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pstrong.Westpoint will become the sixth neighborhood in San Francisco to be "revitalized" with the HOPE VI program, leading to the forced displacement of several hundred low-income African-Americans./strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/387/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby kaponda/p pIn 2002, 267 families who have bathed in the golden rays sprinkled lavishly from the illustrious sun will be relocated to other parts of the city of San Francisco and state of California. The spirited cadence to which these families in Hunters View once strutted will be reduced to a drone, and they will march to the tune of a dirge. Immediately after these families have gone, their 350 aged houses located on 22 acres of hilly coastline off the San Francisco Bay will be demolished and replaced by 442 newly developed homes. In 2005, after the new homes have been constructed, 117 families will be permitted to return. The other 150 families will have the only housing they have ever known taken from them, as lions steal both the wildebeest and its terrain./p pBut the lion is not masked, and neither is the plan that will aid in the permanent displacement of the 150 families. The national action plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing arose out of recommendations by the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing. The plan, dubbed HOPE VI, has always been met with vehement opposition throughout the country and has been described as a device used for gentrification under the veneer of revitalization./p pIn June of 2001, the San Francisco Housing Authority submitted a HOPE VI 2001 Revitalization Application to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to create a “traditional San Francisco neighborhood of attached town houses and flats to replace the existing barracks style ‘public housing,’” located in Hunters View, which is commonly referred to as Westpoint, in San Francisco, California. If the application is approved, Westpoint will become the sixth neighborhood to be revitalized with HOPE VI funding. North Beach, Valencia Gardens, Bernal Dwellings, Hayes Valley and Plaza East have also been funded through the HOPE VI Program, causing a critical reduction in the number of African American families in San Francisco./p p “There is no truth to this assertion that residents are permanently displaced,” stated Salem Prouty, General Engineer with Public Housing in San Francisco. “The rules and regulations for HOPE VI state that anybody displaced will be given first opportunity to return. If a tenant does not choose to return to the new house, then the unit will be given to the next person on the waiting list -- just like any other public housing,” Prouty stated as we spoke in his office at the Federal Building in San Francisco./p pAn application has been submitted for HOPE VI at Westpoint. Based on the one-for-one policy of the San Francisco Housing Authority, each HOPE VI unit that is demolished has to be replaced by a newly developed HOPE VI unit, “ensuring full opportunity of all existing residents in good standing to have first choice for the new units.” But if only 60 percent of the newly constructed housing will be made available to residents, it would be mathematically impossible for every resident to return to the new dwellings that will be perched atop the ridge at Westpoint. “Is this correct?” was the dilemma I propounded to Salem Prouty./p p “Well, if you put it that way, yes,” replied Prouty, in recognition of the oblique language which allows for an agency to employ methods associated with corruption in its selection of which families and individuals it will designate to enjoy the comforts of newly developed property. This vague language also allows for wanton disregard of the rules and regulation and vested rights of all families and individuals to return back to the place from which they were removed. Eviction is one method that an agency may employ to preclude a family from eligibility of future public housing./p p “Renee Taylor is on record as being opposed to the HOPE VI Program at Westpoint. She was evicted from Hunters View for a puppy that was given to her son on his birthday over two years ago,” stated Marie Harrison during a discussion of evictions that seemed to have no other logical reason except retaliation as their causes. “The puppy was stolen on the night that it was given to her son. Everyone involved with the San Francisco Housing Authority located on the premises of Westpoint knew the puppy was no longer at that unit, but no one at the Housing Authority at Westpoint had been trained well enough to instruct the Sheriff’s Department, which carries out evictions, that it was an unlawful eviction. Renee Taylor told the Housing Authority at Westpoint that the puppy had not resided at the unit since the night it was given to her son. She asked the Housing Authority, ‘Why is this eviction moving forward?’ The answer she got was that the Housing Authority at Westpoint ‘did not know how to stop it.’ No one at the Housing Authority called downtown to inform them that the puppy had not been at the home of Renee Taylor since the first night she received it, over two years ago. They could not act as a liaison between Renee Taylor and the San Francisco Housing Authority downtown to prevent the eviction. Renee Taylor came home from taking care of her aunt to find her furniture and personal belongings being carried into the streets by deputies of the Sheriff’s Department. Her home was boarded, and she now has to find an attorney to argue her case,” concluded Marie Harrison./p pThe situation in which Renee Taylor finds herself is not unique to the cadre of activists who are the Ghandis of their communities. They have decried the unscrupulous conduct of the San Francisco Housing Authority and resisted all its efforts to silence them. They have read and educated their communities on issues like federal public housing regulations and HOPE VI Programs./p p “I know the regulations and believe in the Constitution of the United States,” stated Theresa Coleman, the rubber band that holds the Westbrook community together -- the community adjacent of Westpoint. “I will make these regulations work for the people of Westbrook. But government does not follow its own rules. It changes the rules to accommodate the rich,” explained Coleman, her eyes like those of a disappointed child who stands in front of a locked candy factory. /p pTheresa Coleman has a long-standing and solid relationship of activism in the community of Bayview/ Hunters Point. Her home is also the mailing address for Ujamaa, the Resident Management Corporation for Westbrook, which has been recognized by the San Francisco Housing Authority, HUD, Congress and the City of San Francisco as a legitimate corporation. But Coleman also has openly opposed the HOPE VI Program at Westbrook because, she says, “the concept of HOPE VI that the San Francisco Housing Authority has designed does not allow for all residents to return after construction of new housing. This hill is prime real estate in San Francisco. It has been a lifetime dream of politicians and developers to take it.”