Story Archives

by Connie Lu/PoorNewsNetwork

Laura Flynn begins speaking about the harsh political
and financial situations facing the people of Haiti,
as her soft voice strains to compete with the constant
roaring of cars, buses, and blaring sirens rushing by
outside. I eagerly lean forward in my chair during
Community Newsroom at POOR Magazine, in an attempt to gain a
clear view of her expressive face, to read her lips,
which enabled me to not only hear with my ears, but
with my eyes as well. As Laura's large articulate
eyes continue to speak from her heart, and filled with
compassion for Haiti, seeds of curiosity begin to
firmly take root in my mind. What inspired her desire
to completely change her life by moving from San
Francisco to Haiti, one of the world's poorest
countries? But after having the opportunity to talk
to Laura personally, I realized that her source of
inspiration was truly compelled by the people of Haiti
themselves, who have so little and yet, still possess
this amazing amount of hope and strength that feeds
their perpetual hunger for a better life.

Before Jean-Bertrand Aristide became President of
Haiti, the people suffered greatly under the military
because it had complete control and power over them.
Flynn explains that one of the many unreasonable
demands made by the military was forcing people to pay
taxes for the simple act of taking a goat into the
city. As many as 5,000 Haitians were assassinated for
taking a stand against the military. However in 1995,
Aristide, who was the country's first democratic
President, abolished the military and broke the chains
of suppression.

After hearing about the Haitians' fight for freedom,
I am reminded of the history of China, my homeland.
The people of both Haiti and China sacrificed their
lives not for their own benefit, but for the benefit
of future generations. In 1989, students protested in
Beijing's Tiananmen Square against the communist
teachings of Chairman Mao and demanded freedom and
democracy until the order was given to the military to
end the student protest, as well as their lives. The
courageous students who dedicated their lives were not
able to witness the changes that have come about. But
if I were a student living in China today, then I
would have the freedom to apply to the job of my
choice, instead of being assigned to one by the state.

While in Haiti, Flynn developed a great respect and
love for the people as they warmly welcomed her into
their country, which soon no longer felt foreign to her.
She feels a strong sense of community, unlike America
which imposes the individualistic way of being
independent from your family and having your own
phone, car, and house. Haitian families and neighbors
depend upon each other with a sincere and genuine bond
of trust within the community.

I experienced this same sense of communal life when I
volunteered as an English teacher in China last
summer. I was concerned about my shy and quiet
personality that normally surfaces when meeting
unfamiliar faces. However, by the end of the summer
the students I taught were not only my close friends,
but now also a part of my family. My whole mind-set
and way of interacting with them was entirely
transformed into perceiving them as my own younger
brothers and sisters, even though I had just met them
a few weeks ago. The gifts that I received were
deeply treasured, knowing they were hand-crafted by
the students because they could not afford to spend
extra money.

Today, the people of Haiti have freedom under a
democratic government, but continue to struggle with
financial hardships. The United States has cut-off
crucial funding that was originally intended for
healthcare, education, and transportation services in
Haiti, claiming that this action was necessary because the
elections of 2000 held in Haiti were miscounted due to technical
processing problems. Coincedently, the U.S.
was not in favor of Aristide becoming president
because it was believed that he would gain control over the
parliament. Flynn also explains that the underlying
reason for this political controversy is racism because Haiti
inhabits the descendants ofthe many slaves that were in America.
But despite the inadequacies of Haiti, its people remain
optimistically strong in keeping hope alive through
their faith in God and unity within their communal
society and culture.

After talking to Laura Flynn I have gained a better
understanding of Haitians. Meanwhile, I was fortunate to experience
haitian food because I had the opportunity to eat at a Caribbean
restaurant that night for the first time with a couple of
friends. I tried the Chicken Roti, which is similar
to a burrito filled with rich and hearty curry
chicken. Every taste bud danced as they tasted the
flavorful spices that warmed my entire body. I also
realized that Haitian cuisine is truly a reflection of
the powerful flame of hope that continues to burn in
their hearts as they strive to improve the lives of
their future families.

Contact Information:

Haiti Action Committee

510-483-7481

haitiaction@yahoo.com

Donations:

Haiti Action Committee

P.O. Box 2218

Berkeley, CA 94701

by Kristina Shih/PoorNewsNetwork Media Intern

The early evening, warm and heavy with humidity, was drawing heat out of the sidewalks and streets. I arrived at the Hall of Justice on 850 Bryant St, joining a rally gathered to support the families of Hunters Point who recently experienced an incident comparable to a terrorist attack on their children. As the sun began to set, the red hanging in the sky all day was dissolving into evening coolness, but I could sense something else growing with intensity. Hot emotions of anger, frustration, and pure rage against the San Francisco Police Department were pouring out of peopleís mouths. On January 25th, five SFPD officers held four young children (ages 12 to 14) at gunpoint without warrant, brutally abusing as well as inappropriately touching the two girls. The victimsí parents, along with members of the community, demand that the officers be put on desk duty and that an independent investigation be established. Put together by the Bay Area Police Watch, a program with the Ella Ba ker Center for Human R

Fluorescent lights gleamed off the tops and sides of wooden benches. Filled with bodies brown, white, yellow and red we waited, and waited, and waited for the commissioners to come out. 5:35 pmÖ 5:40 pmÖ5:45 pmÖ

A young Latina woman steps up in front of the room and announces that since the police commissioners refuse to come out on time, we all must call them out ourselves. Someone behind me shouts, "Thereís no excuse for child abuse!" Louder and louder we repeat the chant, clapping our hands while our voices resonate stronger. The policemen and corporate media stare at us in amazement and disdain - they canít believe we have the audacity to rise up as equals to the supposed powers that be.

