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by Angela Pena, Gloria Esteva, Teresa Molina, Patricia/ Voces de Immigrantes en Resistencia

For English, scroll down

Uno de los ejemplos mas brutales de los recientes I.C.E. ataques contra migrantes son las redadas de inmigracion que han ocurrido en la cadena de tacquerias populares, El Balazo.

En el dia viernes, segundo de Mayo 2008, ICE conducto una redada inmensa en once restaurantes de El Balazo en la ciudad de San Francisco y algunas ciudades en la bahia del este. Los agentes de ICE entraron a los restaurantes, y actuaron como que iban a tener almuerzo cuando de repente llamaron a otros agentes para que entreran al restaurante, bloquiaron las salidas, y empezaron a interrogar a los patrones y empliados del restaurante, violentamente buscando por sus documentos en sus bolsas. 63 empleados fueron detenidos ese dia sin los agentes explicandoles sus derechos, la razon porque los estaban deteniendo, o por cuanto tiempo iban a estar encarcelados.

Una mujer joven que fue detenida por los agentes de ICE, se nego a dar su nombre, pero dio este testimonio. "Ellos aparecieron derepente, apuntaron sus armas a nosotros, y nos amenazaron. Entonces, ellos nos ordenaron a entrar sus carros, violentamente busquaron documentos de identificacion en nuestros cuerpos y nuestras bolsas. Yo estaba aterrorizado. Luego nos hecharon en diferentes coches y no nos dijieron para donde ibamos. La barrera del idioma que se presenta entre los agentes de ICE y los trabajadores detenidos, crea un tipo especifico de abuso en cual los agentes de ICE se aprovechan. Los agentes gritan a sus victimas en ingles abusivamente, sabiendo bien que los detenidas no entienden el idioma. Todo el raite hasta las celdas, los agentes se estaban riendo y burlando de mi, diciendo que la unica cosa que los latinos son buenos es para hacer burritos. Finalmente llegamos a 630 Samson donde me arrojaron en una celda. Tomaron demaciadas photografias de mi. Mandaron a un interprete que grito para presionarme a hablar, me decian que tenia que responder sin informarme que tenia el derecho a permanecer en silencio o mi derecho a hablar con un abogado. Gritandome abusidamente, querian asustarme para firmar algunos documentos que yo no sabia lo que significaban. Creo que los documentos eran algo acerca de mi ser ilegal. Decidi solo firmar documentos que yo entendi que decian que un juez podria supervisar mi caso. Ellos me deteniern por ocho horas en las que solo me dieron un sandwich y una pequena botella de agua. Antes de que me liberaron, me pusieron un grillete electronico en mi tobio. "

Agentes de ICE tormentan nuestros lugares de negocios y propiedades privadas como si tubieran ordenes de corte para asaltar edificios llenos de delincuentes. Este es un completo abuso de poder. Los trabajadores inocentes son intimidados por los agentes y sus armas y corren, igual que cualquier persona haria. En los casos de el balazo, los clientes y los empleados corrieron a las salidas, pero ya era demasiado tarde, agentes de ICE habian rodeado el local y estaban esperando a todas las posibles salidas con aarmas apuntadas preparados para arrestar estas personas inocentes.

Las redadas de inmigracion estan aterrorizando a toda nuestra comunidad migrante raza. No solo afectan los individuales que detienen, afectan las familias de esta gente que es depedasada atra vez de las deportaciones. Las vicitmas inocentes que fueron injustamente detenidos, estan sujetos a grandes cantidades de estres a causa de estos actos de brutalidad. Agentes estan tratando a la gente de nuestra comunidad como animales.

Cuando la joven termino contando su historia, queria enviar un mensaje a su comunidad Raza. "No olviden las recomendaciones y advertencias que organizaciones como POOR nos dan en sus folletos de derechos civiles para nuestra comunidad migratoria raza. Usted podria quedar atrapada en una situacion en la que necesitaria saber sus derechos."

Como parte de la campaña de educación pública de derechos de inmigrantes No Corra / Don 't Run, el programa Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia patricionado por POOR magazine está publicando una serie de artículos para dar a luz a las atrocidades que se estan cometiendo contra los Comunidad Raza Migratoria en el Área de la Bahía. Estas redadas de I.C.E (Inmigración y Aduanas) son un ejemplo de los constantes intentos de destruir nuestra comunidad. Es muy importante que nos involucremos para apoyar y empoderar a esta comunidad. Si usted está interesado en apoyar a las víctimas de estos ataques injustos de Inmigración, aquí esta un enlace a información sobre la parillada para recaudar fondos para los trabajadores de El Balazo . Todas las donaciones iran directamente a las víctimas de las redadas de El Balazo y sus familias.

Volante(pdf)

In English

One of the most brutal examples of the recent I.C.E. attacks on migrant folks are the immigration raids that have happened at the popular chain of El Balazo tacquerias across the Bay Area.

On Friday, May 2 2008, ICE conducted a mass raid in several El Balazo taquerias in San Francisco and other Bay Area cities. ICE agents entered the restaurants and acted as if they were just ordinary customers there for lunch when suddenly they signaled to other agents to enter the restaurant, surround all possible exits, and aggressively interrogated not only the employees, but customers as well. Sixty-three employees were detained that day without the ICE agents ever explaining to them their rights, the reason they were being detained, or for how long they would be detained.

