Story Archives

by Staff Writer

Unity government is a watercolour government
It is a government that’s home to
Ministers and ministries without power
Like coded storylines of untested identity
Within the within is the same, only smaller here
It is its absolute refusal to doubt itself
That hustles us along to our hazardous fringes
Little by little, the big black lies
Strangling the music of our hopes

It is the oppressor’s music ruminating in
The vestiges of our now clogged minds
Stories of false hope bound together
In stoic controversies and contradictions
By two actors seeking out unearned recognition
Leading us astray is this liberal hypocrisy
Just a dialectical change

Hope in Zimbabwe is knit with lives lost
And plaited into a pattern of suffering
Hope afraid of unbraiding the past
Waits for others to undo the knots
The unmaking of our old pains
Whose intricate designs and clever joints
We have mistakenly re-knotted again
Hope acts the fool here, don’t see
Or we don’t want to believe what we are seeing

In Harare north, they still swim in harmless pools
Designing for our dreams
We swim in hunger drenched streets of Chitungwiza
Here they only listen for our voices of dissent
For if they hear us they would kill us with their guns
So we now talk silently like the empty skies
Our very bones hears the sounds of our silent weeping

Each night the empty plates from which we eat
Will be the fields from which you will harvest
New harvests without the words “silent diplomacy.”
And at night we crash into nightmares, thinking
That this deck of misfortune that we have re-created
Would keep shoving us to keep fighting
For the horizons are still ours
But we wish the sun would soften a thousand times over

Unity government is just what it is
Or pieces of what it should be
It is the way you live within it
That makes it unworkable for you
As if it’s a map you can read only once
But feel like you have read it many times
Because you cannot forget it
Whether you want to, or not

It is stinking masks of skeletons full of odour
It is a street-named “government of national unity.”
On a broken down stage called “Zimbabwe.”
It is like bits of old jokes without the laughter
But snarls like jumbled half-bars of remembered music

It is just an illusion, a dilution process
So let’s not shift our minds in reverse
Let’s not fall prey to this new resurrection
A master’s rendition, a repetition of 1987
Just another history waiting to be re-written
Through another trough of empty spaces of time.

by Staff Writer

Washington, DC--Native American leaders in the emerging green economy
traveled to our Nation's capital to lobby representatives, network,
and work together to demand good and green jobs, careers, and
communities for Indian Country. Representatives from the Navajo,
Acoma, Oglala Sioux, Ojibwe, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations
participated in the Good Jobs Green Jobs National Conference in
Washington DC this week.

"We are here to ensure that Indigenous communities and Nations will be
a part of the emerging green economy", says Jihan Gearon, Native
Energy Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network and member
of the Navajo Nation. "More so than mere participation and
tokenization, we are here to ensure that in this emerging economy, our
communities truly benefit and lead. There are numerous opportunities
in Indian Country to do so".

The Navajo Green Economy Plan is one such example. The Plan would
generate hundreds of green jobs across the Navajo Nation and support
local, community led, owned and operated initiatives such as small and
large scale renewable energy development, green manufacturing textile
mills, weatherization projects, weavers coops, traditional and organic
agricultural markets, and green jobs training programs.

"With millions of federal dollars ready to be distributed across the
country to support green jobs, we are prepared to support our local
community and in doing so lead the Nation in creating sustainable and
just societies", says Kelvin Long, member of the Navajo Green Economy
Coalition and the Navajo Nation.

Native American lands, as well as Indigenous territories worldwide,
have been historically and systematically targeted for fossil fuel,
coal, oil and gas development, which has resulted in the
contamination and depletion of water, land and community health".
Solutions to energy independence and climate change in the U.S., such
as nuclear power and clean coal, pose the threat of exacerbating these
negative affects.

"Green jobs must not include jobs for industries that will drag out
the use of dirty and unsustainable energy", says Petuuche Gilbert of
Acoma pueblo in New Mexico, a community affected by uranium mining.
"In this new economy, we must break the cycle of being marginalized
people and forced to choose between economic development and
preservation of our culture and lands. We are against renewed uranium
mining. Nuclear is not green".

