Story Archives

by S.H.A.C.

San Francisco, CA-Members of the Senior Housing Action Collaborative (SHAC) joined up with members of the SF Tenant’s Union to spread a holiday message: STOP EVICTING SENIORS!

They chose the Law Offices of Wiegel and Fried to kick off their carol tour. Wigel and Fried are the attorneys who represented to John Hickey Brokerage in their much publicized eviction of 84 year old Lola McKay last year. They are at it again. This time two seniors are on the chopping block; Norma Morgan and Alma Augueles.

Alma Augueles is being evicted from her flower shop in the Mission. Alma is 55 years old and a native of San Francisco. Her landlord, Kaushik Dattani has hired Wiegel and Fried for their expertise in evicting seniors in order to displace Alma from her shop where she lives and works.

According to Ted Gullicksen from the SF Tenants Union, "Unlike dot.coms who go unpunished for violating the planning code, Alma is being evicted.The irony is that she is actually adhering to the LIVE/WORK philosophy while many dot.coms do not."

Weigel and Fried’s services have also been retained by the WCW Corporation in order to evict Norma Morgan and the other tenants from their four unit building in the Inner Sun -set. Norma is also a senior and she is disabled. She is a member of the Senior Action Net-work and she is fighting mad. "I have lived in San Francisco for 55 years. Weigel and Fried have been hired to assist this out of town corporation to maneuver through San Fran-cisco’s rent control ordinance in order to evict me. They are using the Ellis Act to sweep us all out. Thanks to John Burton’s Lola Mckay amendment I have one year to look for a place. However, six months have already gone by and I am not one step closer to finding an affordable roof over my head. I am simply asking for Wiegel and Fried to stay the evic-tion until I find affordable housing to move into."

>p>The seniors and tenants from the Senior Housing Action Collaborative and the SF Ten-ants Union serenaded Weigel and Fried with revised holiday carols such as "I’ll be home-less for Christmas" and "Here Comes the Landlord" and presented them with stockings full of coal as well as their demands. Wiegel and Fried, however, were not the only recipients of these seniors mock-carols. The SF Association of Realtors and Mayor Willie Brown also received stokings full of coal.

by pnn

ALABAMA

ARISE

P.O. Box 612 Montgomery, AL

36101

Phone: 334-832-9060

Fax: 334-832-9061

Birmingham Health Care for the Homeless Program

712 - 25th Street,

North Birmingham,

AL 35203

Phone: 205-439-7201

Fax: 205-458-3383

Email: judunning@cs.com

ARIZONA

Phoenix Consortium for the Homeless

902 West Culver Phoenix,

AZ 85007-1907

Phone: 602-253-6905

Fax: 602-253-6972

Primavera Foundation, Inc.

3232 E. Third Street Tucson,

AZ 85716-5545

Home: 520-325-5876

Fax: 520-881-6818

Email: gpackard@azstarnet.com

ARKANSAS

Women's Project

2224 Main St. Little Rock,

AR Phone: 501-372-5113

Northern CALIFORNIA

Listed/Ulisisted In 2001 Phone Book

Alternative Family Services

(L) 25 Division Phone: 415-626-2700

American Indian Child Resource Center

(UL) 522 Grand Ave.

Oakland, CA 94610

Phone: 510-208-1870 Email: aicrc@aicrc.org

Applied Research Center

(UL) 3781 Broadway

Oakland, CA 94611

Phone: 510-653-3415 Fax: 510-653-3427

Ella Baker Center For Hunman Rights

(L) Samantha R.ext.24 Bay Area Police Watch Project Jazzman De La Rosa
ext.26

- The 3rd Eye Movement)

- Judie Appel ext.23 (Names, Extentions contiue on Phone message)

1230 Market St. P.M.B.409

San Francisco, Ca. 94102

415-951-4844

Fax: 415- 951-4813

Website HumanRTS@Ellabakercenter.org e-mail HumanRTS@Ellabakercenter.org

Back On Track Tutorial

(L) 1399 Mcallister Phone: 415-346-9316

Bay Area Legal Aid Foundation

(415)982-8399

Bay Area Literacy (BALit)

A consortium of library-based literacy programs in the Bay Area. Our programs, which you may know as Project Read, Berkeley Reads, Project Second Chance, Write to Read, and more, all offer free, confidential tutoring for adults wishing to improve their reading and writing skills. Programs are located in communities throughout the Bay Area, and operate out of public libraries. Millions of Bay Area residents could benefit from these services that enable them to realize their professional and personal goals, and participate more fully in their communities (voting!).

The toll-free hotline is 1-888-740-READ, and our web site is www.literacynet.org/balit.

