Story Archives

by Leroy Moore/PNN

What did the all women in the Hip-Hop group, Salt-N-Pepa, say in 1991? "Lets Talk About Sex". Well people with disabilities today in 2008 are not only talking about sex and sexuality, they are politicizing it, shaping it in their own voice, image and performance!

For the last three years the Bay Area has been the stage of a new cultural revolution by disabled artists/activists who are of color, queer/trans around embodiment and disability, what we call Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility or for short just Sins Invalid.

This annual performance will be undressing itself at the BRAVA Theater in the Mission District of San Francisco September 5th and 6th 2008 at 8pm.

Hold up, lets pull the curtains back to reveal a brief history of Sins Invalid and what you will be witnessing on September 5th and 6th at the Brava Theater. The combination of friendship, art and food is and has been a powerful starting point for some amazing ideals that grew into events, activism, movements and organizations.

Two years ago, in 2006, this combination was in the air when Patty Berne and Leroy F. Moore Jr. were hanging out. Two friends who share a lot in common, both persons with a disability, both of color, both community activists, both artists and both questioned why there wasn't an artistic/political stage in the Bay Area cultural arena for people who shared our identities and politics. We put down our forks and started to examine our his/herstory in activism and art realizing that our portfolios were full with DVDs, poetry notebooks and a long list of successful community organizing events, some hot and sexy and some political cultural work.

What happens when you question authority? Well, sometimes you find out that there is a need to be filled. With all of our work in the community, we knew that a craving for a cultural/political event was bubbling in the Bay Area. Patty and I gathered with friends to show our videos and talk about the disability rights movement, and how we as people of color and queer/gender queer can make our voices and art heard and seen in all communities, with a message that all bodies are beautiful. This vision was blown up when I put what my mother taught me, networking , to work. We, Patty and I formed a partnership with the founders, Todd Herman and Amanda Coslor of The Dancing Tree, a non-profit alliance of visual and performing artists seeking to facilitate, develop, perform, document and publish the stories of underrepresented people around the world, and launched a revolutionary series - Sins Invalid: Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility was born.

Since 2006, the first Sins Invalid show at BRAVA Theater, Sins Invalid has grown from a one day film event with local artists with disabilities, to year round programming with our multidisciplinary performance base workshops, political/cultural presentations at conferences, local colleges/universities, non-profit organizations and collaboration with national and local organizations, to international artists with disabilities. Sins Invalid is now a two day annual event with the future goal of touring. Sins Invalid grew not only in artists but also in staff, tech team and our community.

In past years, Sins Invalid found artists by putting out a call locally, nationally and globally and got back some amazing art in all forms; videos, spoken word, visual, music and the list goes on. This year, 2008, we had a chance to build on a part of our vision and that was mixing our cultural art with our politics and organizing skills. We did this by selecting a group of artists from previous years and built a community of sharing our political views around sexuality, disability and our identities/culture. What you will see on September 5th and 6th at the BRAVA Theater in San Francisco is not only artistic beauty but a year long community building that took place within Sins Invalid's performe's core uncovering our struggles, personal stories of society's attitudes towards us, experiences of institutional practice, that led to our healing and reclaiming our strength, voice, sexuality, community. All of this will be on the BRAVA stage through dance by Rodney Bell, a Maori male dancer from New Zealand, performs aerial dance in his wheelchair in celebration of the body. Maria Palacios, a Latina poet, performs her acclaimed spoken word piece about forbidden love (Maria, Full of Sin) and also transforms herself from crippled girl into a goddess (in Testimony). These pieces, along with original works by Patty Berne of Oakland, Noemi Sohn, Seeley Quest, Leroy F. Moore Jr. and Nomy Lamm are simultaneously erotic, tender, and fierce to name a few.

So here we are, "Sins Invalid", ready to pull back the curtains again to display what is a part of life and that is our sexuality, political thought, art and expression as people with disabilities. This offering is for our communities, love ones, supporters, families, allies, media, professionals, politicians, artists, activists, lovers and yes strangers.

Patty Berne, Artistic Director of SINS INVALID, describes this performance event as "a healing for all who challenge themselves honestly when unearthing their sexual expression. SINS INVALID recognizes that we will be liberated as whole beings as disabled/as queer/as brown/as black/as genderqueer/as female or male bodied as we are far greater whole than partitioned. Our stories, embedded in analysis, offer paths from identity politics to unity amongst all oppressed people, laying a foundation for a collective claim of liberation and beauty."

The third annual SINS INVALID: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility will be performed on Friday and Saturday, September 5-6 at 8pm at Brava Theater (2789 -24th Street, San Francisco). The performances are wheelchair accessible and ASL interpreted. Tickets are affordably priced at $15 sliding scale. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. You can buy tickets in advance at www. brownpapertickets.com or at the door. PUBLIC INFORMATION: (510) 689-7198 or sinsinvalid.org

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the content of the program, this show contains nudity and explicit content. It is appropriate for ages 18 and up. SINS INVALID: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility is made possible by grants from the AEPOCH Fund, Cultural Equity Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Astraea Foundation.