We jump from verse to verse, grabbing onto different words of protest when our throats tire of repeating the same sounds. "Stop police brutality in the Black community!" "Who got the power? We got the Power! What kind of Power? People Power!" Just as we are singing out, "Commissioner, Commissioner you canít hide, we can see your dirty side," the clock hits 6:10 pm and one by one the suit clad commissioners emerge from hiding and sit down behind a wooden panel table on the other side of the room. I think about how the architects who designed the conference room might have intentionally designed a twenty foot space between the public seating area and the panel in order to create the illusion that the People must approach the police with reservation and piety.

The five police commissioner sitting before the publics were Sidney Chan, Viktor Makras, Connie Perry, Wayne Friday, and Angela Quaranta. To the amazement of the people, Commissioner Chan announces that the police officers involved in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Incident were re-assigned to another district, and that there would be a departmental investigation before any further action is taken. The first person to step up to the microphone was Samantha Liapas of Bay Area Police Watch. According to Liapas, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has received dozens of phone calls from concerned San Francisco residents concerning the violent incident, and that many peoplesí fears of police brutality are grounded by the fact that these officers are still on the streets. "Seeing the perpetrators armed and still roaming the neighborhood adds insult to injury and further traumatizes these already shell-shocked children."

Following Liapas' statement, the parents the children gave emotionally testimonials to the trauma they saw their children go through. Tanish Bishop passed around the pictures she took of the children and the bloody streets the police officers left behind. "This doesnít happen in the Marina, in Nob Hill, in Pacific Heights." She reminded the commissioners of what a police officer said to her and the parents when they asked why they were physically hurting their children. "One officer told me, "As long as you people are here, we will do this to you. It's clear that these individual officers possess are racist and should not be roaming the streets," says Bishop. "This could happen again anywhere - in the Mission, the Fillmore, the Tenderloin, in Chinatown."

James Brown, the father of the child who had to be hospitalized for his wounds, gave a powerful statement expressing his great disappointment and anger at the San Francisco Police Department for letting such violence occur and stalling to take any course of action. "A badge does not give a person the right to abuse and acost our children. If the Police Commission truly cares about keeping San Francisco children safe, it will remove these dangerous officers from the streets until there is a full investigation. I taught my children to grow up trusting in policemen, but since I saw what the police did to my innocent son - shoving three teeth up into his jaw, slamming his head down on the pavement, and beating him down to the point where he did not recognize me at the hospital - Iíve rescinded that trust."

"If a parent were accused of doing these things to her child, she would immdiately lose access to the child," said Susie McAllister, the mother of one of the brutalized children. "But these officers are still patrolling the neighborhood, and can harass and frighten my daughter. How do I explain to her why her attackers are still on the beat, when sheís afraid to leave the house for fear of her life?"

As the parents bravely stood to describe their families' suffering and the damage done to the community of Hunterís Point, the police commissioners sat still with stoic expressions and looks of boredom. I couldnít believe how they did not show any bit of compassion or humanity towards the parents. Rachel Jackson of Books Not Bars, took the stand to point out to their faces that their behavior is, "most disgraceful. These are people, with feelings and hearts. Will you, Commissioner Chan, do something to right this wrong?" Commissioner Chan stutters and tries to avoid accountability by reestablishing his authority. "I cannot answer any questions, this is a public hearing. We are here to listen to what you have to say, and not give our opinions. There are two sides to every story, and we are here to listen to your side." Jackson proceeds to ask each commisioner, only to receive negative responses.

Many more individuals from the community continue to speak at the podium, adding more voices to the swelling dissent. Ying Sun Ho of the organization Letís Get Free, responds to Commissioner Chanís statement concerning the need to underside both sides of the story. "You have already spoke to the community with your silence. There are two sides of the story. The Truth, and the Lie. Which side are you on? Are you going to do the right thing? "

The meeting ended with the commissioners running out with their police escorts, while the rest of the people who came to support the parents stood united to fight the upcoming battle for justice. I spoke with James Brown, inquiring about his sonís condition and what he thought about the meeting. "Heís still in the hospital and is not okay. Iím very disappointed in the way the commissioners faced the community, and I donít expect them to do much."

As I stepped outside the Hall of Justice into the black night, I look up at the gray mass looming over my head. An American flag waves on the roof to the clouds passing. I can't believe I live in a country where children can be attacked by those sworn to protect them. I think about how outrageous and insulting the meeting was to the victims of the crime. How can law abiding citizens be protected from the law itself? And as communities like Bayview are facing gentrification pressures, poor people of color are going to be facing more harassment from the police trying to make neighborhoods more "liveable" for the wealthy. Todayís meeting clearly illustrated how the San Francisco Police Department, as well as the municipal political system, is reluctant to make any systematic changes for the benefit of the community. If our society is to progress, citizens must be able to walk the streets without fear of harassment and violence from our own government.