BOSS - Community Organizing Team Third Floor

(L) 685 - 14th Street

Oakland, CA 94612

Phone: 510-663-6580

Fax: 510-663-6584

Bread, Work and Justice(Johna/othan?) Community of Correspondence


(UL) Phone: 510-465-9914

California Child, Youth, and Family Coalition

Youth Crisis Line: 1-800-843-5200 (L)

Californians for Justice

(L) 1611 Telegraph Ave. Suite 206

Oakland, CA 94612

Phone: 510-452-2728

Fax: 510-452-3552

Center for Young Women's Development

695 Market St. Mission(L)

San Francisco, CA

Phone: 415-977-1980

Central YMCA of San Francisco

220 Golden Gate Ave.(L)

Phone: 415-855-0460

Child Care Inclusion Challenge Project

Phone: 415-343-3334(L)

Children's Council of San Francisco

Phone: 415-243-0700 (L)

575 Sutter Street. San Francisco CA.

Child Care Referral: 415-243-0111

Coalition for Ethical Welfare Reform

459 Vienna Street (L)

San Francisco, CA 415-239-5099

Community Action Now (CAN)

1581 - 20th Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94107

Phone: 415-759-7669 Web: www.cansf.org

*CopWatch

Phone: 510-548-0425

CTWO

1218 E. 21st Street

Oakland, CA 94606

Phone: 510-533-0923

Fax: 510-533-0923

Email: mtoney@ctwo.org

Disabled Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO)

(L) 415-695-0153

DrawBridge (L)

PO Box 2698

San Rafael, CA 94912

Phone: 415-456-1269

Fax: 415-456-3284

Email: arts4home@aol.com

East Bay Community Law Center

Phone: 510-540-4848

Family Rights and Dignity

415-346-3740

Family Self-Sufficiency Program

Phone: 415-345-0126

Families With A Future

100 McAllister Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

Phone: 415-255-7036, ext. 320

Fax: 415-552-3150

Web: www.fwaf.net

Haight Ashbury Free Clinic

1440 Chinook Ct Treas Is

San Francisco, CA

Phone: 415-487-5638

Haight Ashbury Food Program

1525 Waller

San Francisco, CA

Phone: 415-566-0366

Holy Family Day Home
299 Dolores Street
San Francisco, Ca 94103
Free Childcare spaces available now for children age 2-5 years old.Must be toilet trained.To qualify: family must be certified homeless and be working towards employment or educational goals.For more information, call (415) 861-5361.

Homebase (Senter For Common Conserns)

870 Market St. (L)

San Francisco, Ca. 94102

Phone. 415-788-7961

Homeless Prenatal Program

Phone: 415-546-6756

Just Cause

Oakland 1-510 464-1011

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children

100 McAllister Street

Phone: 415-255-7036

Email: lspc@igc..org

Lifetime

2065 Kittredge Street Suite E

Berkeley, CA 94704

Phone: 510-452-5192

Fax: 510-452-5193

Email: dspatz@hotmail.com

Living Wage Coalition

955 Market St. 11th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: 415-243-8133

Fax: 415-243-8628

Mission Agenda

2940 - 16th Street Suite 204

San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: 415-436-9707

Fax: 415-436-9170

Email: magenda@energy.net.org

Media Alliance/Raising Our Voices

(415) 546-6334

Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition

Phone: 415-431-4210

Mildly Ill Childcare Program

Phone: 415-821-0411

San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of The National Lawyers' Guild

Phone: 415-285-1055

Parents United for the Needs of Children (PUNCH)

Phone: 415-357-4674 (?)

People Organized to Demand Economic Right

Phone: 415-431-4210

POWER 32 -

7th Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: 415-864-8372

Fax: 415-864-8373

Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC)

PO Box 339

Berkeley, CA 94701

Phone: 510-893-4648

PUEBLO(?)

1920 Park Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94606

Phone: 510-452-2010

Fax: 510-452-2017

Email: peopleunited@igc.org

Respite Care Program & Infant Care Program

Phone: 415-821-1300

Salvation Army Adult Women's Shelter

Phone: 415-292-2585

San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness

468 Turk Street

San Francisco, CA 94102-3606

Phone: 415-346-3740 x306

Fax: 415-775-5639

Email: coh@sfo.com

SHAC (Senior Housing Action Network)(L)

Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco

1370 Mission Street, 3rd Floor

San Francisco, CA. 94103

Phone: 415-398-0527

Fax: 415-703-0186/

shac9@hotmail.com

Single Parent Network

Phone: 415-387-3684

Supportive Parents Idependent Network

4069 30th Street

San Diego, CA 92104

Phone: 619-285-1003

Fax: 619-285-1019

Talk Line

Phone: 415-387-3684

(For Emergency: 24-hour Hotline)

The California Association for Health, Education, Employment, and Dignity,
Inc.