Tribal lands have an estimated 535 Billion kWh/year of wind power
generation potential, about 14% of U.S. annual generation. Tribal
lands also hold an estimated 17,000 Billion kWh/year of solar
electricity generation potential--4.5 times total U.S. annual
generation. As Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth
and member of the Ojibwe Nation points out, "The reality is that the
most efficient, green economy will need the vast wind and solar
resources that lie on Native American lands. And we are prepared to
lead".

by Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Garcia/PNN

The blessings began the moment i walked in the magical path winding me through ropa y colores, jugetes y arte - each calavera whispered to me about rios and tierras stolen, remembered and dreamed about by indigenous peoples across pacha mama.

I was led into the palace of art y musica y ceremonia known as Corazon del Pueblo- House of the Heart- by mi hermana in struggle and resistance, fellow welfareQUEEN, Vivian Hain.
"You have to come tiny," her eyes shown as she spoke about coming to the store, a special kind of shine, Women, mamaz, revolutionarias, listen to each other when we see that kind of shine in each others eyes, because we know that our companeras have seen the light, the light of resistance, hope and power for our silenced peoples that we all seek on the daily.

As i walked down the path - color flew at me. I had been wondering lately where my mama dee was hanging out. My mama dee, an African-Boricua- Taina- resistance fighter who passed onto her spirit journey in March of 2006. As i followed the colors, i knew.

"We are here to celebrate the ribbon cutting of this beautiful space, we are here to celebrate our mothers, our children, our ancestors, we are here to celebrate Ethnic Studies 40 Years Later: Race Resistance and Relevance being held at San Francisco State University this week." Dorinda Moreno, life-long revolutionary, poet, teacher, mama and grandmother who had been one of the original folks leading the fight for ethnic studies at SFSU, led the circle of blessings through a ribbon cutting at a new room in the back of the store dedicated to Danza Azteca classes and other events in the beautiful store owned and operated by another powerful mama and teacher, Josefina Lopez.

Elders and speakers, ninas and babies filled the space with more color and music and then when i truly thought i had seen and felt everything to feed and care-give my soul, when i thought i had tasted every gift pacha mama and the ancestors had to give me today, the room became silent. People spoke in hushed tones, with a look of disbelief in their eyes,"That's pancho villa's son, Ernesto Nava, that's him, he is here!"

An elder wearing an old-skool sobrero de vacuero walked down the magical path where all light and color and cloth and sculpture dwelled. People whispered, "he is 92 years old".
As he stepped through the small entrance he looked up and before i could say anything he shook my outstretched hand, "Mucho gusto," I whispered through a breath of awe. His eyes shone with dreams still being done and work still being worked.
 

Other members of our POOR Magazine family were celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day and the deKKKolinzing of KKKillerolumbus at Berkeley's Pow Wow so in the middle of a serenade by mujeres mariachis myself and Vivian stepped out of the magical space back into a slightly brighter, slightly richer International Blvd, determined to come back as many times as we could, to keep dreams being dreamed, art made and ancestors properly honored.

To take your own tour and create your own magic go to Corazon Del Pueblo at 4814 International Blvd in Oakland. or call 510-532-6733

by Judith M. Hansel

Parts one and two of this series explained how the US government cheated me out of $24,500 when I paid cash for a house that had been in a USDA homeownership program. This program is authorized by Title 7 USCS C.F.R. 1955.116. I learned, after purchasing the house, that the required repairs had not been made. The house was not in “decent, safe, and sanitary” condition as required by the regulation.

My first response consisted of writing letters to the local, regional, and federal USDA offices. Every reply to my letters denied wrongdoing. Senator Kohl suggested that I obtain a low-cost government loan to repair the house.

To protect my investment, I obtained three mortgages over an eighteen-month period that totaled $23,000. I decided, after a Black Hills Vision Quest, to stop paying the mortgage in order to get the fraud issue before a jury.