For more information, contact:Samantha Liapas at Bay Area Police Watch 415.317.3486

Po’-lice

by Tiny

"The government department established to maintain order, enforce the law and detect and prevent crime.!!?"

" The Government...."

-Regimental

-Goodly preventable

-Help me..I’m in the cell-now

"Department..."

-Compartment

-Cause that’s where me and God went..

"Established"

-By Corporations

-Plantations

-Of progressions

-And regressions

"To Maintain..."

-Reframe...

-And Con-tain...

The Human Spirit who is in fear of this place

and just trying to survive, thrive

and stay alive

A-BUSE -

enforce-ment

through those two doors

I went

But for what?

for crimes-

Doin time

for what?

doin my time

for Crimes...

of pover---tee

by Gretchen Hildebran with PNN Media interns Gay Montgomery and Joseph Bolden

The two young women on the stage would have probably
liked to have been somewhere else. Driving up into the
Bayview on this hot and blue Saturday morning, I was
lulled by the light breezes and wide vistas on top of
the hills, serenaded by distant radios and kids
playing on sidewalks while parents and neighbors
chatted and kept an eye out. Surely Tenisha Bishop and
Susie McCallister would have rather been at home or in
the park with their kids, but on this past Martin
Luther King Day--a blue and hot day--their children
were terrorized in front of their homes by
eight uniformed police officers. They came to the Hunter's
Point Town Hall Meeting last Saturday to let us
know, in Susie McCallister's words, "We have to speak
up. We can't lay down any longer." Theirvoices boomed
around the wood and cement walls of the gymnasium, and
the affirmation that they received from the crowd made each
mother sit up taller and speak up a little louder.

The Town Hall, which was hosted by Kiilu Nyasha and
Wendell Harper and broadcast live on KPFA, was called to
give voice to those most recently terrorized by the police in
this neighborhood, and to link police brutality to the
environmental racism of the Navy and the Hunter's
Point Power Plant that has poisoned the air, water and
soil of this residential community. As panelist
Maurice Campbell put it, "We are talking about basic
human rights."

I have intense respect for all mothers, starting with
my own. The fight that all parents in this part of
the city face to create a safe environment for their
children is against increasingly severe factors.
Willie Ratliff of the San Francisco Bay View explained how
worsening conditions are forcing this community to
flee the city. Rather than experiencing the economic
good times of the last decade. Ratliff said, "San Francisco
in the last seven or eight years is regressing for
African-Americans." Quality of life in Bayview
Hunter's Point has been so endangered by police
brutality, pollution and economic decline that 23% of
the African-American community has been displaced in
the last ten years. 20,000 people have left. The
parents, neighbors, educators, doctors, artists and
activists that came out to this meeting addressed the
root causes of these multiple injustices that
jeopardize the health and future of their community.

"A Rose That Stings"

Environmental pollution that this community faces is
severe. In her introductory comments, Marie Harrison
of the SF Bay View and the Restoration Advisory Board
insisted, "This is environmental racism. By any other
name it is a rose that stings." Children are the most
vulnerable victims, and have outrageous rates of
asthma, Attention Deficit Disorder and cancer: The
environment we live in is so tainted, so toxic, that a
three-year-old can't go outside or breathe the air, a
12-year-old can't stay in school because he can't
concentrate. Another parent described her child's
symptoms of feeling crushing weight on his chest.
Mesha Irizarry, mother of Idriss Stelley, the young man
who was killed by police this past June, told of how
her son had had to filter the air in his room to sleep
at night as well as the water he would use to shower.

Panelist Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai explained many of the most
deadly toxins in the area originate from the Naval
Shipyard. The Navy, while acknowledging that the
poisons, which include lead, radium, asbestos and
radioactive cesium, originated from their activities,
has not taken responsibility for the effects on the
residents of this community. A case in point is the
fire that broke out on Parcel B of the shipyard.
Ray Tompkins, a Bay View resident who has been trying
to track the levels and effects of Shipyard pollution,
described that it took the Navy 16 days to even report
that fire to the SF Department of Public Health. Not
only did residents go on breathing contaminated air
without warning during those days, but physicians who
treated people suffering from the fire had no
knowledge of what to test or treat their patients for.
Tompkins explained that when the Navy was
eventually confronted with the medical effects of the
fire, they claimed that people's symptoms were
psychosomatic. They wanted to tell us, "You're all
just crazy!"

The powers are adept at ignoring reckless endangerment
of people of color's health rather than protecting
them. Tompkins explained, "Part of the fallacy of the
racism in science is that "normal" means a 35-year-old
white man." The testing that is supposed to be done
often doesn't get done at all or doesn't represent the
community. One government group who was supposed to
test air quality levels mistakenly did their tests in
Visatacion Valley rather than the Bayview. Other
tests don't allow for the fact that children are more
vulnerable to toxins. Tompkins own tests, done with
the help of professionals and at standards higher than
the EPA, showed toxins at levels 100 times over a safe
measure for cancer risk. He said he had taken at
least one sample from where neighborhood kids hang out
and play basketball.