A young woman who was arrested by ICE, refused to give her name but gave this testimony. "They appeared out of nowhere, pointed their guns at us, and threatened us. Then, they ordered us to get inside the car, violently searched our bodies and snatched our bags away from us to get our identifications. By this time I was terrified. They then threw us into different cars and didn't tell us where we were going. The entire ride to the holding cells they were laughing and making fun of me saying that all we were good for was making burritos. We finally arrived at 630 Samson where they threw me in a cell. They took a lot of pictures of me. The interpreter pressured me into talking by yelling at me, telling me that I had to respond without telling me that I have the right to remain silent or my right to talk to an attorney. By yelling at me angrily, they wanted to scare me into signing some papers that I did not understand. I think the papers mentioned something about me being illegal. I decided only to sign papers that said that a judge could oversee my case. They detained me for eight hours in which they only gave me a sandwich and a small bottle of water. Before I was released, they attached an electronic tracking device to my ankle."

Immigration agents storm places of business and private property as if they are raiding a building full of criminals. Innocent, unsuspecting migrant workers get paranoid and run, just like anyone would. In the cases of the Balazo taquerias, restaurant customers and employees sprinted to the rear exits but it was too late, ICE agents had surrounded the premises and were waiting at all possible exits with guns drawn to arrest these innocent people

ICE agents are terrorizing the entire migrant Raza community. The innocent workers that they arrest are being subjected to massive amounts of stress because of these acts of brutality. Agents are treating arrestees like animals. The language barrier creates a specific kind of abuse that ICE agents take advantage of.

ICE agents have reportedly aimed their guns at the faces of their victims while yelling at them in English knowing that their victims don't understand what they are saying thus creating a heightened state of panic. Agents then violently grab the belongings of their victims, be it purse, bags, or wallets, as if they were mugging them. Once agents have some kind of identification of the detained workers, they slap cuffs on their wrists, throw them in different cars, and make fun of these poor, innocent people all the way to 630 Sansom street where arrestees are detained in cells without being read their Miranda rights, and without being told what they did wrong.

The scare tactics of ICE also unlawfully force detainees to sign papers that they don't understand. Agents yelled at the workers and threatened them with jail time in an attempt to get them to sign voluntary deportation papers. The detainees pleaded that they needed a lawyer present to explain what was going on, the agents laughed and told them that they would have access to a lawyer after they signed the paper.

These innocent people were detained for up to eight hours, in which they were only given a sandwich and a small bottle of water to supplement their bodies. It is for certain that when these people are finally released they will be emotionally scarred forever. Never would they forget that day that they were accosted and trapped like animals and stripped of their dignity. For each one of these victims there lies a tangible reminder of this horrific event strapped to their ankle in the form of an electronic tracking device.

When the young woman finished recapping her story, she wanted to send a message to her Raza community. "Don't take for granted the recommendations and warnings that organizations give us about informing ourselves on our rights. You could get caught in a situation where you need to know them."

As part of the No Correr/Don't Run Immigrant Rights Public Education Campaign, the Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia program at POOR magazine is publishing a series of articles giving light to the atrocities being committed against the Migrant Raza Community in the Bay Area. These I.C.E raids are an example of the constant attempts to destroy our community. It is imperative that we come together to support and empower Migrant Raza Folk. If you are interested in supporting the victims of these unjust Immigration attacks, here is a link to info on the El Balazo Fundraising BBQ. All donations will go directly to the victims of the El Balazo raids and their families.

Flyer(pdf)

by Jennifer Fogg/POOR Magazine Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern

I fumble to take a seat, in the congested overflow room of San Francisco's City Hall. I focus on the commanding figure that fills the screen of the over sized television to my right. It is broadcasting the Board of Supervisor's hearing on Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposed Community Justice Center (CJC) from the packed room across the hall.

The figure dominating the screen, I learn is Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, from district 5. He is relaying his fears that the limited jurisdiction of the court, which ends near the border of his district, will cause what he called "crime creep" and that "serial inebriates" will slither over into the neighborhoods of his district if the court is put in place.

The CJC will handle non-violent, misdemeanor and felony cases, so called quality of life crimes, such as loitering and graffiti among many others. Instead of being issued a citation, people will be taken directly into the CJC and given a community service sentence, always with the threat of incarceration behind it. The court will have jurisdiction over parts of SOMA, Civic Center, Union Square, and the Tenderloin. According to the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, a primary goal of the court is to, "serve as a gateway to social services through the power of the court." Newsom's CJC project is based on former Mayor Giuliani's Midtown Community Court in Manhattan, which by all corporate media accounts has been a shining example of how to eliminate the visible signs of poverty and create a Disneyesque Times Square.

The Mayor has proposed to cut $20 million from existing social programs in his new budget, leaving the most vulnerable of San Francisco's citizens to bear the brunt of the burden. Simultaneously proposing the CJC, which is supposed to be a "gateway" to these very services, will cost an estimated 2.9 million dollars just to implement. The two seem incompatible. It appears that Mayor Newsom would like to follow Giuliani's lead, and cut the poor out of the fabric of San Francisco. Supervisor Chris Daly likened the CJC to a "social experiment".

From the glowing screen in the overflow room, a line of people stretching the length of the Board of Supervisors chambers, waited to have their voices heard on this issue. One of the most powerful speakers came from the voice of one of the co-founders and executive director of POOR magazine, Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia, who articulated that, "the proposed court is another manifestation of the criminalization of poverty and poor people of color that was tried out in New York under Giuliani as a way to penalize people for the sole act of being poor. No matter how many times you put people in jail for being poor it won't change their poverty. As well, this is the way that the criminal industrial complex can begin to systematically feed poverty criminals, like myself into its hungry jaws".