Phone: 415-642-9886

Email: caheed@caheed.org

Third Eye Movement

Phone: 510-632-1195

Vineyard Workers Services

PO Box 166

Glen Allen, CA 95422

1-707 933-0897

Email: vws@vom.com

Whitney Young Child Development Center

Phone: 415-821-7550

Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP)

Phone: 406-543-2530

Fax: 510-986-8628

Email: weel@montana.com

Young Women's Work Project

Phone: 415-974-6296

Southern CALIFORNIA

Acorn

Suite 25 1010 S. Flower

Los Angeles, CA 90015

Phone: 213-747-4211

Fax: 213-747-4221

Email: caacornia@acorn.org

Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness

Suite 339 548 S. Spring Street

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Phone: 1-213-439-1070

Home: 626-577-5615

Fax: 213-439-1080

Email: HN1674@handsnet.org

COLORADO

Colorado Coalition for the Homeless 2

100 Broadway

Denver, CO 80205

Phone: 1- 303-293-2217

Fax: 303-293-2309

Email: JP@coloradocoalition.org

Denver Grassroots Leadership

Denver, Colorado

1-303-753-1370 (Denver Leadership Conference)

CONNECTICUT

Mothers for Justice(not) Some Christian Org.

168 Davenport

New Haven, CT 06519

Phone: 1-203-777-7848

Fax: 203-777-7923

Vencinos Unidos

PO Box 260 268

Hartford, CT 06126

Phone: 860-236-1295

Fax: 860-236-8071

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Center for Community Change (CCC)

1000 Wisconsin Ave. NW

Washington DC 20007

Phone: 202-342-0567

Fax: 202-342-1815

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Suite 610 1012 - 14th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20005-3406

Phone: 202-662-1530

Home: 703-683-8639

Fax: 202-393-1973

Email: sheila@nlihc.org

National Partnership for Women and Families

Phone: 202-986-2600

Fax: 202-986-2539

FLORIDA

Florida Coalition for the Homeless c/o Office of Justice and Peace

134 E. Church Street

Jacksonville, FL 32202-3130

Phone: 904-358-7410

Fax: 904-358-7302

Email: peace@cxp.com

Miami Workers Center

16375 NE 18th Ave. #315

North Miami, FL 33162

Phone: 305-919-7222

Fax: 305-919-7665

Email: miamiproject@hotmail.com

Minority Families Fighting Wages

6020 NW 13th Ave. #9

Miami, FL 33147

Phone: 305-919-7222

Fax: 305-919-7665

Email: miamiproject@hotmail.com

GEORGIA

Center for Human Rights Education

Phone: 404-344-9629

Empty the Shelters

Atlanta, GA 404-589-1333

GA Citizens Commitee

on Hunger Nine Gammon Ave. SW

Atlanta, GA 30315

Phone: 404-622-7778

Fax: 404-622-7992

Email: hungercoalition@mindspring.com

Georgia Human Rights Union

Phone: 404-622-7778

Project South NIne Gammon

Avenue SW Atlanta, GA 30315

Phone: 404-622-0602

Fax: 404-622-7992

Southerners for Economic Justice (SEJ)

Nine Gammon Ave.

Atlanta, GA 30315

Phone: 919-682-6800

Fax: 919-682-6502

Task Force for the Homeless

Second Floor 363 Georgia Avenue, S.E.

Atlanta, GA 30312-3139

Phone: 404-230-5007 x118

Home: 404-659-2590

Fax: 404-589-8251

Email: abeaty@mail.homelesstaskforce.org

Union of the Homeless c/o Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless

363 George Avenue, SE

Atlanta, GA 30312-3139

Phone: 404-230-5000

Home: 404-688-1755

Fax: 404-589-8251

by Leroy Moore

As a Black disabled man, I can not rely on Hollywood to represent me! Although Hollywood may be learning about people with disabilities and it already has had years upon years to learn about Black culture and how to represent Black people, Hollywood has not connected the two into one: Black disabled people. I was really excited to see movies with disabled themes and actors playing disabled roles, but when I concentrated on what has been coming out of Hollywood I realized that the movies have looked like the dominant culture.

Before the mid 90’s I could count on one hand the movies that had a Black actor or actress in a lead disabled role, and they were not portraying disability in a positive and empowering light. On the other hand, there have been many movies with White actors and actresses playing positive disabled roles.

Lately, Hollywood has been cashing in on disabled people.There is a lack of diversity in roles, however. Nine times out of ten, White disabled people are enjoying this newly found fame while Blacks and other disabled minorities are nowhere to be found, or are cast in negative roles such as drug dealers or gang bangers, as portrayed in "Boyz in the Hood" and "Slam." Check out the characters and themes in movies like "Children of a Lesser God," "Rain Man," "Born on the 4th of July," and in last year's "The Other Sister,""Theory of Flight," "At First Sight" and "The Mighty." These characters and themes are uplifting, inspirational and they are positive. The 1992 movie "The Waterdance" features diverse characters in disabled roles, but the two main characters represent the balance of good and bad. Compare Wesley Snipes' character to the one portrayed by Eric Stolz and you will find out how Blacks and other minority characters in disabled roles are shaped and viewed in Hollywood.