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.
Co\Founder, Community Relation Director and Performer of Sins Invalid.

www.sinsinvalid.org
sinsinvalid07@yahoo.com
blackkrip@gmail.com

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

"We want to remove their faces", proclaimed Quanah Brightman. Quanah was of one of the many activists in attendance at the Mount Rushmore Reunion that took place on August 29th 2008 in South Dakota. As people commemorate and remember the land that Mount Rushmore covers, it is surprising that many do not know another silenced story about the mountain: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincon, Theodore Roosevelt , and George Washington have nothing to do with it.

In many historic accounts that range from the Great Plagues to 9/11, each record is written and then distributed by a publisher. Each publisher upholds different standards and criteria when choosing what events are important for the public to know and what events should be forgotten or in many cases, buried. If only people read between the lines in those history books.

The Hearst Family is one of those families that represent the closest thing the U.S. has to corporate royalty in this country. William Randolph Hearst was the forefather of the white-owned, rich-people controlled newspaper industry and his great granddaughter Patty known for her scandalous run-in with the law. The man behind the legacy is George Hearst--a man devoted to discovering (colonizing) the best mines in the country as well as investing (stealing) from the most profitable land. George Hearst was not only able to provide a future of wealth and privilege for his family, but he gave the U.S. a memento that would stand the test of time.

On August 29, 1970, the Sioux peoples and many supporters made the mark on Mount Rushmore, an iconic landmark in the United States provided by George Hearst. The Black Hills is a sacred site that is significant to the Sioux culture. In fact, the area that Mount Rushmore inhabits is sacred to the Sioux. In an effort to take back their land, the Sioux stabbed their flag reading "SIOUX INDIAN POWER" into the heart of Mount Rushmore. Within moments, many--especially the media--were attacking the Sioux for "disrespecting" a monument so powerful as Mount Rushmore.

Unfortunately, the media didn't know better as well. The Hearst Family were pioneers in the corporate news industry at the time; could it be that they prevented the REAL story from coming out?

"This is a national movement for the public," says Linda Roberts, of United Native Americans Inc. As a Chickanmauga Cherokee, Linda is an example that this problem just doesn't affect the Sioux people. Linda says, "All Native people, we are all responsible for protecting these resources." The 2008 event also acted as a memorial to women like Linda, women of the red power movement.

The published history of Mount Rushmore disguises the true story of the Black Hills. When George Hearst purchased the mine under the Black Hills, he devoured all it represents and the gold that could be found there. George Hearst was not the only one at fault; the government has their hand in this invasion signing a document entitled The Fort Laramie Treaty which they never honored.

An excerpt from the Fort Laramie Treaty

ARTICLE I.

From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall forever cease. The government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they now pledge their honor to maintain it.

And the government know they did it too. The Sioux people were offered 600 million dollars by the federal government, but they refused claiming that the land is sacred and not for sale.

How did "the heart of everything" that the Sioux represents become a "National shrine of Democracy?" The silenced story reads more like a mockery of Democracy.

by Tony Robles/PNN

The Chronicle recently ran an article whose headline read, "Black population deserting SF". To me, a 4th generation San Francisco native, San Francisco has deserted its black population. The city is losing its heart. Its soul cries.

I attended a hearing at the SF Board of Supervisors regarding the black exodus from San Francisco. I arrived while another agenda item was being heard. I walked through the chamber past beautiful Muslim women with their children, black men in suits and ties. They looked as if they'd been waiting…and waiting. Their silence said it all.

The black community is the heart of San Francisco. I recall going to a café for a cup of coffee not long ago. It was in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification. On the walls were pictures of great jazz and blues singers of the past. The voice of Billie Holiday came through the overhead speaker. I looked around—no black people to be seen, just gentrifiers drinking coffee.

The item being discussed was about the SF zoo. The mostly white folks in attendance spoke passionately about whether the zoo should be changed to a zoo strictly for "rescue" animals who have been liberated from roadside zoos and the like. "I was born in a land where animals were free", said a lone man of color speaking on the issue. "I believe in freedom, animals should roam freely". When the agenda item ended, the zoo docents and other advocates left in exodus. The chamber was noticeably less crowded. I looked around at the faces—still black, still waiting.

Our item was item #11: The dwindling African-American population in San Francisco. A representative from the San Francisco Redevelopment agency presented the findings of the "African-American Out-migration task force" put together by the mayor's office last year. The purpose - to find ways to stem the tide of out-migration of the black community.

I listened as the nicely dressed African-American man from the Redevelopment Agency asserted that the black exodus in San Francisco is more pronounced here than in any other city in the country. I sat thinking that it is ironic that a man from an agency that has done more to cause the black exodus would be the one presenting the findings of what that agency has sown.

"I wanted to have this hearing 7 years ago but felt that politically I couldn’t have it. But now I can" said Supervisor Chris Daly, facing an audience eager to speak. The Supervisor cited many causes for the exodus, including lack of educational, social and cultural opportunities, housing affordability, environmental injustice and the epidemic of violence.