The Complaint arrived via Sheriff’s deputy in December. The Case Number is 91CV189 stamped as received by the Clerk of the Court in Waushara County Circuit Court located in Wautoma, Wisconsin. I Answered the Complaint stating the issue of fraud and filed third-party complaints against the USDA, my attorney, my divorce attorney, the Realtor and Union State Bank.

In January, the bank filed a Motion to Dismiss my Answer. Judge Wolfe agreed
stating that I had “too much extraneous material.” She also dismissed all my third-party Complaints even though the USDA had not filed any papers. Judge Wolfe said that she knew that she had to provide “substantial justice” so she gave me ten days in which to file another Answer.

The Answer that I submitted was the only possible Answer that I could write. To submit another Answer would be to agree with Judge Wolfe’s statement that there was “too much extraneous material” in my Answer. So I did not write another Answer to the bank’s Complaint. I did appeal Judge Wolfe’s decisions and orders to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals on the basis that they violated my Constitutional right to a jury trial on anything worth over $20. (Seventh Amendment).

Before the Court of Appeals reached a decision, the bank filed a Motion for Summary Judgment. That Motion was granted; the decision stated that the Judge had “tried” the legal issues. Of course, this was a lie and I appealed Judge Wolfe’s actions to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

In July, the Sheriff held a public sale of the property and sold it to Union State Bank. I had no intention of cooperating with the Sheriff when the bank took possession, so in September I held a “Going to Jail Sale” and advertised the event in the local paper.

I sold all my furniture and all the improvements I had made to the house including: the mailbox and the post it was on, the TV antenna, the in-the-wall air conditioner and the fence. Under Wisconsin law if a contract is signed under fraudulent conditions, the contract is null and void. Basically, I had no legal right to improve the property just as the bank had no legal right to issue mortgages to me.

On October 1, the Court issued a Writ of Assistance to the Sheriff that expired on October 9. On October 9, the Sheriff arrested me and transported me to jail using that expired Writ. I was jailed for six hours and released on my own recognizance. (Case 92CM114). I filed a Motion to Dismiss based on the fact that no one had read my rights to me. In response, the DA dismissed the charges against me without prejudice, which meant that he could re-charge me anytime that he wanted.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals in Madison, Case #92-0522 upheld all the Waushara Circuit Court’s decisions. I then appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court under the same Case Number.

I was waiting for a decision from that Court when I read that, in Wisconsin, a person may not be removed from a property in dispute until all legal remedies had been exhausted. So why wasn’t I living in the house?

I needed to get these issues before a jury and thought that the easiest way to do it would be to get myself arrested. So I went to the DA and an official of the bank and told them that I would be on the property that afternoon. No one came to arrest me, so I went back to the DA and asked him why I wasn’t arrested.

“We won’t arrest you for trespassing,” he told me.

What could I think up that would get me arrested, but that wouldn’t send me off to prison for life? I bought black paint and a paintbrush and wrote slogans on the house that did not flatter the USDA and Union State Bank. The next time I was in Wautoma, I was arrested outside a grocery store. I was, however, allowed to drive my car to the jail parking lot. I was charged with a felony, damage to private property, Case Number 93CF007. While in jail over the weekend, my gun was confiscated from my car, violating the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. In Wisconsin, guns may not be confiscated until a person is convicted of a felony.

In March, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision upheld the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and the Waushara Circuit Court’s decisions. I filed a request for a Writ of Cetiorari with the US Supreme Court, Case Number 92-8419.

In April, I attempted to get the prosecution of me for the house-painting crime transferred to the US District Court-Eastern Division in Milwaukee. Judge Goodstein denied my request and labeled his decision a civil case when, in fact, it was a criminal case. (Case Number 93-C-34l).

On May 19 I was scheduled for a jury trial. Finally! Judge Karch arrived and interrogated me for over an hour on points of the law. He said that he was going to dismiss the jury since I was not ready for trial. The truth probably was that he thought I might win!

He ordered me to leave the Courtroom and wait in the hall. Outraged that I had been denied a jury trial AGAIN, I left the building. The next day I was arrested and jailed. This time they did not tell me the charge or give me copies of the Warrant. In the afternoon at my arraignment, the Judge set a cash bail of $2,000. I refused to raise it. The Judge then ordered me to sit in jail until I raised the money. I told him I would stop eating.