By the close of the hearing the Supervisors voted No on releasing the funds to initiate the CJC, but this didn't sit well with the Mayor. On June 17th he filed a measure with the Board of Elections to put his Community Justice Center initiative on the ballot in November.

As I collect my notes and pen I can only hope that the voters of San Francisco will think long and hard about the implications a court like Newsom's Community Justice Center will have on our city. While phrases like "social experiment" and "crime creep" clamor in my head these questions form on my lips: what does it say about our compassion, our tolerance, our very humanness if we choose to deem people criminals because they may occasionally annoy us, or make us uncomfortable, or may not have any where else to go? Will this kind of court do anything to address the systemic causes of these so called crimes, such as the lack of affordable housing, unattainable healthcare, racism, or our dwindling civil liberties, or is it another progression of these very problems?

by Joseph Bolden

Wymyn,Men,& The Universe Next Door

Don’t think of the above title for now just contemplate on it.

Yes,I’m dipping my 50 or 100 cents worth yammering about two of the most stubborn yet massively intelligent creatures on Gaia.

We Human’s and our individual personhood…

After straightening my messy one room apartment, turned on the radio to hear the Coast-to-Coast show.

Whether starting or ending I get to hear a rebroadcast of the show.

A late Saturday early Sunday morning show about the human brain as our understanding of it keeps expanding.

Using a old fashioned tape-recorder magnetic tape not tape-less digital kind

I hear Mr.Punnet and guest DR. Michael Gazzaniga,[the director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, Neuroscientist and a fledgling as a member of President Bush's Council on Bioethics. [from Coast-to-Coast AM web site.


Hypothetically discuss brother/sister incest, which goes completely right with no snags,no one knows but them.

go to www.Coast to Coast AM www.psych.ucsb. edu/people/faculty/ gazzaniga/index.php - 17k

Both ware protection against the sister having child from the secret, illicit union,and afterwards made them grow closer family unit.

I missed a half-hour, an interesting conversation.

It goes on saying,most of the human species have built in nodules in our brains,moral breaks preventing most of us from contemplating such behaviors.

Even aberrant, psychopaths among us wouldn’t do that.

Though molesting, raping,and killing
relatives,siblings or strangers,they are not above doing.

Most of us are hardwired not taught that incest is inherently wrong also when husbands,wives,cheat we as a species don’t like that either.

I know “Most men cheat” mantra women drone on about is a comfortable stand by for decades.

Times has changed as more women graduate from colleges,universities, and business schools earning M.B.A.’s.

Become C.E.O’s of companies,corporations, or head up their own.

Many a busy business women married or
not can and do mix public business with private pleasure.
Many women now use the perks of working vacations with special emphases on fun.

Because it is now well known that women are more subtle in their dealings they may well have surpassed men in the stealth sex-on-bizz/ vacation trips encounters but for now the jury is out on that score.

Our holy religious books are also guides on morality.

Some of us don’t follow the rules closely.
We stretch;bend it a little before making a total break of moral imperatives.

Dr. Michael, Gazzaniga explains that of the 6 billion people on earth most of us are good, want, peace.

Its only 1% causing most of the misery we experience.

1% of 6 billion is still a lot of folks!

Now,for a universe not so different from ours lying just out of reach near us.

A female fan said “Men being in control developing ultimate weapons always think it won’t be use then does.”

Dr. Gazzniga said “Help is on the way, the majority of the students are women.” Mr. Punnet talked “about a recent study on the correlation between the intelligence of the brain also addressed the issue of whether or
not men’s brains or women’s brains demonstrate any greater ability to communicate.

”Are women really more communicative than men or do they just talk more?”
{Ladies,I’m paraphasing Mr. Punnet from the radio show,don’t get bent out of shape at me.}

”What the study showed, it was on the live science web site a couple of weeks ago;It was a joint study between several weeks ago for all I know U.C. Santa Barbara was involved.

”What they studied was the presumption… kind of been floating around for a while that the portion of the female brain that seems larger than male brains focus’s on the ability to communicate.”

” Does that sound about right,multi-task and communicate?”

And the study indicated that in fact: There was no difference between male and female brains regardless of the difference… “

”there’s no difference in the function of male or female brains regardless of the vagaries of the size of one part or another. “

”And that study was conducted entirely by women.”

Mr. Punnet continues now its up to readers to grapple with these findings.

In a universe next door an exact perfect Gaia (Mama Earth).

Earth evolves painfully as did our own, evolution takes eons.

Women and men, plants, animals, insects, germs, and bacteria come into being.

In this alternate universe a slight difference occurred.

Women are the hunters/Men-stayed home preparing meals, planting seeds, fruits, learning the early ways of gardening.

Though women birthed children it’s men who nurture, pamper their young. Women prepared them for tool making, combat, are inventors of both defensive/offensive weaponry.
Time swift wind whispers through centuries from Feudal Rough – Tough women, Warrior soldiers, Queens, Princess’s,Knights.

Men do what they’ve always done bared up, and die sacrificing for their children.

“Hit ‘em regularly like a bell”

As the battlefield spreads to their homes men untrained ”The boy’s showed spunk” Gave their lives dear showing up the myth made by women that…

“All men are good for is sex and raisin’ kids’,Your Dad Ware’s Combat Boots was a favorite epithet.

While wives,loves,or soldier Women fought the wars.

The war to end slavery, World Wars 1 drained countries of the best feminine minds,gassed, machine gunned,blown up from air,land,and sea.

The second World war though more efficient enabled many shattered bodies and minds to survive.