Looming heavy in the air of the chambers was the subject of Lennar Corporation and the environmental justice concerns of Bayview Hunter's Point that have gone unaddressed. Figures and statistics were given indicating that 45 % of the black population in San Francisco have been exposed to asbestos. Lennar Corporation spent over 4 million dollars to pass Prop G, a major housing development at the Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point. Residents know it for what it is - a land grab - with the city giving 720 acres of land to Lennar. The result has been 250 eviction notices to residents of Bayview Hunters Point.

Fred Blackwell, head of the Redevelopment agency, presented the numbers. The black population in 2000 was 54,000. In 2005 there were 46,000 blacks in the city. "That’s not enough to fill Candlestick Park" he said as the audience sat patiently. The bottom line - all other ethnic groups increased in population while the black population decreased.

A paralegal from Hunter's view cited the San Francisco Housing Authority's role in contributing to the exodus with it's Grannie Evictions - the practice of evicting grandmothers for the deeds of a grandchild.

Aileen Hernandez, chair of the task force expressed frustration at the process. This is a city that has a problem with discrimination. Task forces are put together but often times not paid attention to. We can put out 10 more reports but if we have no vision, we have nothing.

A resident from Bayview Hunter's Point concurred. "This is an emergency situation. There should be emergency hearings. If you want a problem to go away, study it to death. 6 months later people will forget about it and we'll be back to business".

The final report and its recommendations will be presented to the board of supervisors within the month.

by Guillermo Gonzalez/PNN & Diane Macasa/ISO

for english scroll down

los captores de esclavos del siglo 21 Guillermo Gonzalez de POOR Magazine y Diana Macasa de la Organizacion Internacional Socialista dan el reporte de sobre los Derechos de Inmigrantes.

RICHMOND-"El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue"� - Mas de doscientos cincuenta residentes de cinco condados incluiendo Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Alameda cantaron en unidad - "El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue" - para poner en marcha la Junta del Pueblo de la Area de la Bahia sobre los derechos de inmigrantes en Richmond el sabado, 6 de Septiembre. Organizaciones de la comunidad de la Bahia entraron como pudieran a una cafeteria pequena y llena de gente para expresar nuestra oposicion al continuado hostigamiento de trabajadores inmigrantes por parte de la policia de Inmigracion y Aduanas (ICE). Ramon Cardona abrio el foro para la discusion exigiendo, "Paren las redadas, no mas paros policiacos descriminatorio a las familias inmigrantes, den identificacion municipal a todos los residentes de la Bahia, y queremos que California se convierta en un estado santuario que defiende y vela por el cumplimiento de derechos para todos ". Todo la gente por unanimidad declaro que la Area de la Bahia se encuentra en un estado de emergencia para los trabajadores inmigrantes y sus familias.

Este estado de emergencia viene de las redadas de ICE que en los ultimos meses en la Area de la Bahia ha resultado en la detencion de mas de 400 trabajadores inocentes. Nuestra gente trabaja por menos del salario minimo, pagan sus impuestos, no tienen un record criminal aun son llamados delincuentes por un sistema que se beneficia de su mano de obra barata y en ultima instancia, son culpados por la crisis economica. No solo es evidente en la A�rea de la Bahia donde los residentes estan muy politizados y organizaciones expresan su oposicion a esta injusticia, pero es una tendencia nacional que afectan a areas como Postville, Iowa y Laurel, Mississippi, donde poco apoyo politico para los inmigrantes existia antes de los ataques terroristas realizados por el ICE en las fabricas este ano adonde mas de 1000 trabajadores petrificados fueron arrestados. Estos ataques no estan detras de nosotros, ellos continuaran como las recientes incursiones de el distrito de Bayview en SF y la pequena ciudad de Arcada han demostrado, y continuaran en todo el pais a menos que se exige el cambio en inmediato.

En la manana de miercoles 3 de septiembre, una madre en el distrito de la Mision en SF vio a sus dos hijos siendo arrestados por ICE ilegalmente e injustamente aunque ella mostro a los oficiales documentos oficiales que acreditaban que sus condiciones de residencia se encontraban pendiente. Esta fue una de las muchas historias que se compartieron en la reunion que describe el estado de panico en que los inmigrantes viven a diario. Feliciano, un trabajador afectado por las redadas en las taquerias de El Balazo el 2 de mayo, describe los efectos de la violencia de ICE que afecta a toda su familia negandole el derecho a trabajar y proporcionar un ingreso estable para su hijo que sufre de cancer terminal. La historia de Feliciano y muchas otras historias donde los arrestos de ICE inmovilizan los proveedores principales de ingresos de una familia crean un sentimiento de desesperanza en la familia y la comunidad; un sentimiento de obstaculos ineludibles y destruyen las posibilidades de superar y sobrevivir, un sentimiento que solo podria ser provocado por el genocidio intencional de una comunidad. Despues de escuchar estas historias, las exigencias de la reunion estan justificadas y aclaran por que estas exigencias deben cumplirse inmediatamente-- los derechos humanos de trabajadores migrantes no deben ser un punto de discurso y conflicto entre la izquierda y la derecha. Todo ser humano merece vivir con dignidad. Este fue el mensaje a los politicos en la reunion.