Recent documentaries on the lives of disabled characters are receiving more attention. In 1999 a local disabled writer won an Oscar for his documentary "A Breathing Lesson: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien." This was a great movie, but I am still waiting for a documentary about a disabled minority in an empowering and positive role! Hollywood seems to be learning about disabled people, disability culture and arts. Hollywood has yet to realize that the disability rights movement and the new disability culture is still lacking diversity thus leaving different perspectives, views and lifestyles out. When you watch these movies with disabled characters and themes, ask yourself: do they represent the whole disabled community, or only the dominant culture?

Recently, the skin colors are changing on the big screen and in small independent films. In 1999 the small but wonderful independent film "Compensation," by Zeinabu Irene, appeared at the 2000 Sundance Independent Film Festival, but hasn’t made it to most theaters yet. This drama is about the life of a deaf African American woman in the early 1900’s, paralleled with the life of another deaf woman living in the 1990’s. "Compensation" examines the relationships of young black couples in which the female is deaf and the male is hearing.

Another recent documentary tells the story of a Black blind man of San Francisco, blues singer Paul Pena. In "Genghis Blues," Pena hears this strange sound coming from his radio that turns out to be Tuvan throat-singers. Pena masters Tuvan throat singing, and then travels across the world to win a Tuvan contest, discovering a newly independent life.

On top of this, it seemed that last year was the year of minorities in disabled lead roles. Denzel Washington in "The Bone Collector" plays a New York City detective who becomes a quadriplegic after a near fatal injury in the line of duty. Washington is left with only his voice and movement in one finger. What is new and shocking is Washington is not a drug dealer and at the end he is still disabled and he gets the girl! Wow!

In the "Green Mile," a movie adapted from a Stephen King novel, Micheal Clarke Duncan plays a Black giant with some kind of mental disability. It is revealed during the film that he is really an angel with healing powers, but is on death row for the murders of two white girls. To put a black disabled giant in the role of an angel is a new way to think about how we view angels!

And how about the recent movie, "The Color of Paradise?"It is the only movie I know of that deals with traditional Asian culture and blindness.

The latest gossip in Hollywood days is about a film on the life and work of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist, activist and teacher who was disabled from polio and a bus accident.

The recent increase in disabled minority roles is great, but not surprising. Hollywood, like our society in general, has been realizing that disability is a part of life, White or Black. Recently actors, actresses and sports legends have entered the gates of the disabled community. Many think Christopher Reeves started this turn around in the focus of Hollywood on people with disabilities. In reality, we all know that there were many that came before Christopher Reeves, i.e. Richard Prayor with MS and soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, who was in a car crash in the early 80’s that left him paralyzed. And we can't forget the one and only Tony Cox, a Black actor who is a midget and has been around in show business for ten years. He has starred in over thirty movies and commercials, making his most recent appearance in the hit "Me, Myself & Irene," which came out last year.

Although today I see disabled minorities or minorities in disabled roles, it’s still far too few, and most are males with limited roles. Take Tony Cox: he has been in the business since 1977 but his part in "Me, Myself & Irene" is the only one in which he had a leading role and ends up with the girl.

The words of Tony Cox hit it on the nail. He was interviewed by the San Francisco Bay View last year. He said, "Hollywood in some ways maybe views us, African Americans, as invisible. The success of Denzel Washington is great! But how many Denzels you see in Hollywood?" I would like to add to Mr. Cox’s statement by saying, 'how many Tony Coxes, a Black disabled actor, you see in Hollywood?'

By Leroy F Moore Jr. 12\00

Founder & Executive Director of Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization, DAMO.

by By DAVID ROHDE, NY TIMES ( courtesy of The Homeless People's Network)

A federal judge has upheld a Giuliani administration policy that allows police officers to arrest homeless people for sleeping in cardboard boxes in public. Judge John S. Martin Jr. ruled on Tuesday that a 1969 Sanitation Department regulation barring people from abandoning cars or boxes on city streets could be applied to homeless people sleeping in boxes.

The ruling, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, was a rare victory for the Giuliani administration in a series of court battles over homelessness. In February, a state judge blocked an administration effort to bar homeless people from shelters if they failed to meet work requirements and other welfare eligibility rules.

Judge Martin's ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by a homeless Army veteran, Augustine Betancourt, one of 25 homeless people arrested for sleeping in cardboard boxes in a Lower Manhattan park in 1997. Police held Mr. Betancourt for 27 hours, strip-searched him and issued him a summons after the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to prosecute him.

Michael D. Hess, the city corporation counsel, said Judge Martin's ruling was a victory for the city's crackdown on quality- of-life offenses. "We thought it was significant and important," Mr. Hess said. "It was a challenge to one aspect of the program, and we're gratified that the federal court has upheld the regulation."