/p p “I have the understanding to drive a HOPE VI, and to take every single one of my people to homeownership,” stated Coleman as she explained why she believes that her impending eviction is politically motivated./p p “Whenever the San Francisco Police Department is called to public housing, for whatever reason, a piece of paper is generated and sent to the San Francisco Housing Authority downtown. A kid who lives outside of the community was being chased by police. He ran inside my house and locked out the people who were in my house. And my daughter and I found ourselves trapped inside my house with this person. As I came out of the bathroom, I saw the legs of my granddaughter flying though the air. I immediately came to her rescue. The police were not able to penetrate the barricade. Because my unit was involved, the San Francisco Housing Authority will soon serve me with an eviction notice. When the report was written by the police, it stated that I had intentionally harbored this person,” stated Coleman./p pThe San Francisco Housing Authority has to employ this retaliatory tactic against savvy-minded activists like Theresa Coleman and Renee Taylor because, although there will be no public housing lost in the creation of new, plush homes under HOPE VI guidelines, there will be wholesale replacement of people who cannot afford the new homes. These intrepid activists are like soldiers who have begun to trumpet the wake-up call in their communities. The aim of the San Francisco Housing Authority, however, is to leave the armies in disarray through its reprisal of removing the generals from the communities./p pBy virtue of the nature of its purpose, the San Francisco Housing Authority realizes that there is a less than one-percent vacancy rate in housing in the city of San Francisco. It has to reconcile any notion of a HOPE VI Program with the stark realization upon completion that not one sheep from Westpoint will be lost upon completion of the revitalization process./p pIn Westpoint 67 percent of the families have no income and 80 percent have children. Where will the 150 families be permanently relocated, if they are not permitted to return because they do not earn $30,000 dollars, annually -- or 40 percent of the Area Mean Income, which is approximately $70,000?/p pBut an application has been submitted by the San Francisco Housing Authority for Westpoint and in 2005, only a ghost of the effervescence of children frolicking on the hillside in Westpoint will be apparent. The other children will no longer be a concern for the city of San Francisco./p pOther revitalization sites have already been designated and retaliatory practices are being employed by the San Francisco Housing Authority in anticipation of resistance. According to Marie Harrison, “On May 16, 2001, a discrimination lawsuit was lodged against HUD and the public housing in Shoreview by a woman, who, by all accounts, is pro-active in community organizations and a vocal resident of her tenants association. On May 25, 2001, she was served with a 30-day notice of eviction. The woman has two sons who were receiving social security from their dead father. She took the first check that she received to Housing in Shoreview and had it photocopied so that her income could be adjusted. Housing in Shoreview said that the boys were not 18 years of age, so the income did not have to be added to her income. Last month, however, over eight years later, Housing decided that the social security income her sons received is income that has to be added along with hers. So, she is being charged with fraud and has gotten a 30-day notice of eviction.”/p pThe lure of an attractive, revitalized community with town houses, streets paved with new asphalt, swimming pools, and all of the amenities that come with redevelopment would dazzle many residents whose desires fall within the sphere of “ordinary people.” But for the many activists whose commitments exceed the plains of temptation and corruption, nothing short of a one-for-one return will be acceptable./p p “Unless I am dead and planted up under the dirt somewhere, Westbrook will not be gentrified with the lure of buildings like the Taj Mahal and other mansions. The black community has been raped too many times,” stated an emotional Theresa Coleman.br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongWill the homeless have to pray for their supper?/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/389/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Bill Berkowitz/p pIn their day-to-day lives the homeless depend upon a bevy of government services including job training, shelters and food programs, to name a few. President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative, which aims to fund social services through religious organizations, is certain to effect delivery of these services./p pUnveiled in spectacular fashion just months ago, President Bush's faith-based initiative has hit the skids. Rather than being a potentially handsome payoff to his Right Wing culture warriors, it has instead become the nexus for an unorthodox alliance between the Left and the Right. The controversy Bush's initiative engendered has forced him to delay implementation. /p pFor the Christian Right, there are three contentious issues related to the initiative: one, how qualifications of eligible religious organizations will be determined; two, governmental regulations and scrutiny linked to funding; and three, the threat government grants will require to diluting their central, religious message. /p pFor liberals and progressives, criticisms of the faith-based initiative are centered on, but not limited to, questions involving separation of church and state. /p pbThe White House Office/b /p pOn January 29, amidst fanfare and surrounded by Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy, Bush issued an executive order creating the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives./p