Tompkins is working to urge Mitchell Katz, the head of
the SF Health Department, to release hospital intake
records from 6 weeks before the Shipyard fire broke
out and 6 weeks after. A comparison of these records
would be a crucial step towards building proof of the
health problems of the community due to the fire.
Until this proof emerges the Navy is unlikely to take
any responsibility for the disaster.

"The tentacles reach deep," said panelist Don Paul, as
to why the Navy and the city are willing to ignore
this situation. High-financed developers all want a
piece of the Bayview, if they don't own it already.
An Enron executive apparently sits on the the board of
directors of Bayview housing developers. Artist Lani
Asher from the Shipyard studios described how the
Bernard Corporation wants to build an "artist mall" on
contaminated parts of the Shipyard. All too often
corporations and government are in agreement about the
value of property over people.

In a chilling example of this, Dr. Sumchai gave
details of a conveyance agreement which Mayor Brown
plans to sign on April 1st which would transfer
contaminated Parcels A& B from the Navy's property and
open them for quick development. "Never in the
history of conveyance agreements has a developer been
named in the agreement. There always is a bid," Dr.
Sumchai stated. The agreement is illegal and grounds
for a lawsuit, she said, and is not in the interest
of the health of the community. The agreement must
first be approved by the Board of Supervisors and she
encouraged the audience to contact Supervisor Sophie
Maxwell to tell her to reject the measure.

Slavery All Over Again.

While environmental pollution poisons the natural
elements of the community, police brutality isolates
and terrorizes its people so they can't clean up or
hold onto their neighborhoods. Tenisha Bishop
described her experience on Martin Luther King Day as
"Slavery all over again." Her neighbor Susie
McAllister described how their children were
subjected to the very treatment that we warn them
from.

Theirs and other neighbors' children were pulled from a
car in front of their house, pushed to the ground, and
held at gunpoint. Some of the five kids, ages 12 to
14, were physically assaulted and arrested. The girls
were inappropriately fondled and molested by male
officers, and others had police hold them down with
their boots. A child who has grown up feeling the
weight of asthma on his lungs had then the pressure of
the police's boots in his back. McAllister described
her feelings at seeing her young daughter brutalized
by the police, "I felt helpless, I was being ignored,
treated less than a piece of meat."

Beyond the shock and fear that the audience reflected
upon hearing these descriptions laid the outrage and
anger at the targeting of communities of color by the
police. Bishop herself said, "I've work in Laurel
Valley, I've never heard of anything of this kind
happening there." Other audience members echoed this
sentiment, one rising to comment, "If white children
were treated in this manner, the whole country would
be plastered with the news!"

Basic Human Rights Should Apply

Samantha Liappes of the local advocacy group Bay Area
Policewatch made the simple comment about these
events, "Basic human rights should apply." This is
the demand of the community against the racist system
which ignores pollution where people of color live
while downplaying the brutal actions of police towards
those same people.

These were the rights that were missing on MLK day,
that were missing when Idriss Stelley called for help
during a psychiatric crisis and was shot down by
police, and countless other instances when police
practice brutal and illegal racial targeting, and the
rights that are ignored by the Navy and the
city government when it allows contaminated land to
continue to poison an entire community.

The next steps to be taken will be against the police
department, which has placed the events of MLK day
"under investigation." One speaker from the community
reminded us, "Civil Rights is about love. We
shouldn't hate the officers that did this as much as
we should hate the system which allows them to do
this." "Policewatch and other groups are working to
create community control over the police," said
Liappes. "The community should have power and
oversight over the police department and we have the
resources to make it happen right here."

Harrison expressed the desire that accountability will
also come with reparations for the damage done. When
she declared, "My intent is to see this police
department pay dearly for what they've done to these
children and this community." Her sentiment was
affirmed throughout the audience. The mothers spoke
of needing grief counselors, a greatly lacking
resource in this neighborhood, to help their children
deal with the trauma. A woman in the audience offered
her services. Maurice Campbell of the SF Bay View
stated, "We need to be with each other on this."
Along environmental justice and police reparations,
many people spoke out about the economic injustices in
their neighborhoods which need to stop. Campbell
spoke out on the practice of "redlining" neighborhoods
of people of color. "Banks have vacated our
community," he stated, while pointing out that fraud
was a common way of diverting city and other
government contracts away from local businesses.
Beyond a clean and safe environment, as Willie Ratliff
put it, "We all need the opportunity to get a job and
feed our families." Neighborhood activist Theresa
Johnson poised the question "How did we get involved
with criminal politics?" When our government signs
away protection, lands, lives, and children's futures, she
said, "I don't find that to be freedom."

Hopefully the mothers whose children suffered will
find hope in the community that rose up to support
them last Saturday. Samantha Liappes of
Policewatch mentioned in closing the recent racial
targeting of Laurie McElroy, a Poor Magazine writer
who was unjustly arrested for walking home with her
son in a neighborhood that the cops didn't find
appropriate. Liappes pointed out that "simply
existing in our own communities is now a criminal
act."