But Douglas H. Lasdon, a lawyer with the Urban Justice Center who represented Mr. Betancourt, said he was dismayed by the ruling. "I think it's a dishonest and insensitive opinion," he said.

Mr. Lasdon said he had not decided whether to appeal. He and Eric Twiste, a lawyer who also worked on the case, said they were simply trying to prevent the city from improperly applying the regulation to homeless people.

The regulation is one of numerous laws and rules used by police officers to order homeless people off city streets or out of city parks. For example, Parks Department regulations ordering all people out of parks at 1 a.m. or barring camping without a permit are used more often by the police against the homeless.

The Sanitation Department regulation attacked in the lawsuit was used by the police to arrest fewer than 200 homeless people between 1993 and 1998, according to court documents. Mr. Lasdon said he decided to file the lawsuit after Mr. Betancourt walked into a legal clinic he was operating at a soup kitchen and complained about the arrest.

"I thought it was, at a minimum, important to show symbolically that quality-of-life enforcement had exceeded reasonable and legal limits," Mr. Lasdon said. "I was not trying to have any major policy changes from this one little case."

The sanitation code regulation at the center of the dispute is titled "Vehicles and other movable property." The section describing its intent reads: "The need for this legislation is indicated by the ever-increasing number of abandoned cars in the city of New York. The purpose of this section is to punish those persons who abandon and/or remove component parts of motor vehicles in public streets."

The regulation bars people from leaving "any box, barrel, bale of merchandise or other movable property" on city streets or erecting a "shed, building or other obstruction." It also blocks people from abandoning "any motor vehicle, not otherwise lawfully parked," on city streets.

When the Giuliani administration began its quality-of-life crackdown in 1994, it issued police guidelines with a new interpretation of the 1969 regulation. The ban on anyone erecting an "obstruction" on city streets could be applied to a homeless person sleeping in a cardboard box.

Mr. Lasdon argued that the rule was improperly applied to Mr. Betancourt and was part of an effort by the Giuliani administration to "oppress, threaten and intimidate" the homeless.

Judge Martin found that the city's interpretation of the regulation was reasonable, and he dismissed all but one of Mr. Betancourt's claims. The judge found that Mr. Betancourt had been improperly strip-searched. A lawsuit based on that claim alone, the judge ruled, could continue.

City officials said the arrests were necessary after homeless people who left debris in Collect Pond Park, across from the Manhattan Criminal Court building at 100 Centre Street, refused offers of shelter.

In an interview last year, Mr. Betancourt said he feared for his safety in city shelters and felt more comfortable on the street. After serving three years in the Army, he received an honorable discharge in 1987, then began a slow slide into homelessness. Mr. Betancourt, who said he suffered from depression and anxiety attacks as an adolescent, gradually cut off contact with his elderly parents. Odd jobs dried up after the stock market crash of 1987. In 1988, he lost a room in a cheap hotel. The 1997 arrest was Mr. Betancourt's first.

Mr. Hess said the administration's policies toward the homeless had succeeded. "It has improved the quality of life and the feeling of security people have," he said. "I think most citizens of the city, if they are walking in the park and they see some unknown figure sleeping in a cardboard box, they don't feel very secure."

Mr. Lasdon last had contact with his client several weeks ago. Mr. Betancourt, he said, remains homeless.

by Leroy Moore

As we sit back and reflect on the past year, we are proud of our accomplishments, and it’s time to take our work, talents, and voices to the next level. We’ve come a long way since the days of slavery, when we were killed because of our disabilities. But our struggles are not over.

In the 1990’s we witnessed the grassroots organizing and increased visability of Black disabled individuals and disabled minorities all over the world, who helped form the Black disabled movements in South Africa, the U.K. and now in California. All over California, newly formed statewide and local organizations for and by minority parents and minorities with disabilities are now established. For example, in 1997 Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO) of San Francisco was born. Last year a statewide organization called Harambee Educational Council for African American advocates and parents of disabled youth and young adults held their first conference in Oakland and Los Angeles. As well, the first National Conference on Asian and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities was held in Los Angeles, and they are looking to hold the second conference in Oakland this year. Of course we can’t forget the only organization in California that advocates and supports the Hispanic disabled community and their families, LA FAMILIA Counseling Services of Hayward, CA. LA FAMILIA is the catalyst of this new growth of what I call the Minority disabled movement in California.

California has also seen in the last five years the talents and artistic voices of disabled minority poets and artists, from a Bay Area group called New Voices: Disabled Artists & Poets of Color to the emerging local talent of Idell Wilson. Wilson, an African American mother, poet and lecturer, wrote and self-published her book entitled "JIGSAW DREAM PUZZLE PIECES." This talented writer writes about her life as a low-income mother with invisible disabilities, who came out of homelessness and drug abuse to become a writer and lecturer. The Bay Area was blessed with the gorgeous voice and words of the late Celeste White, an African American mother, advocate, song writer and poet who passed away recently.