pImmediately after Bush's announcement, the gold rush began as the White House switchboard fielded nearly 200 calls per day requesting information about the program. After the February 20 official opening the staff was slammed with phone calls looking for grant applications, writes the Associated Press' Sharon Kehnemui. /p pBush's faith-based initiative, trumpeted during the presidential campaign, is exemplar of his commitment to “compassionate conservatism,” has been on the agenda of Right Wing think tanks and Christian Right for a decade. “Charitable Choice” first came to light when Senator John Ashcroft (now Attorney General) inserted this provision into the Personal Responsibility and Work Reconciliation Act of 1996 (welfare reform). The charitable choice amendment requires states contracting nonprofit organizations to provide social services to include religious organizations in the mix of agencies eligible for government contracts. Announcing the Whitebr / House Office, Bush remarked, “We will not fund the religious activities of any group, but when people of faith provide social services, we will not discriminate against them.” While religious organizations historically received government funding for emergency food programs, childcare, youth programs and the like, they were specifically prohibited from religious proselytizing. /p pAshcroft's provision, writes Cathlin Siobhan Baker, co-director of the Employment Project, removed “prohibitions regarding government funding of pervasively sectarian organizations. Churches and other religious congregations providing welfare services on behalf of the government may display religious symbols, use religious language and religious criteria in hiring and firing employees.” Bush's faith-based initiative expands thatbr / precedent, allowing religious organizations equal access to governmental funding for performing an array of social services. Bush has also appointed a group of true believers and seasoned conservatives to head up the effort and spread the word. /p pFor starters, the president appointed longtime criminologist and political scientist John DiIulio director of the new agency. In the mid-1990s, Bruce Shapiro writes in Salon.com, DiIulio “made a stir with what turned out to be one of the most dangerously wrong predictions in the annals of public intellectuals. Relying upon reams of supposedly irrefutable data, DiIulio predicted a massive coming wave of crime by children and teenagers, crime of unprecedented brutality.” He characterized these youth as a “generational wolf pack” of “fatherless, Godless and jobless” teens, whom he termed “Superpredators.” /p pDiIulio's rhetorically-charged prediction had at least two outcomes. His star rapidly rose within conservative circles, and politicians from both parties outdid each other staking out the “We're tougher on crime than you” turf. This unleashed an unprecedented war on America's young people, including punitive legislation such as California’s recently passed Proposition 21.br / Though DiIulio was flat-out wrong- in fact, despite highly publicized school shootings, overall juvenile crime has plummeted, DiIulio has been rewarded with appointment as director of Bush's new White House Office. /p pThe deputy director for the Offic of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is Don Eberly, who served as deputy director for the office of public liaison during the Reagan’s administration. Eberly is one of the intellectual pillars behind the conservative notion of building the “civil society.” In conservative lexicon, the civil society shrinks government by taking responsibility for the social safety net through the good works of faith-based, corporate and community entities, along with philanthropists. Eberly has written several books on the subject including: “America's Promise:br / Civil Society and the Renewal of AmericanCulture.” He is also founder of the National Fatherhood Initiative and author of “The Faith Factor in Fatherhood.”/p pbFaith-based Barnstorming Hits Augusta/b /p pWhen Cynthia Parr, wife of an Augusta, Georgia rabbi, showed up at a Saturday morning gathering in late February to hear Stephen Goldsmith, the president's top advisor on faith-based initiatives, she wasn't sure what to expect. According to Parr, Augusta's mayor invited some 200 clergy to meet Goldsmith, the former mayor of Indianapolis, so he could explain the president's new initiative. (Parr learned of the event from a blurb in the local newspaper andbr / showed up uninvited.) /p pHolding the meeting on a Saturday morning, the Jewish Sabbath, ensured limited participation from the Jewish community. This was troubling enough, but Parr was unnerved by what she heard. Goldsmith explained how religious organizations would now be eligible to receive government funds to provide a broad array of social services, and yet they could “continue to pass outbr / religious material and require prayer for their clients.” They could do anything short of billing the government for Bibles. /p pTopping off the event was an appearance by the mayor's special guest, Ralph Reed. Former Christian Coalition executive director, Reed now runs his own conservative political consulting operation. He played a key role in mobilizing the Christian Right for Bush prior to his do-or-die victory over the hard-charging Sen. John McCain (R-Az.) in the South Carolina primary. Reed is currently a spokesperson for the president./p pParr left the meeting wondering: How might Bush's program effect the separation of church and state?/p pbIn the Crossfire/b /p pBush's faith-based initiative has been the lightening rod for criticism and objections from liberal and Left groups concerning potential violations of separation of church and state. Also in question is the lack of professional credentials and competency of those hired to deliver services, as well as potential discriminatory hiring practices at faith-based organizations. The initiative is a solid blow against public service workers and may furtherbr / erode the power of labor unions. Seasoned observers note it will also be nearly impossible to ensure financial accountability. Liberal church officials who have provided social services for years are also wary this initiative paves the way for wholesale dumping of the poor and homeless on the doorstep of America's churches. /p pRecently, resounding criticism has come from an unexpected quarter: the Christian Right. Pat Robertson, founder and head of the Christian Coalition, was first out of the gate expressing his doubts about