Madam Presidents, Criminal classes,Corporate Elites raided their own countries as one party schemed to steal, invalidate, and throw away votes of the uncommon feminine wisdom.

A new day seemed to dawn after so many false ones as one man had risen higher than any other to maybe be the first
Presidential Male in America unless an assassins bullet stops his heart.

Many women aren’t ready for the change ever if the first Black Woman running concedes defeat most think a meer male is too emotional to hack such demanding responsibilities.

The evil that women do from creating destructive weapons,wars, molesting school age boys, cheating on good stay-at-home husbands.

To renting men on the street or keeping secret men-on-the-side.

Everyone on the planet asks “What’s up with raw,bad tempered,smoking, lying,brawling,drinking, dope taking/selling,meth, Internet porn addicted women?

Will they ever learn from their better half to communicate and multi task?

Or are they just hard wired to be the filthy, horny,reckless,bare chested,smelly,grasping ass holes,nit wits who are still running the world into ruin?

”I wonder what it would be like if men instead of women ruled the earth a few women and many men wonder aloud, can it get any worse?

That’s a random peek in an all that glitters world if women ran it.

Truth is either sex won’t be perfect running the world it has to be a joint effort.

If women are destined to rule then so be it…

Whether I reincarnate as a man or woman doesn’t matter I just want to witness the misteps, mistakes, and best of women as leaders, movers and shakers.

Comment on www.askjoe@poormagazine.org or

Poormagazine.org

by Joseph Bolden

The Size Matters Stuff

My apologies readers,errors in my writing made go back and try to fix this.

No doubt there are more in columns also but one does what can with time alloted.

I’m going to nip this crap now.
Does size really matter to women and men yes and no.

However though most women fantasize,dream and like looking at huge penises.

After having a few they begin to see and feel the problems of a two fore filling truisms.

That is,it hurts bad and can cause ruptures in or around their vaginal site.

Some will say the pain is worth the experience most women say after the experience as with having too large natural or enhanced mammary glands.

Shoulder and extreme upper and lower back pain is the price paid for enormously amply endowed women.

Yes they are and look spectacular but carrying those boulders in industrial strength bra’s specially made reinforced bra’s whose straps may dig into the shoulders,
stress back and shoulders make standing straight difficult.

Having massive bust is a unique challenge for big boned, heavy bosom women.

As for guys with penis envy of other guys with longer, larger, thicker, more massive, veins, circumcised or uncircumcised equipment.

There's only one thing we can do about the competition…

Let it go. Though women can have their bust surgically reduced or get breast implants, we men must face facts.

That until applied science is able to clone from our cells, reconnect nerve endings of a cloned penis thereby having a natural not surgically
(it will be once all the nerves regenerate properly it will be a seamless perfectly and natural lengthened fit

Until then we deal with the unnatural fattened, lengthened one we seen porn flicks.

We’ll have to deal with what we’ve got.

That means besides diet, exercise, and regular sex with either sex.

It also means listening carefully to women when her needs, wants, we can

Provide sometimes aside from money, strength, attentiveness, assertiveness, self-confidence, and also emotional support.

Women play the size game as a tease and to some size will matter but the vast majority just want a guy to be a guy and give her great loving’ on a regular basis.

If you have a woman, or women (always good to have more than one) because we’re both a fickle sex.

If women have more than one guy it does not mean they think any less of you all it means is other men have qualities you may not have and not necessarily about size, different men have different qualities just as men find in women.

If she’s with you and talking about your size joking, belittling, suck it up she’s in your bed with you so it's not all bad if she still keeps sleeping with you.

Huge Clue Guys [She’s With You Not Anyone Else], which says something about you – like, you’re worth her time.

The needling is to psychologically keep you guessing plus she may worry that you can be with someone else too.

Most women no matter gorgeous have little if not huge self esteem problems.

But won’t say that to you.

So guys small, large, or mega member all you can do is improve, vary, sex/love making styles, read up on Karma Sutra, do yoga, tai chi, swim, bike ride, or job (though not 10 kilometers daily it’ll cut down on loving and up your fem or fem friends a bit).

It’s a balance we men sometimes forget to listen, keep learning, and if your not thinking of E.D. or Erectile Dysfunction it won’t.

The thought is father/mother to the deed.

And ladies if you already have a good enough to great bed mate talk to him when quiet time permits and inform, praise, and make sure he’s not taking you for granted and that you aren’t either.

That way those intimate times will build from good to great memories, which can share as reconnection times.

Even when ex BF’s/GF’s, /BB’s/WW.’s [Same sex couples] meet up it won’t be in past anger but remembered joy.

I know it’s rare that ex's remain friends but there are exceptions to every rule.

You prove it by being the exceptions.

A last thing on the subject if she has desire for you and you for her get the size issue off the table first.

In my experience the desire to please, be pleased and learn how to better improve your range of love making that counts.

I have it on good authority its how one cares and uses what they've got.

Don't think about size just concentrate pleasing the one your with.

If she still has a size issue let her go and find it elsewhere other women will gladly take her place.

Any comments go to ask or telljoe@Poormagazine.org or
Jsph_bldn@yahoo.com

by Catherine Limcaco/POOR Magazine Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern

"Today they incarcerate us for being poor; tomorrow they incarcerate us for being human!" POOR Magazine's own Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia was one of the many activists that were rallying outside City Hall on Tuesday, June 22nd in opposition to the proposed Community Justice Center (CJC) (aka; A Poverty Court) that if implemented will institutionalize and finance the criminalization of people in poverty in San Francisco while leeching funding from service providers such as Tenderloin Health Center among many.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that the plan for the CJC was first submitted to the Board of Supervisors. In the proposal, Gavin Newsom would cut $20 million from existing programs to allow more funds to be used to build the CJC which was in cost be $2.9 million. The Board would ultimately vote NO against the CJC proposal but the Mayor would leave with the last word. On June 17th Newsom filed a measure with the Board of Elections to put his Community Justice Center initiative on the ballot in November.