The only protection that these parents and their
children now have is from the community, whether that
is by calling city officials to demand a stop to
environmental racism, or by demonstrating against the
police, or by joining a lawsuit against the Navy and
other racist institutions. What is crucial is that
the larger community of San Francisco become educated
and involved in the struggle. Even if this wouldn't
happen "in my neighborhood." Because Tenisha Johnson
doesn't have to read the paper to know about what is
going down. As she said, "I just have to look out the
window, I see the power plant, I see children being
brutalized by cops. We have an amazing view but once
you get down to flat ground reality kicks in."

To express your outrage over the policies' racist
attacks:

Contact the Police Chief Lau at (415) 553-1551

Police commissioners: Sidney Chan (415) 397-1985,

Victor Makras (415) 992-1990, Connir Perry (415)
538-4146, Wayne Friday (415) 431-1702, Angelo Quaranta
(415) 885-1557.

Or to get involved contact Bay Area Police Watch:
(415) 951-4844 Ext. 224

To tell the SF Board of Supervisors to reject the
illegal conveyance deal on Shipyard Parcels A and B
call your district supervisor and call:
Supervisor Sophie Maxwell (415) 554-7670.

To demand that the SF Department of Public Health
immediately release the records of hospital intakes
before and after the shipyard fire, call Dr. Mitchell
Katz (415) 554-2600.

by ALDO ARTURO DELLA MAGGIORA/PoorNewsNetwork

While returning my taxicab to the garage, I use to drive under the freeway underpass on Cesar Chavez Street where several folks reside outdoors.

I used to see several people gathered together around a fire trying to keep warm

Underneath the army street freeway exit, cars passed by where dry leaves blow soundlessly through the streets of San Francisco and into the world of homelessness.

A group of educators named Erasure lead by Matt Behnke built arches out of shopping carts throughout the bay area in remembrance of the displacement of homeless folks and those who have died due to the neglect and apathy of our society to homeless folks. Artist, Matt Kertesz clarified that the current location underneath the freeway overpass was chosen for the Shopping cart installation, because there was an extensive community that was swept out.

Greg Leon a resident of the area said that many people who reside in the area are respectful of the land and keep it clean. "It is a convenient spot because one can collect money from the recycling center which is near by." Leon told me that Cal Train would come every morning starting at 7:30 am to remove the homeless and sometimes call the police. Furthermore, Leon explains, "This area became publicized in the news which attracted several heroin addicts to move into the area. This was convenient for some of the users because they had access to methadone from General Hospital, which is nearby. Littering became a problem, and women with children who passed by were harassed. As a result of the media drawing in some of the heroin addicts, Cal Train and other city officials arranged the fencing of a big portion of land under the freeway where the homeless would sleep," The sign said, "State Property No Trespassing Penal Code 602 (L), No Lodging Penal Code 647 (J), No Littering with Personal Property Penal Code 374.4, Violators Will Be Prosecuted." The actions of some of the drug addicts made the rest of the community look bad," said Leon.

Matt Behnke addresses the homeless issue as an American issue. "America does not want to see poverty in their country because they don’t want to take responsibility."

The arch of carts is a symbolic display of art representing one’s survival. Many people lost their carts and their belongings due to Cal Train’s policy of taking and crushing the carts, including the belongings of those individuals who used the carts. Cal Train's bully tactics have cost many hardships to the homeless who have lost their money, referrals for drug rehab programs, food, sleep gear, etc.

I participated with Erasure and helped put up an arch of carts. There was a feeling of relief to pay tribute to the unseen population of the homeless. Unfortunately the arch of carts was thrown down 20 minutes later after Erasure left the site. I hope one day to see the fence under Ceaser Chavez freeway exit come down so the communities of people without housing can at least gather around a fire and have a place to keep warm and sleep

by Tuto X/ POOR Magazine Youth in the Media Intern

I dream

because living as a poor young woman

without dreams

without hope

and who no matter how hard I try

can’t help or can’t change my family’s situation

and sometimes feel like I can’t keep on ..

excerpt from a poem by Tuto/Po' Poet

Before I joined the POOR Magazine Youth in the Media program I never even admitted that I was raised on welfare, that I was barely able to stay in school due to my families homelessness and poverty or that I was often too depressed to even want to live. When I listened to the new CD released by the Center For Young Women’s Development entitled; SHE WHO DREAMS, I began to realize the power of dreams for all people – but especially for young folks like me who often suffer in silence, cause they are too afraid to even speak, much less to speak –UP

I am the one who listens

I am strong mexican warrior

I am a mother –

As I listen to the "affirmations", one of the first cuts off the CD that features Marlene, Marjon, Cynthia, Tiffany, Latrice, Lina, Tee-jai, and Tiffany M. I am inspired not only to affirm my power as a woman, but my to affirm my struggle and my families’ struggle.

There are many excellent poems on this CD, some mixed with music, all mixed with love and vision and I urge you all to get a copy of this amazing piece of poetry- support young women speaking out and UP- and maybe like me you will learn to Dream

You can reach The Center For Young Women's Development @ 1426 Fillmore St., Ste 205 SF 94115 or call them at (415) 346-0264

by TJ Johnston

Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, otherwise a courtly Southern gentleman, is mad as hell over the US Government’s handling of the still-unfolding Enron scandal. The South Carolina Democrat wasn’t anywhere near as maniacal as the fictional Beale, but that’s the sentiment behind Hollings’ description of a "cash and carry government."