the initiative, which was quite surprising given Robertson's early and unequivocal support for Bush during the campaign. /p pOn his Christian Broadcasting Network's “700 Club” and in abr / mid-March op-ed piece in IThe Wall Street Journal,/i Robertson admitted to being deeply troubled that groups such as the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church and the Church of Scientology might get in on the action. /p pIn early March, the ubiquitous Jerry Falwell, founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority, called upon Bush to specifically exclude Muslim groups from eligibility for government funds. In an interview with Beliefnet.com, an interfaith Website, Falwell claimed, “There's clear evidence that the Islam religion, wherever it has majority control, doesn't even allow people of other faiths to express themselves or evangelize or to exist in their presence.” A few days later Falwell backed off, after U.S. Muslims reacted negatively to his comments./p pIn a curious explanation, seeming on its face to bar many Christian Right groups from government money, Falwell suggested any group that “steps up to the door bearing any bigotry toward any human being should be disqualified for federal funding.” /p pRichard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, wants no part of government money because he's concerned along with the money will come government intervention and regulation. He claims there are too many strings attached and he wouldn't touch the government's money “with the proverbial 10-foot pole.” /p pJohn DiIulio, speaking at the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Dallas, may have done more in one speech to alienate religious conservatives from the administration than liberals might ever hope to achieve. He told conservatives to “get real” and get out in the streets. “It's fine to fret about 'hijacked faith,” he lectured, “but to many brothers and sisters who are desperately ministering to the needs of those whom the rest of us in this prosperous society have left behind, such frets would persuade more and rankless if they were backed by real human and financial help.” He reminded them that the Constitution “requires the government to give equal access to all religious groups and non-religious groups seeking federal money.”/p pbDivvying up the Goodies/b/p pGroups such as the Hari Krishnas and the Nation of Islam have been receiving taxpayer dollars for years. Laurie Goodstein, in The New York Times, points out the International Society of Krishna Consciousness has “received millions of dollars in government contracts to run a network of services, including a shelter for homeless veterans, transition homes for recovering addicts and [a] halfway house for parolees.” /p pMose Durst of Berkeley, former national president of the Unification Church, told reporters: “You have to open it to all religions or no religions.” According to Goodstein, both the Unification Church and the Church of Scientology are preparing to stake claims on these funds. “You will see us involved in any area where we can partner in practical projects with the government,” the Rev. Phillip D. Schanker, the Unification Church's vice president for public affairs, told Goodstein. The Church of Scientology plans to apply for funds to support its drug rehabilitation and literacy programs./p pEberly responded to some of the program's critics, offering assurances they will do everything possible to make sure religion and social services are kept separate. While temporarily assuaging secular organizations, this is not what fundamentalist Christian groups hoped to hear./p pbAnswering the Bell for Round Two/b/p pIn late-April, a second round of advocacy and opposition began with a series of high-profile events. /p pOn April 24, according to GayToday.com, a coalition of religious leaders, organized by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination, held a Capitol Hill press conference to “unveil a letter signed by over 850 members of the clergy expressing strong reservations about the main aspects” of the initiative. /p pThe House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution began holding hearings on “Charitable Choice” issues. /p pRep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) co-chaired an invitation-only, one-day Faith-Based Summit in Washington, D.C., for clergy. This Republican party-backed event drew several hundred clergy, many of them African-American. The event also resulted in protests from gay and lesbian organizations outraged over the appointment of the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, who is virulently anti-gay, and the equally controversial, anti-gay, former Green Bay Packer Reggie White as advisers to the White House-supported summit. /p pIn another development, the Associated Press reports the newly formed Good Works Coalition has plans to “spend $250,000 over the next two months lobbying for the Bush plan by airing a TV ad in Mississippi and South Dakota, home states of the Senate Republican and Democratic leaders.” The ads say: “ Good works are happening throughout America today - feeding the body and the soul, treating the head and the heart, fighting addiction with support of friends and faith.” It encourages viewers to contact their members of Congress. /p pbWhere's the Beef?/b/p pOne of the unasked questions in the debate over faith-based initiatives is, “Do they really work?” Thus far, there is very littlebr / Empirical evidence that they do. Moving into the second round of the battle, lack of empirical evidence is beginning to show. /p pThere are many groups such as the Good Works Coalition supporting faith-based solutions to social needs. While these organizations make all sorts of unsubstantiated claims of successes, in reality there appears to be no proof these programs are any more effective than secular ones. When the conversation turns from glowing anecdotes to empirical data, even John DiIulio, director ofbr / the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, doubts there is evidence that religious programs perform more successfully than non-religious programs. /p pByron K. Johnson, a University of Pennsylvania criminologist who works with the Center for Research on Religion and Urban Society, a think tank started by DiIulio, also has his doubts. In a report posted at the American Atheists website, Johnson told The New York Times: “We've created an office out of anecdotes.” Johnson has been an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, one of the conservative think tanks pushing a greater role for religion and religious organizations in civic affairs, and he had passionately argued that “Religious belief is a proven and powerful tool in combating community problems.” /p pJohnson now seems to be changing his tune: “From the left to the right, everyone assumes that faith-based programs work. Even the critics of DiIulio and his office haven't denied that. We hear that and just sit back and laugh. In terms of empirical evidence that they work, it's pretty much nonexistent.”