The significance of the hearing that took place this morning in front of the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee was virtually unseen by media and community And if the board were to vote to allocate funds for "homeless court" (CJC) that would destroy community programs and the only 24- hour drop in center in the city, offenses that were previously considered to be minor infractions would escalate to misdemeanors. One of activists that showed up, Eli, the Tenant's advocate, explained with concern, "compassion is rarely instituted when it comes to an officer writing citations and implementing other acts of offense. " With that being said, in the words of down-District 6 supervisor Chris Daly, "How are we going to have homeless court that cite and give them services that don't exist?"

Supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Chris Daly opened the hearing with their respected arguments with Daly obviously solo in his appeal: "I don't think this current budget situation is better than it was last year, and I don't understand why we're here. This is a pet project of the Mayor, but I don't think it's good public policy."

Though alone amongst his fellow supervisors, Daly received a mountain of support from members of community including big name non-profit organizations Coalition of Homelessness and the reporting and supp-porting staff from POOR Magazine. The Board allowed each member of the community a measly 3 minutes to voice their disgust for this misleading ploy that isn't adequate enough to solve the houseless problem. Out of the many activists who stepped up to the Board, here are the four that uttered the fundamentals candidly to the inattentive bunch of supervisors. Starting with the basics with Reverend Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church: "It's not a legal problem, it's a social problem. A 24 hour drop-in center is necessary because right now, One Fifty Otis Shelter is not allowing women enter which I think is discrimination; except at Ocean but they're only allowing residents to stay 4 hours at a time." As the Rev preaches his case to the Board Committee, it is obvious which way the verdict will go.

Up next was Molly Glasgow, Civil Rights Organizer at Coalition on Homelessness, expresses her discontent with plan for the CJC with her assertive address: "I hope you guys slept well last night and thank you for this short notice to the community. City is making sleeping a crime with Quality of Life Offenses. The list of theses offense are: 23 (a) MPC-Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalk (24 hours); 97 (a)-MPC Camping in House Car; ; 97 (b) MPC-Camping in Car; 647 (c)-PC Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalks;647 (j) PC Lodging/Encampment. This is not a sob story, it's the reality of life: We don't have to have people sleeping in streets."

Next up was a man who has had first-hand experience with the shelters in The City, "This policy is a kin to beating someone in the head to give them a headache. This issue will increase, as the economy worsen," proclaims houseless citizen, Frank Cowell.

And once again to connect the dots, because these policies didn't come from nowhere the former mayor of New York and previous hopeful for the Republican spot for this year's 2008 Presidential Election, Rudolph Giuliani, targeted citizens like Frank Cowell by proclaiming that it's citizens like Frank that need to be "cleaned out." Gavin Newsom seems to want to follow in Giuliani's footsteps.

So as the Board becomes recklessly disinterested, Dr. Norma Tecson closes the comments from the community section by professing her take on the CJC proposal: "You don't know what it's like to work out there when you all are stuck in your offices. I did not get paid a salary for 3 years because I am passionate about helping this cause. "

As the Board does the traditional gratitudial praise, Jake McGoldrick takes his farewell address to the heart. McGoldrick starts talking about his past in France which included a brieft stint in homelessness. Supervisor states, "Being homeless in France is not the same as it is here" with a small "ai-yi-yi" at the end. All that can be said to that statement is just a puzzled expression with the caption "UMM YOU THINK, Supervisor?" in bold. In the end, as of this press date, the CJC proposal was passed 4to1 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee.

by Libby Reiser and K. Anderson Franco, Race, Poverty, Media Justice Interns at POOR Magazine

"We're getting evicted, and we're fighting back." The icy words reverberated through the still morning air of the POOR Magazine office. This firsthand experience with eviction was like a slap to the face. After my initial shock I inquired further.

I learned that Seligman Western Enterprises recently sold the Grant Building where POOR has been located since 2004 to PRJ Holdings, Inc. The new owner is Peter R. Johnson, CEO at PRJ Holdings, Inc.

"Knock. . .knock, knock". Libby and myself, two interns in POOR's Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute, were sent on an investigative mission to discover who else in the building were facing this situation. We banged on every door of the Grant Building, asking each tenant and business in the building the same question, "We got an eviction notice, did you?" Responses varied but the result was invariably that if one was not contracted on a multiple year lease, he or she was asked to leave.

Randy Shaw, a housing rights lawyer and founder of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, is assisting POOR Magazine with legal advice and representation. He believes that the purchase "makes no sense, the market is really bad for commercial property."

This was my first experience with what Tiny, co-editor of POOR/PNN called "capital creep"; however I remembered back to my first POOR Magazine community newsroom, a revolutionary news production project that creates media directly from the community. This was when I realized that this foreign term, "capital creep" is an unavoidable reality for many.

"The first lesson you will learn today is eldership." Tiny proclaimed before we walked through the door. As two of the youngest present at POOR News Network's newsroom meeting, we both took a seat on the floor. The watchful eyes that surrounded us were that of the poverty scholars who were distressed with next months rent, welfare, disabilities, police brutality and profiling. This diverse group was united by a shared hope to end the criminalization of poor people and social injustices; these people followed Mama dee and Tiny's structure of an indigenous organization.