Hollings, chairman of the Commerce Committee, noted that in the last decade, Enron contributed campaign funds to 186 Representatives and 71 Senators (including himself). In 2000, the now-bankrupt energy giant also filled Republican coffers in the presidential election. Inquiry of how the seventh largest corporation overstated profits, devalued their 401k to the level of Argentine pesos, peddled bipartisan influence and somehow went broke seems to be in order. But having the Department of Justice investigate, according to Hollings, would present its own problems, mostly conflicts of interest.

Attorney General John Ashcroft was an Enron beneficiary in his failed Senate bid, as was his campaign manger-turned-chief of staff. Next in line to sniff out clues would be Ashcroft’s deputy, Larry Thompson. The problem is that Thompson’s old firm represented Enron and their equally scrutinized auditors, Arthur Andersen. Also, Thompson already has his hands full countering terrorism.

Hollings submits it would behoove Thompson to appoint a special counsel. I modestly propose to tap Kenneth Starr for the job.

You would be right to say, "Haven’t we heard enough from Clinton’s persecut—er, prosecutor?" I sure had my fill of Starr and the pother principals in the impeachment trial. That said, his Lewinski-gate probe did provide the best selling soft porn in recent memory.

"Extraordinary circumstances" necessitates the appointment of a special counsel. If oral sex qualifies as such, so would sending for company airplanes to stump for Bush. And wiping out retirement plans. Ditto for the suicide of one of its board members (echoes of Vince Foster, maybe?). In concert with a Senate select committee (proposed by Hollings), Starr would get to the bottom. Such an investigation would reveal activity that transcends corporate chicanery. Starr could subpoena Army Secretary Thomas

White, Energy Regulatory Commissioner Patrick Wood III and trade representative Robert Zoellick. These federal employees were either on Enron’s payroll or otherwise sympathetic to their deregulatory needs.

Starr might need to cut a few deals with the executives who took the Fifth Amendment, but remember that he also granted immunity to Monica. What’s the harm in that? I’m confident that Starr’s skills in transcribing phone sex and girl talk would transfer to decoding book-cooking. By piecing together shreds of evidence, Starr would eventually find the smoking gun or semen-soaked blue dress. I could see CEO Kenneth Lay squirm as Hollings and Starr ask him point-blank, "Did you have political relations with that person?’

Starr couldn’t find a better opportunity to redeem himself. He could transform himself from witch-hunter to muckraker with the same prosecutorial zeal and acumen that made him a household name. May Starr Commission Report II make for equally enticing reading on our country’s nightstands.

by Jeffery Artist

I accept lashes. For out of African eye lashes my forefathers crafted

quilts beneath which I would later escape the weight of their guilt -

shivering helpless and haunted, daunted that"my people"have yet to say,

"WE are sorry."

WE (acronym)

white ethnocentric

wicked egotistic

would eye

sacrifice my sight in the present not to look at the past and

have to grasp the fact that i am the

alien seed

sewing oats of greed grown to feed the proliferation of the most

hideous institutions known to man

standing to this day as the corner stones of

freedom

free dumb

none but unteathered idiots weathered by,

"that all happened in the past, it's no longer significant."

With intuition's transition to denial, denial turns to paralysis.

Word becomes bond like the term "ghetto" as an adjective.

Vernacular is a jail cell in which we, like guilty children, are shackled

complacent pleading ignorance while bleeding from wrists slit reminiscent

of overcast nights that cracked for moonlight enough for the passive to

activate change, re-arrange the robery. All Americans should read

"Going to Meet the Man" before the "Celestine Prophecy."James

Baldwin called it inherent, Well, apparently, I'm a product:

odd duck white boy

decoyed by truth

proof of guilt

milk spilt in

world cup of coffee

awefully aware of how my q-tips were harvested

farthest thing from a martyr

i'm merely an artist but

when i dream it's like

i'm hanging from a tree

looking at myself generations ago asking

how could you not know

you are below human form

comsuming forms of life with no right to breath and

when i awake

it's under a knife

introducing my own life to

death

So maybe I'm not as passive asI thought. With lashes, I am

tought that karma is real. I feel the past like a salty tide

upon open wounds acknowledged in exchange for not hating myself, or

re-directing said hate upon someone else.  If I am dealt

penance, but one simple sentence will exit my lips; "I am sorry."

I am sorry for strange fruit pinyattas.

I am sorry that America may never have a Jomo Kenyatta.

I am sorry for odysseys of pop culture sewn of mockery.

I am sorry for slave master debauchery dispersing blood in forbidden

channels. I am sorry the animals were often the best dressed.

I am sorry that, if by writing this, someone feels as though I

transgress. I am sorry that ethnocentric universities are expected to be

the pedagogy of the oppressed. I am sorry that, for generations, apology

has been unimpressed, repressed and manifested

as night sticks shattering lights illuminating

the proclamation that a word is only as honest

as the man who scripts it.