/p pDr. David Reingold, of the Indiana University School of Public andbr / Environmental Affairs, is another researcher skeptical of so-called successes of faith-based programs. Reingold says, “It's an extreme exaggeration to say that religious organizations are more effective.” He compares the results of faith-based initiatives with school voucher programs in that both are self-selective. According to Reingold, religious institutions “are more likely to limit and filter the clientele they serve.” Will the homeless and hungry be required to profess faith before being allowed to sleep in sheltersbr / or eat at soup kitchens?/p pbMoney for Buildings, Not People/b/p pIn another troubling under-reported development, John DiIulio, in an early April speaking engagement in Philadelphia held by the little-known Partners for Sacred Places, called for taxpayer money to be used for rehabilitating thousands of churches and other religion-affiliated structures throughout the country. /p p “When these buildings crumble,” he said, “when the deferredbr / maintenance catches up, the preschool and the prison ministry and the day-care center and the after-school latchkey learning program crumble and go away, too.”/p pThe Philadelphia Inquirer reported that DiIulio hopes “to challenge a 1995 administrative ruling which banned the use of federal National Park Service preservation money for rehabilitating or maintaining any religious properties.” DiIulio also said President Bush wants to create a “Compassionate Capital Fund” to make grants to religious institutions for “infrastructure improvements.”/p pThe American Atheists website reports DiIulio is the first government official to attempt linking “public funding and the new faith-based initiative to the 'problem' of deteriorating churches and other houses of worship.” DiIulio has advocated governmental support for rehabbing churches since Partners for Sacred Places issued its “Sacred Places At Risk” study in 1997. The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported DiIulio has said the study’s findings “helped lead to Bush's faith-based agenda.” /p pRound two plunges Bush's faith-based initiative into yet more controversy. If these conflicts continue, the faith-based crowd might be moved to try a different set of tactics. Through the use of the community development block grant program, conservatives might add language into legislation allowing money for rehabilitation of religious buildings. The flip side for conservatives is this would once again be an open invitation to the Moonies,br / Krishnas and Scientologists to rehab their properties as well./p pMarvin Olasky, Bush's relatively unknown “compassionate conservatism” guru, summed up the Christian Right's concerns about faith-based initiatives during an appearance at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation last year. In order for any faith-based initiative to succeed, Olasky said the battle must be fought by Christian ground troops defying the heavy artillery unleashed by nonbelievers. For Christians to create what then-candidate George W. Bush termed, “armies of compassion,” who will transform America, they must maintain their most potent weapon: the powerbr / of prayer. /p pIResearch assistance by Greg Paroff.br /br / Bill Berkowitz is a freelance writer covering conservative movements. He is a featured columnist at WorkingAssets’ Website workingforchange.com./i/p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongAbuse of Deaf Women and Children/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/390/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Greg Paroff/p pWomen often find themselves homeless when escaping situations of domestic violence. As difficult as such violence is for hearing women, Deaf women face additional challenges dealing with abuse./p pJulie Rems-Smario founded Deaf Women Against Violence (DWAV) to serve Deaf women and their children residing in the Bay Area. Rems-Smario, who has been Deaf since birth, taught at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont and saw the profound impact domestic violence has on the children of Deaf women. /p pSome of the Deaf children, Rems-Smario writes, were coming to school on Mondays, relieved to be on safe premises. These children started “acting out” on Fridays as they prepared to go home for the weekend. Rems-Smario realized these children were being abused at home./p pUntil the late 1990’s, there was only one organization in the U.S. dealing with Deaf battered women and their children, the Abused Deaf Women Advocacy Services (ADWS) of Seattle, WA. In 1998, Rems-Smario was five months pregnant with her third child when she was invited, along with representatives from four other cities, to attend an ADWS training seminar on how to organize a similar group in the Bay Area./p pIn March 2001, with the support of the Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA) and three years of grassroots fundraising, DWAV opened an office in Hayward, California, with Rems-Smario as executive director. Since the California School for the Deaf is located in Fremont, Alameda County has an especially populous Deaf community./p pDWAV provides services to Deaf survivors of domestic violence through its advocacy in medical and legal arenas. DWAV not only advocates for Deaf women and their children, it also trains public officials how to best serve the special needs of Deaf women and children./p pWhen abused, Deaf women seeking help from police and staffs of hospitals and shelters are often forced to deal with people who do not understand Deaf culture. Police seldom avail themselves of interpreters when called to scenes of domestic violence, wrongly assuming all deaf people can lip-read. This renders communication impossible./p pPeople working in shelters often misinterpret the behaviors of Deaf women and their children. For example, when hearing children want to get the attention of their Deaf parent, they stomp on the floor to create vibrations. At home, these children are used to speaking very loudly. These behaviors are often