As introductions flowed so did my new list of vocabulary words: poverty scholar, gentrification, superbaby mama, poverty pimpology, media justice. I was eager to learn each origin and meaning, however I kept going back to the top of my list, to a word that had been uttered several times in speeches. It was a word that I understood but never experienced. EVICTION. I ran my pen over the letters several times, bolding it above the rest. Not only was this word repeated in numerous introductions, but it was said with a breath of defeat like a nomination resignation.

To our right sat Vivien, a poverty scholar in residence at POOR who has faced numerous evictions throughout her life. Behind us was RAM, a youth and poverty scholar and native San Franciscan who had been recently evicted. And the voice in front of us belonged to Tiny, who had faced 22 evictions.

"The displacement of migrant people did not just start happening today", Tiny speaks the truth of the cliche, "history repeats itself." Colonizers began with the conquering of Native Americans and continued with the stealing of land from Mexico, Hawaii and many other indigenous groups. These civilizations were exploited, poisoned, enslaved, brutalized and ultimately removed from their land.

As Tiny clenched Peter R. Johnson's letter, my mind flipped through pages of my history book and the stories from that first POOR newsroom. In that meeting, the speeches were filled with passion and progressive words to fight social injustices, but the utterance of eviction was a black sheep,a white notice that inevitably signaled destruction.

"The spirit of Bill Sorro keeps telling me to fight and to never quit", I spoke with Tony Robles, long-time tenant organizer, poet, poverty scholar and Co-editor of POOR Magazine about his experience with powerful resistance movements over land use in the Filipino community. "I'll never forget the way he walked into the Shorenstein building and said, "I'm here to speak to Mr. Shorenstein" when our elders were fighting for the I-Hotel. "In his spirit and in the spirit of the elders of the I-Hotel and Manilatown, we are here to fight this eviction and to continue doing the work that POOR Magazine does, which is the work of our spiritual father".

The story of the Grant building though, on 7th and Market, refused defeat. Back in 2000, the previous owner Seligman attempted to redevelop this building, sending eviction notices to many of his tenants. However, unlike indigenous leaders of the past, the tenants won the fight. Manny Alarcon, an office tenant of the Grant Building since 1998 told us his experience, "When the ownership changed to Seligman, they tried to evict us. Tenants organized with Chris Daly and Randy Shaw." He continued, "they staged a rally in City Hall and put posters in the windows." The tenants would not be moved.

Unfortunately, Manny Alarcon and many other small businesses and non-profits including POOR Magazine are currently facing this exact same story. History has repeated. Alarcon states, "Seligman did the same thing that Johnson is doing today."

Tiny proclaims, developers and speculators are "colonizers dressed as developers in 21st century armor." Like the massacre of Native Americans and colonizing of indigenous people, these capitalist creepers are directly re-zoning and displacing migrants from their homes.

Angelica Cabande, a leading organizer for South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN), acknowledges the recent gentrification of San Francisco, "we are seeing a lot of changes in the downtown area. We're seeing a lot of condominiums and office space being prioritized by the city to build and not a lot of affordable housing." She demonstrated concern for not only the lack of affordable housing in San Francisco, but also the common displacement of people.

Knock,knock, knock. Every beat of our knuckles against the cold wooden doors represented more than interns seeking more information about the eviction. Every knock was an exclamation against gentrification. The hollow thumps that resonated throughout the hallways were noises of frustration from displaced communities. These knocks will not go unheard.

POOR Magazine refuses to go. They are launching an offensive strategy that they hope will travel around the globe in the tradition of the movement to take back Alcatraz Island in San Francisco which was launched in the 1960's with indigenous elders and is celebrated every year at Thanks-taking. The fight of the people to take back the I-Hotel in Manilatown, The fight for DQ University, the only off-reservation tribal college in the US and the Longest Walk which was also launched in the 1968 and again in 2008 (and completed by one of POOR Magazine's own indigenous scholars , Mari Villauna). The strategy includes seizing the land at 7th and Market streets on August 7th at 8 a.m. and giving it back to its rightful owners the native people, the indigenous peoples of Califas, turtle island, and the Americas. Following the sovereignty ceremony, POOR will hold a press conference at 9 a.m.

If your organization is interested in being a testifier, co-leader, or co-sponser please call or email POOR Magazine at (415) 865-1932
deeandtiny@poormagazine.org

Other Organizations joining us are,
La Raza Central Legal, Delores Street Community Services, Western Regional Advocacy Project(WRAP), C.H.A.M., and P.O.C.C. Block Report, Axis of Love

by Tony Robles

Our poetry is the

Best part of our

Struggle

And the best

Part of our struggle

Is our poetry

---Al Robles

There has been no bigger influence on my life as a writer and activist than the poet Al Robles, my uncle. Uncle Al carries a sack of water buffalo tales as he walks the streets of the city. His eyes have seen the manongs--Pilipino old timers who first came to America in the 20's. His ears have heard their songs, their cries and their laughter. His hands have eaten fish and rice with the manongs in small rooms of the International Hotel. The poetry of Al Robles is the struggle of the Manongs and the Issei and the Chicanos and the black folks of the Fillmore. The poetry of Al Robles is in the struggle of our people.

Uncle Al has been a huge influence to an entire generation of Pilipino-American writers and activists. He is what we at POOR Magazine call an "Organic Intellectual"-- not indoctrinated with the impersonal underpinnings of the academic institutions but firmly rooted in the community. My own children's books, "Lakas and the Manilatown Fish" and "Lakas and the Makibaka Hotel" would not have been possible without his presence and influence in my life.