Phil Hutchings de la Alianza AfroAmericana para Inmigracion Justa afirmo a todos los presentes en la reunion, "ICE son los captores de esclavos del siglo 21!" Y Gloria Esteva de Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia de POOR Magazine exclamo, "Nosotros somos los trabajadores que se les paga nada a hacer mas ricos a los ricos!" Estas injusticias no son desconocidas, sin embargo, las demandas simples de la reunion aun no se han aplicado: un alto a las redadas violentas de inmigracion que destruyen comunidades enteras, un alto a la policia discriminando contra los conductores latinos, IDs municipales para todos, y lo que es mas importante, hacer California un estado santuario. Los politicos escucharon, pero sin una voz constante de descontento y oposicion agresiva expresada por la comunidad, no habra presion para cumplir con estas exigencias. La Reunion de Richmond unio activistas de la comunidad, un gran numero de organizaciones de derechos de inmigrantes y los trabajadores migrantes que han sido directamente afectados por la violencia de ICE, pero para que nuestras exigencias sean cumplidas el impulso debe prevaler y debemos permanecer unidos y continuar la lucha y ganar la amnistia para todos los inmigrantes. "El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue!�

RICHMOND- "El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue"--"The people live on, the struggle lives on." Over Two hundred and fifty concerned residents of over five counties including Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Alameda chant in unity-- "El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue"-- to kick off the Bay Area Town Hall Meeting on Immigrant Rights in Richmond on Saturday, September 6. A number of Bay Area community organizations cramped a small cafeteria to voice our opposition to the continual harassment of immigrant workers by the police and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ramon Cardona opened the forum for discussion by demanding, "Stop the raids, stop police checkpoints that target immigrant families, give every resident of the Bay Area a municipal ID, and we want California to become a sanctuary state that upholds and enforces rights for everyone." Everyone unanimously declared that the Bay Area is in a state of emergency for immigrant workers and their families. This state of emergency derives from the trend of ICE raids within recent months in the Bay Area that has resulted in the arrests of over 400 innocent workers. Workers that work for less than minimum wage, pay their taxes, have no criminal record yet are criminalized by a system that benefits from their cheap labor and are ultimately used as scapegoats for the current economic crisis.

Not only is this evident in the Bay Area where residents are highly politicized and organizations express their opposition to this injustice, but it is a national trend affecting areas like Postville, Iowa and Laurel, Mississippi where little political support for immigrants existed prior to the terrorist attacks conducted by ICE in the factories this year where over 1,000 petrified workers were arrested.

These attacks are not behind us, they will continue as the recent raids of the Bayview district of SF and the small town of Arcada have proven, and will continue nationwide unless change is demanded immediately.

On the morning of Wednesday September 3, a mother in the Mission district in SF witnessed in horrific shock the illegal and unjust arrests of her two sons by ICE even as she showed the officers legal documents proving that their immigration status was pending. This was one of the many stories that was shared at the Town Hall meeting that depicted the state of panic that immigrants experience daily.

Feliciano, a worker affected by the El Balazo Taqueria raids on May 2nd, depicted the effects of the violence of ICE perpetrated on his entire family by denying him the right to work and to provide a steady income for a son suffering from terminal cancer. The story of Feliciano and many other stories where ICE arrests immobilize the main income providers of a family create a feeling of hopelessness within the family and community; a feeling of inescapable, unbeatable odds to overcome and survive, a feeling that could only be brought about by the intentional genocide of a community.

After hearing these stories, the Town Hall demands are justified and clarify why these demands need to be met immediately. The human rights of migrant workers should not be a point of discussion and conflict between the left and the right. Every human being deserves to live with dignity. This was the message to the politicians at the Town Hall meeting.

Phil Hutchings from Black Alliance for Just Immigration asserted to everyone present at the town hall meeting that, "ICE are the 21st century slave catchers!" and Gloria Esteva from the Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia program at POOR Magazine further exclaimed, "We are the workers that get paid nothing to make the rich richer!" These injustices are not unknown, yet the simple demands of the Town Hall meeting have yet to be implemented: stop violent immigration raids that destroy entire communities, stop police checkpoints that target Latino drivers, issue municipal ids for all, and most importantly, make California a sanctuary state.

The politicians listened, but without a constant voice of discontent and aggressive opposition being expressed from the community, there will be no pressure for them to follow through on these demands.

The Richmond Town Hall Meeting united community activists, a large number of immigrant rights organizations, and migrant workers who have been directly impacted by the violence of ICE raids, but in order for our demands to be met the momentum must prevale and we must stay united and continue the struggle and win amnesty for all immigrants. "El pueblo vive, la lucha sigue"--"The people live on, the struggle lives on."

by Tony Robles/Co-editor

"Think of a Number", said Peter Johnson, the new millionaire buyer of the office building where POOR Magazine is located and now faces eviction. He was smooth -smooth like a snake; his voice, his demeanor, his bootstrap "rags to riches"story. He was smooth and authentic-seeming as he prodded co-editor and founder Tiny AKA Lisa Gray-Garcia and myself to think of a "number", i.e., the price of what it would cost for POOR to relocate our entire multilingual, multigenerational classroom and multi-media production center. At that moment, Tiny and myself were completely drawn into his story. What we later discovered was his cleverly woven web of lies and betrayal.