I am sorry that I was a misfit on Flatbush Avenue where the little

black girls laughed telling me to go back
to the boondox and stop gentrifying cultural meccas where vulchers scoop

up cheap rent like meat stripped from bone. I am sorry

a poem is my only form of activism.

I am sorry for prison system demographics, affirmitive action and

designer brand shackles. I am sorry for laugh-tracks

applicable to black-face buffoonery. I am sorry for soon-to-be

martyrs.

I am sorry X marked the spot of progress stopped with a dissenting shot

because one man got too powerful for either side to trust.

I am sorry a King was thrust forth to bust confederate

whip grips echoing in the midst of air misted by

fire hose spray careening from a resistant pacifist's brow. I am sorry

now is not to different from then and men would rather be not bothered

than bridge ideology gaps bipassed by

their forefathers. I am sorry institutional measures for "equality" are

fodder for finger pointing, annointing one side

lazy and the other not sorry enough. I am sorry the stuff of

Spike Lee films is often taken as fiction. I am sorry that what

we hear is always conditioned by how we listen. I am sorry,

most of all, for black and white vision when neither color exists in a

prizm's definition.

I am sorry.

I am living.

by Joe B.

[To all Editor’s, Publisher’s, Literary Agents, and its hard working industry people.
I, Joseph Bolden in my capacity as POOR Magazine’s OP/ED would appreciate pos or neg on my work seen daily on PM’s-website. If you or others have time to read and want to respond email or snail me.
Please Do At.

askjoe@poormagazine.orgor snail

P.O. Box #645 1230 Market St.

San Francisco, CA. 94102-4801
I’ve no phone but working on it.
Whatever help you can lend to a struggling scribbler is priceless.


Thank You for reading past and present works.

Like a message in a bottle floating on foam ‘n’ surf I hope this bottle doesn’t break up or wash up on an island empty of life, light, and sound.]

In four months another milestone will be celebrated. 33rd. Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

Remember "The Cold War, The Iron Curtain is still up and the Berlin Wall with barbwire, machine guns and soldier’s manning towers, shooting people trying to escape to the West?

A Russian satellite scared leaders of the so-called free world.

It became an international machismo showdown of intelligence and testosterone in a televised battle to see who’s soft and hardware was the best, whose scientists, engineer’s, astronaut’s "Had The Right Stuff, and who’s was the superior nation.

Both American’s and Russian’s had Astronauts died and both nations mourned wondering was it worth it this "Race For Space.

"America made it to the moon before the Russians.

The last men on the moon went in 1972 picking up moon rocks, ride a buggy, and play golf by way of fun, checking the 1-6th G or gravity or a combination of both.

In 1986 an "O" ring engineering problem and pressure not delay another launch cost the lives of 7 more astronauts.

Heady, sad, fascinating, dramatic, fun, transcendent, vitalizing, tiring, exhilarating and lethal in turns are the realms of space flight.

Imagine if on an alternate earth where women in an "All That Glitter’s world rule.

[that old TV show can be revived and won’t seem all that strange now]

Can you hear Russian and their American counterparts in full strength estrogen charged potency going all out to conquer that huge hanging scrote?

R: "Set up oval sphere, get our gals ready, to jump-the old man!"

A: "We’ve got our girls, we’re ready, Let’s stop pussying around with flyby’s and land feet first on the guy's one nut-moon-in space.

R:"Gotta bed my man"

R:"I have a date in Star City with an athletic Moscovite male."

A: "My ‘poundin 'Pud, I need a guy any guy for a night."

A: "I’ma feed my hubby stay hard pills, ware my edible panties and have him lap up honey, and buried cherries under the whip cream, that's my kind of brinkwombship.

The language is raw as it would be in on our own world.

But women in control would have male equivalent’s of warrior males, men’s lib, and A Madam President having oral sex with a not so innocent or hapless male underling.

Kidding aside, if I’ve offended anyone with the above sociological otherworld content – sorry folks blame it on parallel mental leakage to said alt-world's bleeds into me, like one story bleeding on to another pages content.

Between September 11, 2001 and July 20, 2002 these two horrific plus the and joyous celebrations must be joined.

The reason why space is being occupied again is the human will to explore and 9/11/’01 war fever is equally strong though its outcome is deadlier.

Today, the competition is economic but still people are dying.

What better way to improve the human condition than to literally improve our lives in health, intelligence, going outward bound from the moon to mars and beyond.

Why don’t we start to build or carve out asteroids, planetoid’s using their natural resource instead of doing the gravity well dance.

The late, brilliant, and soft spoken Gerard K. O'Neill dream of living in space can be shared by every human on earth, but once in space earth seems less all powerful, its government so far away their rules and regulations won’t apply much.

Is that what nations fear most the lost of control of people’s lives, you can see the example of 9/11’s chilling affect as everyone comes under their nations governments is under suspicion.

Lets link life extension, space exploration, and living in space as our ultimate futures not future but FUTURES.

We could do this now because all private monies aren’t tied up with the war.

I don’t know what we’re waiting for, either get past this
point and improve our lot controlling our own evolution or stop advancing stagnating backwards to staying grounded to earth.