Uncle Al was born in the Fillmore District of San Francisco to a Pilipino family of 10. His ears tasted the thick melodies of jazz swirling through the air of clubs Such as Jack's and Jimbo's bop City. In the jazz of his youth he felt the sadness and love and beauty in singers such as Billie Holiday. He saw Pilipino jazz musicians such as Flip Nunez whose fingers passed over the keys, "black over white". He and other Filipinos like Bill Sorro ran the streets of the Fillmore seeing the Isseis, the elderly, smelling the smells of gumbo and barbeque and tomato beef chow mein. He saw all the beauty moving all around him--the music, the people, the sorrow. He asked himself, "What is moving?"

When I was a kid I used to see him on Clement Street. I would be riding my bike or coming out of King Norman's Toy Store. I'd see him carrying a heavy backpack. He'd take out a brown paper bag and open it. "What is it?" I'd ask. I'd look inside. It was a tape recorder. He'd hit the play button and I'd hear the voices of elderly Pilipinos. They spoke in a thick accent that sounded like my grandmother's. I'd have a hard time understanding what they said. Uncle Al understood. 30 years later I'm starting to understand.

Uncle Al is a collector of stories. He has collected the stories of the manongs--our grandfathers and grandmothers who came to America. They endured the racism and classism and police brutality of Amerikkka and in the process gave birth to a generation born in this country. Uncle Al is part of that generation. His poetry and stories tell of the manong generation working as laborers under big agribusiness--workers who organized and fought and formed what eventually became the United Farm Workers Union (UFW).

But there was love and beauty in the struggle. His poems talk about the taxi hall dances, where Filipinos paid their meager earnings to dance with a blondie, a dance that would end as quickly as it began. In his poetry the dance lasts a lifetime. At the end of a manong's lifetime, Uncle Al asks:

If it takes
All season for
The grapes to
Ripen

Why shouldn't the
Manong take
All season

To make love?

To a generation of activists and Pilipino-Americans seeking their identity, their roots, he asks:

Who's to say
The roots are
Not the weeds

And the weeds
Are not the
Roots?

The influence of my Uncle Al on Pilipino-American poetry is akin to Chuck Berry's influence on Rock & Roll, it is far reaching and ever growing, from established writers to the hip hop generation; his words have touched their hearts and inspired them to get involved in serving our community.

But it's not all work. Uncle Al loves to play the piano. Sometimes he'll slip into a cafe with an available piano, playing by ear. In the music you'll hear the voices of the manongs, the elderly Japanese, the Chicanos and the black elders. It'll move you and you'll get up and dance that dance that's a part of all of us; the dance that leads us back to ourselves. That's the real poetry.

August 4th Marks the 31st anniversary of the eviction of tenants of the International Hotel. Come and honor the struggle in a candlelight vigil at the Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny Street, August 4th at 7pm. And celebrate the poetry and laughter of Al Robles at the Manilatown Center August 9th, 7pm at the world premier of the Film, 'Manilatown is in the Heart". Filmmaker Curtis Choy (www.chonkmoonhunter.com), director of "Fall of the I-Hotel", takes us on a trip through the past and present in the world of Al Robles, a world filled with farm laborers, factory workers, Zen monks, pool hustlers, cooks, children, lovers, gamblers,
preachers, warriors, pimps, prostitutes, young bloods, musicians, tricksters, barbers, stray Buddhas, and goddesses. For more information, go to www.manilatown.org

by Anderson Franco/RPMJ intern at POOR Magazine

They clutched their piece of brown cardboards that read "Bajen los Precios!" Lower the Prices! Accompanied by a flock of fellow high school and college students, they marched towards El Salvador's National University. Their weary eyes and nervous bodies paced through the fading San Salvador streets and apprehensively approached the university. Upon entering the campus they witnessed a scene that compared to that of a military barrack preparing for warfare. Stern black-suited men patrolled the exterior with threatening glances, another arsenal of policeman brandished their military weapons as they paced throughout the university, and snipers lay on rooftops, vigilantly watching the protestors like vultures anxious to ravage its victims.

Soon after announcing their presence with signs and chants of protest, the law enforcement officers decorated the university with tear gas, rubber bullets, and authoritative shouts. The protesters scattered throughout the university, seeking shelter in any tree, shrub or building. They realized that their hope for social change had been silenced by the law enforcement officers.

That was the scene on July 5, 2006.

Although this incident occurred two years ago, excessive police force, particularly against social movements, continues to be a problem in El Salvador. Alexis Stoumbalis, the Bay Area coordinator for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador's (CISPES) notes that "most of the complaints that the Office of Human Rights in El Salvador receives are complaints about the police." Many Salvadoran citizens have become victims of unnecessary policing tactics; police violence has escalated in the last two years.

CISPES collaborated with Prisoners of Conscience Committee (P.O.C.C) to hold a film screening and panel discussion to critique the recent police violence in El Salvador. The event discussed the reappearance of death squads in El Salvador, and the United States financial support of the Salvadoran police through the Merida Initiative, and International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEA).

The July 5th police brutality was not an isolated event. The protestors were terrorized and hushed by the black uniformed men one month after ILEA's inaugural class graduated. Stoumbalis believes that the officers involved in the catastrophe were recent alums from the United States funded military academy. Nevertheless, whether this is true or not remains a mystery because the academy refuses to release identifying information about its students or alum.

Stoumbalis compares El Salvador's militaristic police officers to the "LAPD that raided LA Central gangs by roaming down the streets with machine guns" and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) recent immigrant raids. These parallels not only indicate the violent police tactics, but the violation of human rights.