These contributions are just amazing, but we can’t rest! We need to take our organizing skills and talents to the next level. What is the next level? Here in the Bay Area, DAMO's new campaign called Building Friendships Celebrating Ability Campaign (BFCA) will reach neighborhoods with various educational, advocacy and artistic events and workshops. And although our accomplishments are incredible, in the Bay area many still don’t know that disabled minorities have a rich culture, history, and extraordinary talents.

On the other side, too many don’t know that disabled minorities have the highest rate of unemployment, face police brutality and street violence and are over-medicated in the mental health system. To add to this picture, disabled minorities and our issues are, nine times out of ten, not addressed in mainstream media or in our own ethnic media.

BFCA Campaign will be a platform for voices and issues that face disabled minorities in the Bay area. The main goals of this campaign are:
To empower other disabled minorities, to educate our communities and political arena in the San Francisco Bay area, and to keep alive the artistic talents and beautiful imaginations of our brothers and sisters who contribute so much to our struggle and who are still struggling or have passed away.

BFCA Campaign is only one avenue to take our work and talents to the next level. Everybody has a job to do. We also need our voices in the San Francisco political arena. It’s about time the School Board and other local politicians take on issues that face disabled students and other disabled minorities, who live in this city in a proactive stance. This is why I, Leroy Moore, am considering running for the School Board in the next election. But it doesn’t stop there. We need to be a part of the celebrations of Black History Month, Chinese New Year and Women's History Month, and other awareness-centered events. Our children should be able to click on the television and see a disabled minorities on sitcoms, or reporting the evening news. The next level of our work is revolutionary and bold, and necessary to keep our hard- gained achievements, to voice our minds and to make it easier for the next generation of disabled minorities. So as we ring in the New Year I ask you: Are you ready to take it to the next level?

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.
Founder &, Executive Director of Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization. DAMO
415 695-0153

by Leroy Moore

"Working 9 to 5S" Dolly Parton sang But I’m busting
my butt 24/7 "I bring home the baconS" Remember
that song I’m busting my butt keating leftovers.

People say what goes around comes around I1m
bustin1 my butt But no money is circling around me
Others say give and it will come back to you My closet
and heart are emptied But bills are all I have received.

Revolutionaries will die for the cause But what is the
real cause They are busin1 their butts for And striving
to death.

"Just give it time!" Tell that to my pocket and stomach
Tick tick tick tick Time is ticking and I am wasting
away physically and mentally

Bustin1 my butt for what Somebody ate my piece of
the pie The American Dream is a lie My life is like
Good Times

Busted my butt for that white paper so I get some
green paper But I was told I need more white paper So
I took out a loan

Now Uncle Sam wants some green paper for the white
I received

I1m bustin1 my butt But I1m still broke Stress out and
beat down Need to calm down before I have a stroke

DAMO1s 1st Annual Celebrating Ourselves

It was a beautiful day, not drop dead gorgeous. The
sun raised up on August 30th 2000 and DAMO1s staff
got busy. It was our first ever Celebrating Ourselves
Blasting Stereotypes on Visible & Invisible Disabilities
event at McLaren Park Amphitheater in San Francisco.

Walking like zombies, with sleep in our eyes, the
DAMO staff crowed into the kitchen to make one
hundred lunches, hang up posters and blow up
balloons.. All the obstacles we had run into for the last
three months of organizing this event , didn1t matter
on this sunny morning. Like they say in Hollywood
"the show must go on!". We descended on McLaren
Park Amphitheater at 9:00am. And oh my God did the
show ever go on!

ALike busy ants we covered the Amphitheater and turned
it into a rainbow of colors. Time was ticking away while
the sun beamed down on us helping us relax. The feet of
children and adults scrambled around the Amphitheater
decorating the stage and the seats. The show was
scheduled for 11:00-2:00 and we were doing good on
time. For entertainment we had a raffle and prizes, a live
DJ and dancers, a dance contest a poet, and yours truly
was the first disabled black clown. For refreshments we
had the lunches we packed plus 7UP and Frito Lays
donated three cases of soda and chips.

The gates opened and we waited for our audience. The
show stared at 12:00pm. (better late than never!). Idell
Wilson and I welcomed the crowd. The sun spilled over
the park and because of the heat I had to take off my blue,
red and yellow clown wig. The DJ did not waste any time
pumping up the crowd with our theme song. The whole
show was like climbing a ladder: the poets, artists and the
energy of the hosts with the hot licks of the DJ took
everybody higher and higher.

At lunchtime everybody mingled and got to know the
artists and the vision of DAMO. We raffled off toys,
Tupperware and we even had a disabled Barbie! The most
amazing element of the whole day was the children. Half
the audience was teens and children. They made the show
come together by dancing on stage and winning our
raffles. They danced with disabled poets and artists
without hesitation.