interpreted as acting-out, and women are asked to leave the shelters, which may return them to the cycle of violence./p pIn August, DWAV will be expanding its services and opening its 24-hour hotline for Deaf battered women. In order for the organization to thrive and further extend its services, it needs support from the community./p pCheck out DWAV’s website at a href="http://www.dwav.org" title="www.dwav.org"www.dwav.org/a. They can be reached by TTY at (510) 538-0107. Hearing people can reach them via California Relay Services by calling (888)877-5378 or (800) 735-2922 and giving the TTY number to the operator./p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrongLow income people across California are forced to pawn off their belongings just to pay for their inflated PGE bills/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/371/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Linda Washington /p pI have lived through alot.. the death of my first son - teen pregnancy of my daughter -a job doing manual labor for 32 years job and the endless struggle to get through every day with the severe arthritis that I have had for the last six years and yet nothing has made me feel quite as defeated as I did the other day....It all started at about 6 am when I got up for work -the sun seemed to light up my tiny kitchen more than usual- but it wasn’t a bright cheery light that made me feel like my usual hopeful self - it was just a glare... an odd glare that made every thing look dull and disordered - but perhaps it was me - a dull and disordered me who didn’t want to have to pick one of several favorite belongings to take to the pawn shop on that day - so I could get enough money to pay my PG E bill - but that was another story - /p pYou see, two months ago when this whole mess started with the alleged “energy crisis” I began to get a sinking feeling in my stomach because I knew something was seroiously wrong- and yet almost everything I read about the “crisis” confused me more - so I stopped trying to figure it out and ended up just feeling angry- angry that the big money corporations were duping me so blatantly and that I was truly unable to do anything about it- I kept up with some of the activism launched by Global Exchange but I wasn’t much of an activist and besides, after struggling to get through each day - I barely had time to sleep - much-less, be “pro-active” so on I went, angry and impotent.Then I got my bill.. $346.00 - this was a 120 percent increase - this was more than I spent on food, clothing and medication- this was more than I had.to my name......../p pI began to look around my room - I prayed, I wept.. I prayed again... I had always paid my bills..mostly on time or if I couldn’t - I would hold off on that purchase or vow to stop buying anymore furniture...or....- well, this was different- I could never stop being in this form of debt- and even worse- I could never see being able to pay these bills- That’ s when I started to look around my little apartment for something to sell- something to hand over to the omnipresent jaws of the neighborhood loan shark, pawn shop - call it what you like- it meant one thing- I would never see one or more of my valuables ever again- /p p“$85.00”, he spit out the words without as much as a glance up from his papers. /p p“You’ve got to be kidding that’s worth at least $200.00- I said, pointing a shaking finger at my VCR. I had chosen the CD player and the VCR, this meant no more movies from the Video store- this meant no more soft music to soothe me to sleep - and yet he didn’t look up../p p“ I said 85.00 - that’s all I can give you lady- take it or leave it” He was shaking his head in unison with his words./p p“OK” I said, knowing that I would have to take the only piece of jewelry I owned back to the store. If I was lucky, it might make the rest of the bill.../p pI PNN contributor Linda Washington who lives and works in Oakland, Ca. wrote this with co-editor, Lisa Gray-Garcia, as part of POOR’s writer facilitation project which aims to give voice to low and no income voices locally and globally/ibr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pstrong pbAs a global species,br / do we have the will to br /br / meld A.I. Technologies?br / /b/p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe B./p pWhat does Artificial Intelligence, Human Genome Project, br /Working poor families, Sheltered folk, or Homeless people have in common?/p pIt’s getting harder to ignore "them."/p pNot only that, but people who have nothing to lose tend to br / do whatever is possible to rise up be it legal, illegal, or quasi legal. /p pIts always a surprise to the general populace that the most br / downwardly mobile of us have the same aspirations, moral imperatives, forthrightness, br /spiritual, mental, strengths, and weaknesses as everyone else. /p pThe very idea of our own personal integrity, br / incorruptability doesn’t sound or feel right even to those with higher paying jobs, living in secure homes with their morgages paid off. /p pThough we all br /bleed red blood out of blue veins this logic is put on hold. /p pBecause we go against a so-called stereotypical roll of helpless, confused,br / drug/drinking, bums‘n hobo's called "the homeless" and "working poor." /p pHave people looked in the mirror lately? br / The real fear: that anybody can suddenly become "The Other" by jobloss or homeless./p p More individuals and families are not drunks, dopers, or anti socialbr / misfits but people with jobs, following the governments rules, went to school earned degrees, in college, and universities, also /ppin high tech businesses.br /Many are out of work through no fault of their own br /and are blamed doubly for their situation. /p pFirst by co-workers, family, friends, and finally themselvesbr / who could not have forseen orbr / prevented the situation only until after the facts./p pLots of these highly trainned, intelligentbr / people are out of work situations they never imagined or expected. br //p pTrapped in low pay, dead end jobs with homelessness looming ever closer./p pOn a lighter and more imaginative note.br / br /Scientists and researchers work on improving br /artificial intelligence made inroads there and the H.G. Project./p pPeople, are leery about intelligent appliances, homes, or the old upgraded talking toasters. /p pAs for genetically modified foods, its good to knowbr / which engineered microorganisms good or bad is in our food./p p We have qualms about Biotech foods, Pro Choice/Abortion, br /Artificial Intelligence, Stem Cell Research, Human Genome Project br /and Nanotechnology, Electronics also Cloning. /p pFolks will really be besides themselves (no pun intended) onbr / Life Extension to Immortality which churches have had abr / br /lock on for hundreds of years./p pThey held sway literally over our lives./p pIt was a dull deadly time, they may have delayed br /the age of Enlightenment by a few centuries!