It is up to all the people in every nation to chose not their only their leaders who may want to retard, slow, delay, or stop the steady upward rush to the stars.

Any views pro/con from women or men?

I know sex would last longer and female pregnancy easier and less painful in zero G space or 1 6th than on 1G earth.

I thank the
NASA Apollo Mission Apollo-11 website for the information enclosed.

As for myself I have to get my cryo-coffin ready so at death I’ll be immediately frozen waiting for a better day of revival or rebirth.

Those are my plans unless I step into an artificial space/time warp, get kidnapped by aliens, or do a accidental "Buck Rodgers"/"Bikini Planet" Bye...

by Joe B.

To all Editor’s, Publisher’s, Literary Agents, and its hard working industry people.

I, Joseph Bolden in my capacity as POOR Magazine’s OP/ED would appreciate pos or neg on my work seen daily on PM’s-website.
If you or others have time to read and want to respond email or snail me.
Please Do At.

askjoe@poormagazine.org or snail

P.O. Box #645 1230 Market St.

San Francisco, CA. 94102-4801
I've no phone for now but will soon.

Whatever help you lend to a struggling scribbler is priceless.

Thank You for reading past and present works.

‘D.W.’s “Dreadnought, Berzerker” Bush Corp
is taking America into a deadly standoff it will eventually lose.

This “New Evil” buzz word seems to be a callous, calculated, bogus, to scare more American’s of every national origin, creed, sexual orientation, race, or social economic strata into staying quiet and being that is a most dangerous corner - staying silent as all around them crumbles.

Targeting non nuclear countries that cannot protect themselves from America or their nuclear neighbors sets a precedent where countries to protect themselves will use “any means necessary to protect themselves for a more powerful nation.

If some nations have little or no nuclear capabilities the alternatives are creating Biohazzards chemical, gas, liquid, and airborne toxins making the deadly killer germs of smaller than “suitcase size” weapons.

We don’t have nanotech molecular sized disease seeking microbes that eat poisons and release harmless hydrgen or water in its wake.

We don’t have invisible radiation domes or portable force fields to change deadly radiation into harmless substances and yet this Supreme Court Selected President is willing to risk destabilizing whatever peace this world can achieve for in a show of sheer brutal force.

Anyone remember how ROME fell?

It was not from conquering other lands and taking people’s tributes as payment or mistreatment of slaves, (some were able to free themselves) but it came from corruption, rot, political favors of the inside.

Pax America better watch where its future is headed or like Ancient Powerful, Eternal ROME will be only a memory.

ROME taught us all superpower's eventually fall it takes time but they do.

It seems S-Bush Jr. is bent on speeding America the same perilous course and might not be remembered fondly as a shining city apon a hill. Bye.

by Alicia Leanos/PoorNewsNetwork youth in the media intern

"Clank klingggg tingggg…" The sounds of clanking pots rose above the barren
brick walls and stone walkways of the plaza at the San Francisco Department
of Human Services ( read welfare office) in a chorus of resistance with
women all over the world to celebrate the Global Womens' Strike.

"Please bang pots and pans in solidarity with mujeres de Argentina ( women
in Argentina)" , Rachel from Every Mother is a Working Mother(EMWM) was leading the chants with two steel frying pans."Yes to Welfare no to War... Si' to Welfare... No to Aguirre"

Women marched internationally on Friday, March 8th to demand several basic issues be recognized;1) payment for caring work; 2) pay equity for all paid maternity leave and other benefits;3) don't pay 'Third World debt' we owe Nothing, they owe us; 4)accessible clean water and non-polluting technology' accessible healthcare, housing, transport, literacy and information; protection and 5) asylum from all violence and persecution and freedom of movement.

"We believe Welfare is a right - we don't want to be forced to stop taking
care of our own children and be forced to take a job, any job." Rachel
continued. And we don't want billions of dollars squandered on war.."

As she spoke the crowd grew - this was only the first stop on todays march- The next presenter was Chandra from EMWM, who sang a song to the melody of the Richie Valens song; La Bamba, "Come and strike ..Women strike..sing yes to welfare, no to war.."

The cold brick of the plaza began to gleam with a new power- women's power..
" Say it with me , Women hold up half the sky.." Kiilu Nyasha, the fierce writer, activist and artist, directed the audience to represent, " We do about half of the world's work and make 5% of the world's income.."

"Single mothers have never been supported to raise their children- we have never been encouraged to parent, when I was raising my children - as long as I went to work, and had someone else take care of my children, I was ok- I was a wage earner- the person taking care of children was a wage earner- when I stayed home to raise my children I was lazy, I was a bum" Kiilu spoke the truth that is rarely spoken - the truth that all women - all mothers - are never supported to do just that - mother their children.

After the crowd grew to the hundreds including the striking workers from Taco Bell, the march set out to Bank of America, City Hall and McDonalds . Their goals at all these stops were to expose how these institutions devalue our work and our lives and support militarization and corporate globalization.

The march ended at the Federal Building demanding that all the wealth that
has been drained from women and children to pay for wars that are killing us is redirected from military spending to caring, feeding, healing.

"Si welfare..No Aguirre...Yes to WElfare ..No to War!!!"