The show ended with a call for people to get involved in
Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO).
We spoke of the emergency that disabled minorities are in
today and expressed our need for help.

One last note: this event could not have happened without
support from the Women1s Foundation, Bay Area
Homeless Program, LA FAMILIA, 7-up Bottling
Company, Frito Lays Company and all the artists and
poets who participated. A big special thanks goes out to
the staff of DAMO - especially Idell Wilson and her
children.

DAMO plans to make Blasting Stereotypes on Invisible &
Visible Disability an annual event! We1ll see you next
year!

By Leroy F. Moore Founder and Executive Director of
Disability Advocates of Minorities Org., DAMO

by Leroy Moore

There are always two sides of every story but many
the public only gets to hear or see only one side.
On July 26th the Bay Area and the rest of this country
will be celebrating the tenth birthday of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, ADA, of 1990, what disabled
Americans call Independence Day. But we have to
realize that there are two sides of this celebration and
of the disability rights movement.

Many times poor, homeless, youth, people of color
and immigrants with disabilities aren't given the
opportunity to express themselves during the ADA
birthday or any other time for that matter. This is why
Disability Rights Advocates of Minorities
Organization, DAMO in collaboration with many Bay
Area grassroots organizations, will be sponsoring: The
Other Side Rally at City Hall Plaza in San Francisco on
July 26th at 12pm. The goal is to present the other side
of the tenth birthday of the ADA and the disabled
rights movement.

As a Black disabled man, Independence Day is still far
away and I see no reason to celebrate! On July 26, 1990
President Bush turned to the four White, upper class
activists with disabilities near him and proclaimed, let the
shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down!
However for people of color, homeless, poor and
immigrants with disabilities the wall of exclusion is still
up in our communities, disabled leadership positions and
in the history behind the ADA. Lately this wall of
exclusion has turn deadly. For example, the San
Francisco Coaltion on Homelessness said that they have
witnessed more disabled people living on the streets
lately. From Margaret L. Mitchell to Ya Fang Li, disabled
people of color are victims of police brutality. Now
people with mental illness will experience more negative
force if Assembly Bill 1800, (i.e.,forced treatment)
passes in California.

Even the latest report from the National Council on
Disability, NCOD, reads that disabled people of color still
have the highest unemployment rate, this is why
traditional Black organizations are now working with the
NCOD. We individuals with disabilities are suppose to
leave our harsh reality that surrounds us everyday to
celebrate a piece of paper, the ADA, that hasn't touched
many in our community! I say lets come together and
voice our side of the story and find our own solutions.
We can't wait another ten years!

EMERGENCY!
EMERGENCY!

There is an emergency in our society that has been
ignored for too long. It certainly affects one of the
fastest growing sectors in this country and probably
worldwide. The lack of attention to disabled women of
color presents a dire emergency. In addition, disabled
women of color are the latest victims of institutional
racism. They have been under attack from law
enforcement throughout the country, as well as the
Immigration and Naturalization Service. Furthermore,
the status of disabled women of color is not included
in conferences on women and the disabled when
framing issues for media consumption.

Last year, I wrote an article on the brutality against
disabled people of color. During my research, I had
noticed that many of the cases involving brutality were
perpetrated on disabled women of color. In 1999, a
disabled elderly Asian woman filed a complaint against
an officer of the San Francisco Police Department. The
complaint stated that the policeman had hurt her while
she was collecting bottles for recycling near 3COM
Park. She reported that she suffered bruises on her
knees and hands.

We can’t forget the horrible death of Margaret L.
Mitchell, a black, homeless woman with mental
illness. Ms. Mitchell had been shot to death by a
LAPD officer because she had a foot-long
screwdriver.

Although violence and disabled women of color have
been highlighted in the news lately, conferences on
women have not included disabled women.

A friend of mine attended the San Francisco Women’s
Summit at City Hall this year. Idell Wilson, an
African-American woman and advocate for people
with invisible disabilities, told me that no one talked
about women with disabilities. Idell Wilson offered to
work with the organizers of the summit by doing
outreach to the disabled community. She also offered
to make their language disability-friendly. The
coordinator of the summit refused her help.

According to a statistical report drawn from the Census
Bureau data on black and Hispanic adults with
disabilities, "Women face higher unemployment rates
and lower educational attainment than non-disabled
women of color and their white disabled peers." An
example of this can be extracted from the 1998
Conference on Minorities with Disabilities. It was
reported that disabled African-American women had a
98% unemployment rate. Although statistics on
disabled people are becoming easier to receive,
statistics on disabled Asians and Pacific Islanders do
not exist. The 1996 data from the United States
Census Bureau reported about 79% of the 14.2 million
Asians-Americans and Pacific Islanders with severe
disabilities were jobless. Furthermore, the United
States has a long and well-documented history of
discouraging immigration and an equally documented
history of failure to grant citizenship to people with
disabilities. Women and those from certain racial and
ethnic communities have been particularly burdened by
these past practices. The historical pattern of
discouraging and actively restricting the immigration
and citizenship of people with disabilities has
continued on into the 1990s and today through a more
indirect, yet equally exclusionary practice of denying
immigrants with disabilities their right to reasonable
accommodations in the naturalization process.

