingly waste conscious, globally warmed world