POOR Magazine is an indigenous organizing project. We practice eldership, true community, revolutionary journalism and truth journalism. We bring together silenced communities - mamas, elders, youths, migrant and indigenous folks whose voices are silenced in mainstream media. We are media producers and digital resisters. We do the work that needs to be done. We practice interdependence rather than separation. We do not practice poverty pimpology. As POOR Magazine's new co-editor, I am proud to say that we are true to our mission. We have not sold out. Now we are being evicted. And there is no "number" being offered to us, only eviction notices and threatening letters from lawyers.

POOR Magazine has called 1095 Market Street its home for the past 4 years. From our small offices we have produced our radio shows, our poor press books, our online magazine, our Welfare Queens theater production and provided community and professional development through our Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute www.poormagazine.org/RPMJ/

Peter R. Johnson is a wealthy Australian whose fortune was earned through technology. He purchased 1095 Market Street for 2 million dollars in cash. His wife sits on the board of Larkin Street Youth Services. He says he cares about the youth of the community. His son Simon occasionally wears a knit sport-shirt with the Larkin Street logo as he saunters past the increasingly vacant offices at 1095 Market. Meanwhile, the youth at POOR's FAMILY project which provides arts and social justice education and advocacy are being evicted.

POOR has faced eviction before - a few years back by a previous owner - and through a collective effort with other tenants - was able to retain its offices. This time the eviction didn't just impact POOR, but many others in the building - including long term tenants whose tenancy extends more than a decade.

The tenants at 1095 Market contacted Chris Daly's office for help. In mid August we met at City Hall with the landlord and his son Simon Johnson, whose vise-like handshake said volumes. The Johnson's assured supervisor Daly and the tenants that they had the community's best interests at heart and that they would meet tenants individually to reach agreements beneficial to both parties.

The day Tiny and I met with the Johnson's we discussed the fact that we recognize and follow the UN Declaration on indigenous people - that we have a right to this land and a right not to be displaced. We also brought to the Johnson's attention that their home country, Australia, was one of 3 countries that did not sign the UN Declaration. Mr. Johnson indicated he was aware of the declaration and that his home country was not among the signatories.

Mr. Johnson informed us that we were going to have to move. We responded that displacement would be an extreme hardship on our organization - one that has very limited resources. Mr. Johnson assured us 3 months free rent and that we would meet again to discuss compensation that would make for the smoothest transition. He indicated that he would donate new computers to POOR and help us defray our relocation costs. We were told to go back and think about a "number" i.e., fair compensation to present to our next meeting.

That meeting never came. What we got instead was a notice of an Unlawful Detainer action. We have been helped by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and Randy Shaw. They wrote Mr. Johnson, reminding him of his commitment to discussing fair compensation for POOR Magazine. What we received was a letter from his attorney denying all the specifics of our discussion.

POOR Magazine is an indigenous organizing project practicing eldership and interdependence. Ours is not an easy road. What we stand for is threatening to the corporate and non-profit colonizers who are in control. As long as we are dependent upon them for grants and operating space, we will be running like hamsters in a cage.

POOR Magazine has launched a Capital Campaign ( which we are re-naming an "equity campaign" ) called "Homefulness". Homefulness is permanent housing based on a sweat equity model - not based on how much money a person has or makes, but what they can contribute, be it art or maintenance work or teaching, child care,etc. Our dream is to permanently house 3-5 families, to have a space for a school, computer lab, and arts and performance cafe. Tiny at POOR Magazine already has created a template for homefulness at her current residence in the Mission. Homefulness works - and we want to use this blueprint to house and empower families. Bottom line, POOR Magazine needs a building. If you know of an available building or have suggestions on how we can obtain one, please contact us.

POOR Magazine needs your help. Any amount you can donate is appreciated. Donations can be made on line at www.poormagazine.org www.poormagazine.org. Or you can mail donations directly to:

POOR Magazine
1095 Market Street #307
San Francisco, CA 94103

by Atwynn Delgado/Youth in Media Intern/POOR Magazine

Im 17. Im Black. I live in the United States and I'm gonna die very soon.
Maybe not today, but very possibly tomorrow. Not because of an illness, or
car crash, but because I will be shot.

After the shooting death of Joshua Cameron and other young men of color in
San Francisco last month and countless other youth of color shot dead in the
Bay Area over the last year, I traveled from Oakland, where I live, to
gather alongside several hundred youth, families and youth advocates on the
steps of City Hall in San Francisco last week to mourn their death and ask
why.