I bring this up because lately disabled immigrate
women have lived this reality. For example in July of
1997 the San Francisco Independent had an article
entitled WAITING GAME. It reported on how a
disabled young lady’s sister try to get her sister
citizenship but the INS said that because of her
disability it was difficult to get a satisfactory
fingerprint sample. And recently the Asian Week had
an article entitled Disabled Women Sues for
Citizenship. Officials said Vijai Rajan was denied
citizenship because her inability to comprehend the
oath of allegiance due to medical certified condition,
according to INS documents. The INS bypassed that
Rajan lived in the United States since she was four
moths old. She is now 18 years old. She has brought a
lawsuit against the INS.

The above cases are only scratching the surface when
it comes to the lives and struggles of disabled women
of color. What is sad and shocking is that conference
leader; summit coordinators, feminists, authors etc.
nine times out of ten have no clue what’s happening to
their disabled sisters of color. Did the Million Women
March in ’99 include issues and leaders that represent
disabled women of color? Do you understand we have
an emergency on our hands! My disabled sisters of
color its time to take a stand!

by The Associated Press

PATERSON, N.J. Last year Felicia Hernandez gave birth to
New Jersey's first baby of the new millennium, bringing herself and
son Yordy media attention and local fame.

Gov. Christie Whitman sent a letter of congratulations,
neighbors cheered when Hernandez walked by, and the doctor who
delivered Yordy said in a television interview that the boy
embodied hope for the future.

Hernandez told the media that Yordy would one day become
president.

But the mother's hopes diminished in 2000 as she lost her
factory job and received an eviction notice. On Tuesday, she must
begin working for welfare benefits.

``I'm a little desperate,'' Hernandez told The Herald News of
West Paterson for Monday's editions. ``But I'm not crazy because I
pray to God.''

The 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic was laid off
from her job at a bookbinder in Ringwood, where she had been
employed for five years.

State law gives welfare recipients two years to get a job or
begin a work program. Hernandez must attend a work experience
program Tuesday, and worries about how she will find someone to
take care of her four kids, the oldest of whom is 8.

She said finding a new job is difficult because she must pay
someone to watch her children. She also can't speak English --
which is why she now faces eviction.

Hernandez did not understand a letter First Preston sent to
residents of her building, notifying them that the owner of the
building foreclosed on a federal loan. First Preston is contracted
by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Hernandez was given 20 days to secure a place in the building.
HUD spokeswoman Sandi Abadinsky said the agency assumed Hernandez
found a new place when she didn't reply.

Prompted by press inquiries, HUD gave Hernandez a six-month
extension and plans to assign her a Spanish-speaking case manager.
But Hernandez struggles from month-to-month in the apartment she
has currently.

The family gets by on $300 in food stamps and $424 in cash.
Hernandez pays $450 in rent.

The bedroom window doesn't close, the shower is boarded up and
the front door is secured with a ribbon.

None of the fathers of the children provide any support.

Meanwhile, many people in her neighborhood still cheer for
Hernandez and her millennium baby when they're out. Some mistakenly
think she won prize money from a Spanish-language television
station for having one of the first births in 2000, but Hernandez
said she can't even afford to throw a party for her son's first
birthday.

``I feel bad,'' she said. ``Everyone keeps asking if I'm going
to have a party because he was a millennium baby, but I tell people
I can't.''

by Joseph Bolden, staff writer,

It’s not only a brand new year but the true end of 20th century, start of the 21st century or real millennium.

People have celebrated many ways, some killed, a few died near, on, or after New Years day.

What I did was visit Reno along with my mother, brother and his friends.
I lost money, won a bit, slept in a hotel, gambled more and before the stroke of twelve went into Navada's crisp frigid air to see brilliant, sparkling fireworks then quickly returned inside the warm of our hotel have I mentioned [its freezing in Reno.]

By 2:41 I'm asleep. There is a new President elect transitioning into the White House. I do not know what will happen this 2001 but I know it won’t be boring.

My New Years Resolutions are:
1.

Be and stay aware of what’s happening.
2.

Get healthy and stay that way if possible.
3.

Be independent both financially and mentally.
4.

Don’t sweat big or small stuff, let'em go.
5.

Don’t think about women, concentrate on health of self.

There are others which are private. I’ll try to read my back up e-mails
and send replies as time permits. To everyone. HAVE A, SAFE NEW YEAR-CENTURY, AND MILLENNIUM.

P.S.
So I’m a little late, I was never good at this e-mail or uploading stuff on my own site. I'm starting to loath both the 21st. century; thanks a lot.
A.J. Bye.