/p pThis is a time when all the se technologies begin to merge and blur.br //p pWhile we have our unique imageneering minds there are ways not br /to be surplanted by human created A.I.’s.bArtificial Intellegent Humanoid Machines./b/p pBuild them with a kill switch for instant off if they self-evolve too quick./p pDon’t build them.br /If you don’t build them,br / they won’t evolve and suplant us./p pUltimately we'll merge A.I. and our genesbr / creating self evolving humans./p pAlong with help from virus sized nanites or bacteria andbr / other formerly dangerous microbesbr / br /now used in the service upkeep, regeneration,br /br / rejuvenation and constant self-analyzing of itself and us bybr / every gene, cell, and brain in human’s./p pImagine, these ultra small nanites and chemical/gene modifed biochips br / not made of metal unless its amalgamated ones in fluid forms br /(there are no transistors, silicon circuitry),br / but liquid molecular watch dogs thatbr / oversee maintain, and improve our health./p pWe humans self evolve along with Artificial Intelligent systems br / rapidly shrinking A.I. into bacteria and viruses./p pTo molecular quantum strands that actually make it possible forbr / humans to further self evolve on their own asb Quantum Humans./b/p pIn the brain other modified systems may increase the intelligence by thinking or changing our very form, color of hair to whatever we choose./p pMorality is a changing construct take heedbr / in your life's choices, be flexible and open./p pThis is the place where, how and what we think can instantly br /translate our being into whatever improvements wanted or needed.br / br /Your own brain becomes a wish machine, its up to you on how far youbr / want to evolveb to better bodies and beyond or hover near pure mentality keeping your improved body. /b/p pFantasy, maybe but I no longer say what is possible and what’s not./p p It's not survival of the fittest but of those willing br /to go or at least visit a new world of AI-Humanity./p pIt begins from how we eat to what we think and other choices./p pAs individuals chose to live longer or die of tradtional old age./p pTo be an Immortal is the ultimate right to life/death br /choice each person will choose either type of eternity./p pIts all coming down the pike fasterbr / than most of us expect but on the lighter side we’re alreadybr / in the future, go figure./p pOnly some kind of mass Ebola, AIDS genetic mishap or gray bio-goobr /with no cures, prevention or human immune factors will wipe us out now./p pNext time I’d like to ponder what personality isbr / br /best suited to Immortality, just thinking out loud. br //p pAny pro or con ideas folks?/p pbr /Please donate what canbr / br /to Poor Magazine orbr / br /C/0 Ask Joe at 255 9thbr / br /St. Street,br / br /San Francisco, CA. 94103 USA/p pbr /For Joe only my snail mail:br / br /PO Box 1230 #645br / br /Market St.br / br /San Francisco, CA 94102br / br /Email:br / br /askjoe@poormagazine.org/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/392/photo_4_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pCan you hear himbr / br /Still Readingbr / br /His oval smooth brown facebr / br /In a square bookbr / br /Squirming through the pages of lifebr / br /His mother called him a bookworm/p pThere is no ending to his bookbr / br /To be continuedbr / br /Cause nobody can kill an angelbr / br /But they tried but Shhhh!!!br / br /Can you hear him/p pHis voice attracts animalsbr / br /It also tames the beast in humansbr / br /He is speaking and we need to listen/p pHe stood in an empty theaterbr / br /As they pulled their triggersbr / br /Picking up twenty eight bullets with his tearsbr / br /Smiling with no fearbr / br /Cause he knows he is bigger/p pIdris Stelley leading his people up in heavenbr / br /Margaret L. Mitchell and Errol Shaw have been br /waiting for a leaderbr / br /Now they are an army of spiritsbr / br /Returning to earth to organize the massesbr / br /To tell their stories that are shared by many/p pahoooo ahooo, the animal kingdom is howlingbr / br /Cause they can smell Idris Stelleybr / br /Exchanging messages with his girlfriend, family andbr / br /communitybr / br /He shouts, "IT IS NOT US Vs THEM BUT ONLY US!"br / br /Idris can't rest cause he sees no justice/p pSo his life begins todaybr / br /And he is reading along with usbr / br /But this is not a bookbr / br /It is real lifebr / br /That will never end/p pHe needs us to comprehendbr / br /The pain that lies in manbr / br /Makes them fear their own brothersbr / br /His enemies and comrades are cryingbr / br /They know that fear and hatred has blindedbr / br /Our hearts and clouded our minds/p pSo we react without thinkingbr / br /Causing death and injuries to many/p pEmotions are boilingbr / br /Shhhhhhhhhhhh do you hear thatbr / br /Buried voices are speakingbr / br /Idris is telling us /p pToday is a new beginning butbr / br /Don't get swept up in the momentbr / br /You got to see the big picture!br / br /Shhhhhhhhhh.. what Idris?br / br /People, the solution is in the silence!/p pBy Leroy F. Moore Jr.br / br /For Idris Stelley, my Black disabled brother I feelbr / br /you!br / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/392/photo_3_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pI couldn’t rite bout br /madness, da sadness.br / br /Until I cried, outloudbr / br /shoutin WHY?br / br /How can 8 cops go free br /after brutaly killinbr / br /23 years of Afrikan br /royalitybr / br /Basque resistance to br /Spain and France.br / br /Da devils wit a blue br /dress on, Idriss dancedbr / br /tango, modern, tapbr / br /in sweat shop slavery pants.br / br /But it ain’t his last br /dancebr / br /hís dancin hip hopbr / br /on da top of our domesbr / br /his spirit iz still in br /da homes of our heartsbr / br /he will not part./p pHe struggled 2 manifest br /his life.br / br /He wuz gonna take mi br /cousin Summer fo his wife.br / br /It ain’t ritebr / br /robbin him of wut he had br /2 sweat, slave fo 2 git.br / br /Killin people wit a br /badge on or not ain’t legit.br / br /Pump my blood 2 a boilbr / br /I go mad can’t stop bein br /sad.br / br /just wanna git high on bombbr / br /fight