I know why. A lot of my friends know why. There are a lot of "whys"--
corporate media images perpetuating violence, the school to prison pipeline,
poverty and institutional racism and a society hinged on financial wealth
and consumerist values have conspired to promote violence as a living,
breathing thing that has a life of its own. Many of my friends, long ago
alienated by a gutted school system that no longer teaches us anything
except how to take a test; families, communities and generations destroyed
by years of poverty, de-stabilization, gentrification and joblessness, are
no longer listening to our elders and even if they are, they are shot by
other youth not listening to their elders, their ancestors, their cultures,
their humanity.

For many youth in poverty, the lack of real opportunities for living wage
jobs are staggering, so many of us are forced to earn income through
underground economic strategies. These strategies are criminalized, so if we
aren't shooting each other, we are being incarcerated and criminalized. Our
schools seem to be set up to discourage us with endless tests and things like
art, music and social studies being taken out completely.

The voices of the youth who spoke broke my heart--like they always do, like
they did for my cousin who was shot in Oakland two months ago; like they do
when I hear about anyone taken from this earth for no good reason at all; like I do when I hear about children and families shot in Iraq for a war we
have no reason to be in; like I do when I hear about another young person
joining the military to fight and probably get killed in this ridiculous
"war"; like I do when I hear of another young person being pushed out of
school cuz they didn't pass the barrage of tests they are given; like I do
when my mama cries in fear for my life when I go out at night.

One young man at the memorial for Joshua spoke of being afraid to walk
outside, for fear of getting shot. That's when I knew. It wont be today or
even tomorrow, but if we don't do something very different about these
"whys", me and my friends wont make it through this year.Im sure of that.

by Staff Writer

by Tony Robles/National Poverty Racism and Resistance Report (NPRRR)

"We'd like to take what we're doing in Arkansas to other states. It would be great if every state had a citizen's lobbying group", says Bruce Lockett, co-chair of Citizen's First Congress (CFC), a grassroots organization based in Arkansas. CFC is made up of organizers and activists from 44 different organizations working together to shape public policy and to put power in the hands of low-income and working class Arkansonians in a state where big business wields so much power.

CFC is at the forefront of issues such as prison reform, economic justice, health care, Global warming and increasing the state’s minimum wage. Lockett sees Arkansas as a state where things are moving forward. "CFC is one of the few grassroots lobbying organizations in the state. Most people don’t have the resources or ability to lobby. It takes money and lots of logistical work".

CFC practices what POOR Magazine calls interdependence, rather than the cult of independence. CFC has coalesced into a formidable organization bringing together the most important of resources --the community. CFC successfully bridges organizers and activists from different fronts of struggle and unifies their efforts to form public policy in the state legislature.

CFC is a visionary organization that is thinking both locally and globally. The organization recently brought together scientists, environmentalists and scholars to lobby the Arkansas legislature to study the effects of global warming. As a result, the state assembly created a global warming commission to look at this global phenomenon and to develop strategies to ameliorate the damage being done to our planet. The corporate power elite in the state has power to shape policy towards pollution - a policy damaging to our basic human right to water and clean air. "We have a large group of environmentalists in the CFC", says Lockett. "We pushed for environmentally friendly technology. We have a windmill plant making windmills for the Texas market right now".

Through the lobbying efforts of the diverse organizations that make up the CFC, the Arkansas Department of agriculture was formed. Small farmers are now taking advantage of the many subsidies and programs via the federal government—opportunities denied them due to non-existent state body to disburse those funds. Thanks to the efforts of the CFC, small farmers can partake in subsidies that the larger farmers monopolized.

I met Bruce at a fundraising seminar in San Francisco a few months back. He was a guy you don't meet too often at fundraising workshops and seminars - warm, down to earth - real. We connected immediately. We talked about raising money and how hard it is for organizations to make it - especially ones that do not sell their souls to the non-profit industrial complex.

I asked him about homelessness in his state. He indicated that there are problems but they are limited to the bigger cities. "Little Rock has the biggest problem when it comes to homelessness. Arkansas is primarily rural. We have a population of 2.5 million in the entire state. The majority of our people live in rural areas". He cited Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) as being at the forefront of the state's housing issues.

In 2007 the CFC lobbied the legislature to focus on HIV/AIDS. The state formed an HIV task force this year in response to the disproportionate cases of HIV/AIDS plaguing women, African-Americans and Latinos. A task force’s findings will be released next month.

Predatory lending is a problem in poor communities with check cashing establishments offering payday loans - charging exorbitant interest rates, getting rich on the backs of the poor. That day is over. "We got Attorney General Dustin McDaniel to work on predatory lending with all the high fees", said Bruce. "Pay day loans were banned and Arkansas shut down the check cashing places". Check cashing establishments were charging 371% interest on these loans - higher than the 17% the state allows.

CFC is an example of interdependence - elders, scholars, activists, youths and environmentalists working together for the overall good of the community. As Bruce Lockett says, "People see strength in numbers".