P.O.C.C.'s JR Minister of Information and Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. have embarked on a CISPES fact finding delegation in El Salvador. They hope to understand the reappearance of the death squad activity, and to pressure the Salvadoran government to take action because the United States citizens are aware of the political assassinations and police brutality.

"Bajen los precios!" I hope to hear these chants in the future. CISPES and P.O.C.C. hope to ensure that these voices will not be silenced, and future social movements will not be threatened by police officials. "Bajen los precios!"

by Bruce Allison/PNN correspondent

In recent years, I have become very familiar with the word passthrough. A Passthrough represents more than an insignificant or minor rent increase. To very low income residential tenants, such as me, passthroughs are drastic rent increases that further aggravate our bare wallets and money purses. Passthroughs are largely responsible for increasing my rent by more than fifty dollars in the previous several years; and a recently proposed passthrough will once again increase my rent in the near future. I, a native San Franciscan, poverty scholar and very-low income resident, may face another passthrough that will affect my living situation.

In July of 2002, San Francisco's Land Use Committee of the Department of Public Works, better known as the water department, promoted water conservation by increasing charges for water and sewer services. Now, Supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier and Carmen Chu wish to allow landlords to charge their tenants fifty percent of the water rate increase. On average, this passthrough will increase San Francisco rent rates by eight dollars a month.

As a San Francisco resident who earns $775 a month and pays $568 for rent, this passthrough will significantly impact my financial status. Presently, I exercise many money-saving techniques to lower my financial burdens, however, if the passthrough is authorized, I will have to use new economic strategies to earn more money. I am not alone.

A member of the senior action network, who lives in the Gold Gateway apartments, publicly stated that the proposed passthrough will be "a very difficult hardship" that may compel her to vacate her apartment of 30 years.

A Public Utility Commission representative of the water department said that "this is a way to stop tenants from over using water by charging them money for using the water," The representative, however, fails to realize that most of the landlords will charge tenants fifty percent of the water rate regardless of the condition of water pipes of faucets. Tenants who live in homes with poorly maintained water pipes and equipment will have to help landlords pay for their negligence.

The proposal passed during Monday's committee meeting on July 21.

If this passthrough is implemented, several seniors and disabled residents will be unable to pay their rent, which will force them into homelessness. How many more passthroughs will San Francisco renters have to face?

by Tiny

The building and the street around The California Hotel in Oakland was full of shadows. Shadows that whispered stories of past lives, glamour and tragedy from its ancient brick walls. The first time I saw The California Hotel was many years ago and I was both scared and comforted by its vast-ness that seemed to envelope San Pablo avenue from all directions. Scared because of its sheer enormity and comforted because it was the first chance for inside-ness for me and my poor mama after a long stretch of being vehicularily housed, police-harassed and outside.

Since the recent struggle of California Hotel residents to stay housed and now the triumph of their self-management launch, I thought back on my first day at the California and how nice it was to have a roof, albeit roach-filled and rodent infested.

In 1991 while my mama and I were still dealing with homelessness we watched as the California Hotel was closed for a $9 million dollar renovation and then re-opened as a Single Room Occupancy Hotel - with on-site supportive services managed by Oakland Community Housing, Inc.,(OCHI) a non-profit housing developer. The windows were new and shiny and the paint was fresh.

It seemed like a dream come true for many of the very poor elders who we re re-housed there after the renovation. Safety, cleanliness, and overall management had been ongoing problems before the renovation which were now supposedly all dealt with.

That said, my mother and I felt an uneasy-ness in our gut. Renovation, renewal, redevelopment, these "re" words were never safe for poor folks and more often than not they were extremely dangerous. HUD's HOPE VI project was fond of using the "re" words when they demolished over 90% of their housing only to replace them with mixed income housing units that only housed certain people- most of whom didnt live there before it was "re'd" including our friend that had housed us for a minute, because he hadn't "complied" with his case managers many requests for documents.

Renewal, redevelopment and one for one replacement are almost always myths for poor people of color and like the ongoing redevelopment efforts of West Oakland and The Bayview - we never seem to last into the next "re".

As the recent mismanagement scandal with OCHI resulting in eviction notices being served on the all 72 of the disabled and elder residents of the Hotel and subsequent terrifying raids by the Oakland Police Department, I could only imagine my poor mama Dee (she passed in March of 2006) shaking her head in that "I told you so" way she always did.

But then I found out about the resistance of the tenants,and how they launched an effort to do what all poor people of color are completely capable of doing, but rarely given the opportunity to realize, a chance to self-manage our living spaces. A dream that POOR has been struggling to realize for over 10 years in our HOMEFULNESS Project, but still hasn't raised funding for.

As poor folks we are constantly told we need someone else to manage our housing, manage our books, manage our little bits of money and manage our lives, because it is assumed, we can't be trusted to do it for ourselves. I find this ironic, not only in light of the California Hotel mismanagement by oh so many so-called experts, and the tenants recent successful self-management but also because as poor folks, people of color, indigenous folks, we have been successful stewards of land and property and community for hundreds of years.

On July 30th the California Hotel tenants and their advocates at Just Cause Oakland won a victory when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Keller granted them another 30 days before ruling on whether or not they may continue to reside in their housing.

Perhaps if the tenants were given a portion of the financial support that corporations like John Stewart and OCHI received to manage properties like the California Hotel, the tenants could handle their own management just fine.

Drop by the California Hotel and support the residents with your donations of supplies and dollars!