da pigs 2 da fatbr / ladeez laugh.br / br /Cuz dis shit ain’t gonna br /lastbr / br /Mi Comrade, Mi Frend br /wanted 2 stop da blood br /shedbr / br /he’s now dead in fleshbr / br /not in spirit./p pHis dream lives on mo den br /thru hearin itbr / br /We steerin dis car ( bout 2 crash)br / br /on 2 a new road, new br /approachbr / br /of police watch, cop br /watchbr / br /I am tired of watchinbr / br /we gotta du mo den br /marchin.br / br /Cuz marchin in October every yearbr / br /wit permission from City br /Hall iz notbr / br /combatin against da LAWbr / br /ordinances, policiesbr / br /dats compromisin yo br /beliefs/p pneed sum relief fo his br /mamabr / br /can’t close her eyes br /can’t sleepbr / br /she continues 2 weepbr / br /salty tears seeped down deepbr / br /in 2 canals no one dares gobr / br /not even "u" but intrigued br /"u" dubr / br /It’s mo den cigarette bein br /litbr / br /its mo den da movie br /"swordfish"br / br /symbolic meaninzbr / br /warnin signsbr / br /danger signsbr / br /symtoms of not bein able 2 br /restbr / br /cuz da oppressors pressin br /hard on skullsbr / br /childhood troublesbr / br /daily frustrationsbr / br /global crisis connected 2 da br /local newzbr / br /"Young man shot ova 20 tymes br /bi 8 cops"br / br /trained 2 kill 2 lock "u" upbr / br /Expandable mentalitybr / br /How many lives gotta go till br /da realitybr / br /helps us grip down titebr / br /git a handlebr / br /dey view us like we da br /vandlebr / light a candle fo b.dayz br /graduationsbr / br /light a candle fo da dead br /souljahsbr / br /dat we will continue 2 c br /mo clearlybr / br /cuz I luv all mi bradas br / sistahs dearly./p pComrades.. Warriors br /Attention:br / br /change up battle plan 2 b mo br /effectivebr / br /take it 2 a new levelbr / br /Cuz we gotta score 2 settle.br / br /1 luv 2 Idriss all his br /familybr / br /We will git justice!br / br /We will git FREE!/p pPeace, Jewnbug /p p/p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/392/photo_5_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p p/pPIt was a warm night -br / br /the kind that drips with pain/p p/pPIt was a warm night filled with whispers and screamsbr / br /you can peel that kind of night away with your fingernails -br / br /you can cry into that kind of night and noone will hear youbr / br /it was a warm night filled with you Idris... /p p/pPhe was depressed they say-br / br /I’ve been depressed like that- Idris-br / br /so dpressed that only hollywood can fix it/p p/pPthey say he said “i’m gonna die tonite”- -br / br /i’ve said that Idris-br / br /many times..many timesbr / br /poverty, conflict, confusion, and distress- it drips too...br / br /onto our collective foreheads...br / br /when we’re trying to thinkbr / br /it fogs our minds -/p p/pP “I just need to finish school - -everything will be ok - I can get through this... but I br /can’t” - I heard your silent screams Idris - I heard you being tired of feeling that pain br /and I heard it whispered in the halls of that gentrified palace that palace of mirrored br /glass and the blood of a thousand of poor elders who once lived on that earth - who br /died trying to stay there./p p/pP I heard you Idris through all that burgundy carpet, popcorn and glass-br / br / I heard you idriss - cause I’ve been there..I am there.../p p/pPand I don’t know you but I do cause I know that kind of pain - I know that kind of conflict-/p p/pPbut poverty and conflict don’t carry guns-br / br /confusion and distress don’t shoot you/p p/pP8 Big men who are hired to gentrify us out of theatres and concerts, houses and br /neighborhoods. .who are paid to not understand - 8 white men who have the blood of br /other brown men on their hands and the agenda of other white ones in their pockets- br /these people shoot us and take away our life and our breath and our throughts and our br /laughs and our time and our painbr / br /and and take it away...br / br /... forever- /p p/pp- Tinybr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/392/photo_2_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pI live in a countrybr /br / Where cops carry guns br /br / Those cops are plain scary br /br / Unlike catholic nuns br //p pI go to the theater br /br / I am mentally ill br /br / All I'm hoping is to watch movies br /br / But not to be killed br //p pMy girlfriend is beside me br /br / She knows my ways br /br / She wanted to help me br /br / To take me away br //p pI told her in a whisperbr /br / "I am going to die.br /br / Tonight is a full moon.br /br / Our life is a lie" br //p p"We live in a fake world br /br / We are breathing a lie br /br / So, what is the difference br /br / And why not tonight?"br //p pMy girlfriend, she loves me br /br / I know she did br /br / She told me to shut br /br / And she told me to quit br //p pShe wanted to help me br /br / But I felt it was too late br /br / My reality was slipping,br /br / I just coudn't relate br //p pI started disturbance br /br / So, they called the law br /br / They asked me to leave,br /br / to go down with the flaw br //p pI coudn't give up br /br / So, I said to the pig br /br / If you're ready for slaughter br /br / Then you can have this gig br //p pI pulled out my knife br /br / And I charged without fear br /br / But an old lady with the sickle,br /br / She has always been near br //p pI was trying slash him br /br / to prevent future crimes br /br / But he fired his gun—br /br / I was shot twenty times...br //p pMy mother, my girlfriend br /br / please, don't cry to much br /br / I was born a free man br /br / So, remember me as such br //p p/pp-Vlad Pogorelovbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p

pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TDIMG SRC= "../sites/default/files/arch_img/392/photo_1_supplement.jpg" //td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Staff Writer/p pA Warm Movie night in San Francisco’s Metreon Theater-/p pMr.Idris Stelley, 23, told people to leave,/p phis state of mind bleak, dark, cloudy-/p pBeloved son, college student (4.0 grade average), loved animals-/p pMother calls police to help her subdue, calm her child instead.../p p8 cops , 26 bullets for slashed clothes bullet proof materialbr / protects their flesh except for face and hands from a 2 inch penknife-/p pTold his girl he’d die, all the officers did was executebr / a troubled young man in a bleak moodswing-/p pShoot first, question later turns his temporary false mindset into a /p pDEADLY PREMONITION./p p/pp- Joseph Boldenbr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p