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia/POOR Magazine-PNN

The officers were waiting, loaded firearms dangling from their wastes, steel filled chests puffed out, glassy stares behind helmets, all three thousand of them - or maybe there were only 8? One got the woman from behind, one got her from the front... they knocked her down, they physically harmed her. She was one woman alone. She was a journalist doing her job. She was attacked by the police for no reason at all. Her only crime was being a media producer in a hostile location.

The story you just heard could be the well-known story of Democracy Now's Amy Goodman's experience of police terror at the Republican National Convention. It also could be the rarely heard story of KPFA long-time volunteer and media producer Nadra Foster's experience of police terror at the KPFA offices in Berkeley last month.

Just a few days before when Amy Goodman was experiencing the fascist silencing of her powerful voice and that of her fellow Democracy Now colleagues by what POOR Magazine calls the po'LICE, Nadra Foster, a mother of two, an apprenticeship graduate and 12 year long unpaid media producer at KPFA was experiencing a similar form of po'LICE terror at the KPFA station in Berkeley because she was allegedly using the phone for personal calls.

This is where the similarities end. When the Amy Goodman story broke, there was national news coverage, which was great, because it detailed the ways in which the fascist police state we are all living in is only increasing. When the Nadra Foster story broke, it wasn't considered real news by the powers that be inside KPFA and Pacifica, including Amy Goodman.

My questions go to the heart of this difference and this idea that somehow things that happen to some people constitute real-ness, that some people are real, that some media is real, that some perpetrations of abuse are real, that some use of fascist force is ok, sanctioned, and alright because we are doing it and its about us, and that its for "legitimate" reasons.

All of my conscious colleagues at KPFA, Democracy now, Pacifica, Free Speech Radio News, The SF Bay view, KPOO, The POCC Block Report, and POOR Magazine are desperately concerned and dedicated to the increased fascism that is being perpetrated on all people locally and globally, on migrant scholars at the border, on youth of color in Oakland, on families, children and individuals in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine, on poor people in struggle everywhere, This station and all the Pacifica stations across the globe are reporting, writing, recording and broadcasting every day on the wrong-nesses perpetrated by police, armies, militias and beyond -so why is it ok to perpetrate abuse on our own folks, EVER?

To insure that we are not EVER practicing hypocrisy and because of our work and dedication to all fights of injustice and oppression- we as a poor people led/indigenous people led organization who have personally and organizationally been abused by corporate and insitutionally racist and classist systems like the police, practice the same standards of community, care-giving, accountability and self-protection that we promote and expect of all humans, organizations and communities. At POOR Magazine we clearly understand that we all need to self-protect and stay safe in what ever that means for all of us individually - which is why we have developed different forms of redress and community accountability to deal with wrong-nesses perpetrated by any one of us against any other of us. If there is an egrious act committed against one of us we call for a cross-organizational Community Council. WE model it after tribal councils that exist in indigenous communities across the globe, councils of organizational elders that listen/hear from all people concerned and as a community decide what is a proper form of redress for people's actions. WHAT WE DO Not do is call the police - EVER! -the police as all of us are always reporting on - are used as agents of capitalism, fascism and power and operate under a culture of terror- They are taught to use force and weapons. They are instructed to apply harm, the same way as they do in East, West and North Oakland with youth of color, with migrant workers, with houseless folks, with Palestinians on the Israel border.

My challenge to readers, my fellow media producers, artists, reporters, writers, activists and service providers from Amy Goodman to the management of the KPFA station, as well as several non-profit organizations that have also fallen into this same illogical pattern, is to adopt a policy of NO POLICE calls EVER - and with that adopt other forms of inter-organizational redress, and accountability that is NEVER about violence. Yes, that might take more time and more involvement of more people - but that ultimately means that we are not becoming the monsters that we are so focused on reporting on and working against, - that we truly understand that our personal and organizational behavior MUST not emulate the perpetrators who we are fighting , and that if we are going to report on the wrong-nesses of others we must start by fixing the wrong-nesses of ourselves.

For more information on POOR Magazine's indigenous model of Community Accountability, call us at (415) 863-6306 or email us at deeandtiny@poormagazine.org

by Marlon Crump/PNN Revolutionary Legal Scholar

"The goal of this initiative is to breed widespread fear and panic among the public. It relies heavily on law enforcement strategies and incarceration as a means to promote public safety. This Prop 6 is resurrecting failed crime polices from the past in effort to promote the prison industrial complex."

Prop 6 is a proposed ballot initiative called the "Safe Neighborhoods Act" which is a subsequent "gang injunctions" gentrification tool that is aimed towards the youth, in communities of color........... at the hands of wealthy land developers.

The trend of these injunctions have traveled, and have descended upon major U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, El Paso and Forth Worth, TX, Chicago, IL, and most recently Durham, NC.

This political plague is swarming towards threatening the youth, (from 16-14 yrs old), funding for treatment programs, undocumented immigrant youth, and even the hip-hop generation.

This proposal, according to Community Justice Network for Youth (CJNY) Program Manager, Christina "Krea" Gomez, is alleged to "Protect Victims, Stop Gang and Street Crime" is another "Get Tough on Crime" initiative in California that targets the poor communities of color.

Gomez summarized her extensive research, investigations, and the final analysis of Prop 6 to my family and comrades of POOR during our frequent first Tuesday-of-the-month Community Newsroom, on September 2nd, 2008.

She feels a sense of urgency to oppose

this initiative, before it arrives on the ballot in November. All of us at POOR un-arguably agreed!

One of the main concerns I have with this "initiative" are the youngsters who are viewed as "unfit" for juvenile court from ages 14 to 16--ultimately unleashing more wolves on the youth upon their entry into the savage system, at a younger age............... than almost anywhere in the country.

Prop 6, also known as the "Runner Initiative" is being sponsored by California Republican senator, George C. Runner Jr, and is authored by Mike Reynolds, also the author of Three Strikes. The primary funding machine of Prop 6 is fueled from Henry T. Nicholas "Nick" III, an American communications technology businessman and co-founder of Broadcom Corporation.

The Runner Initiative strengthens gang injunctions. Some of its causes and damaging effects are defining the service process for civil gang injunction.

This would increase the normal standards of these injunctions by applying this to everyone in the gang, and not just individually. Prop 6 would give increased strength towards gang injunctions so that a violation can lead to prison time.

It would target communities by providing funding to local housing authorities, WITH the requirement that people who are housed with public housing subsidies, WITH additional family members also listed on their lease, to submit to annual criminal background checks.
(The intention is to remove housing subsidies of people with recent criminal convictions.)

Even worse, this prop would explicitly allow evictions or closures to be entered and eliminates the 30-day eviction notice process!

The average cost to incarcerate one person in a California prison is $13,000 per year. Increasing incarceration rates have only a negligible effect on reducing violent crime. Proven prevent programs such as the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care have produced up to a 22% drop in offending, at a cost of less than $7,000 per participant.

The Legislative Analysts Office has estimated that the Runner Initiative will cost taxpayers $1 billion the first year and $500 million every year after that to pay for prisons, probation, and law enforcement.

California currently has a gang database, called CALGANG. It is the largest statewide gang database in the country and lists more than 100,000 names. The criteria behind the data, is so untrustworthy that former California Attorney General Bill Lockyer refused to forward them to the federal authorities.

According to Lockyer, "This database cannot and should not be used, in California or elsewhere, to decide whether or not a person is dangerous or should be detained."

In reference to that statement, the Los Angeles DA's Office found that close to half of Black males between the ages of 21 and 24 had been entered in the county's gang database.............. even though no one could establish that all of these young men were current "gang members." One has to wonder who's name is going to go where and when and for what reasons.

Prop 6 threatens the hip hop generation by continuing to manipulate to the minds of the public that the youth of color are a threat to their safety, or as AmeriKKKa defines it, "National Security."

Speaking of "security" isn't one of Prop 6's sponsors, Henry T. Nicholas "Nick" III, ranked # 195 in 2007 in Forbes Magazine's list of richest Americans, currently under indictment for federal charges for felony drug, conspiracy, and securities fraud?

The Runner Initiative excludes members of the communities most impacted by violence from making decisions about our own safety. This is done, by requiring that the juvenile justice coordinating councils, be responsible, for developing county responses to juvenile crime.

However representatives from community-based drug and alcohol programs, nonprofit organizations serving minors, and the community at large are excluded! This would injure mental health services, in part.

"Prop 6 will take away the community voice and mental health component." argued JewnBug co-founder of POOR's Family Project, and member of Parent Voices. "You can't make a safe neighborhood WITHOUT the community's voice."

POOR Magazine has an Arts, Media, and Literacy program for anyone struggling in poverty looking to publish either a book or a CD. One of the POOR Press Authors, name Angel Garcia had published his first book, titled "Gangs, Drugs, and Denial" just last year. (I personally did the review on his book.)

"I felt the cop's hard boot hit my neck, I heard the wind pass as he lifted back and swung his foot onto my neck and upper back, I tasted the warm blood drip down my mouth..........."

Garcia was a former gang-banger who turned his life around, and published his first book, with the intent that others wouldn't make the same mistakes that he did. If Prop 6 gets passed, what would this mean for youngsters wanting to make a difference in their life?

With community-based organizations and non-profits stripped of their involvement, who are supposed to lead them on a positive path?

This "initiative" also denies the right to a pretrial release to undocumented immigrants who are accused of serious, or gang-related crime from being released on bail or their own recognizance, while awaiting trial.

It would also require local sheriffs to alert the Immigration Central Enforcement (ICE) of the arrest and charges of people who are undocumented.

Prop 6, as it clearly seems, allows the City of San Francisco to establish even more power to criminalize the undocumented youth immigrants to the dooms of deportation........from a not- so "Sanctuary City".

It is not coincidental and/or un-questionably clear that "gang injunctions" and "undocumented immigrant youth" are BOTH placed on the ballot, in the disguise of Prop 6, in the biggest election of the year.

The not so hidden agenda of Prop 6. The "Runner" and "initiative" is to ................initially run off the youth population. Is that really a Safe Neighborhoods Act?