On May 25, the Court held a hearing. The Judge offered to set the bail at a $2000 signature bond if I would see a private attorney while I was in jail. I agreed. The Judge also ordered a Mental Competency Evaluation to be done by the Director of the Winnebago Mental Institution on June 22 in Oshkosh. The next day, Patrick Seubert, an attorney in private practice in Neenah, Wi., visited me. When I told him I wanted him to hire a psychiatrist for a second competency evaluation, he told me he didn’t know how to do that. And, he added, he would become Guardian of my affairs after the Evaluation.

On June 9, I received the denial of a Writ of Certiorari from the US Supreme Court.

My legal remedies were exhausted and I knew that the outcome of the Mental Competency Evaluation was already decided, so what could I do?

I went to Canada.

by Dee/PoorNewsNetwork

The San Francisco Department of Human Services (DHS) began implementation of SF Board Supervisor Newsom’s draconian Proposition N (Care Not Cash) even before the July 1, 2003 implementation date by serving eviction notices on people who are in long-term case managed programs like the SF shelter Next Door. (The rationale for this is that under Prop N, shelter beds are supposed to be prioritized for folks on SF’s CAAP program –welfare- and therefore not available for anyone on SSI, or the working poor - see Racial and Economic Cleansing #101
for more info on this issue)

While this economic genocide is waged on poor San Francisco residents, so-called liberal democrats like Nancy Pelosi who say the following; “We give unequivocal support and appreciation of the Nation to the president as Commander in Chief for his firm leadership and decisive action in the conduct of military operations in Iraq as part of the on-going Global War on Terrorism” and support the Bush administration budget which spends 80 billion to support the war on Iraq, Homeland Security and Airline Bailouts.

More money for the war means less money for the states and cities – social programs to support housing and health education programs, etc. Please join POWER, POOR Magazine, The Coalition on Homelessness and other poverty rights activists and poor folk in fighting this racist and classist proposition, see below for info on an upcoming action....

UNITE TO FIGHT AGAINST SHELTER EVICTIONS

Say No to Expulsions and Exclusions in the San Francisco Shelters

The Department of Human Services in San Francisco has hatched a plan
to hijak the shelter system as part of their plan to set up Prop N
(the cuts to assistance for the homeless initiative). They plan to
force homeless county assistance recipients into the shelter and
expel the non-assistance recipients who are immigrants, seniors,
workers, and people with mental illnesses or other disabilities. All
of this just to turn a profit. Come stand with POWER to say No
Expulsions, and No Exclusions! We Demand Shelter for All!

March, Rally, and Press Conference

Thursday April 17th, @ 4 PM,

Meet at the office of the Coalition on Homelessness

468 Turk St. @ Larkin

When Newsom and the tourism industry poured thousands of dollars into
their lie campaign for Prop N, they were full of promises. Sure our
checks were gonna be cut, but in the place of our wages we were going
to housing, food, and services. Now that July is just 2 months away,
the truth is coming out that Prop N is nothing more that $59 and a
shelter bed. Last week, Next Door (the city's "care facility") made
all of their residents sign eviction notices stating that no one
could remain in the shelter after June 30th. (notice then revoked
one week later) Why? Because DHS's big care plan is to force all
homeless CAAP recipients into the city's over-crowded shelter system
and charge them $300 rent a month, while forcing all immigrants,
disabled people, and working poor folks out into the streets. That's
not care, that's discrimination. Trent Rhorer even said that they
hope the new system will be so worthless and difficult that they
expect over 80% of to just quit the program and fight for own
survival on the streets with no assistance at all. That's bullshit!
Are we going to continue to let these politicians make their wealth
off our poverty? Hell no! Now is the time to fight back!

--

People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER)

32 - 7th Street

San Francisco CA 94103

415.864.8372 - phone

415.864.8373 - fax

by Joseph Bolden, staff writer,

Hi, guess who? Its1s Tuesday, Oct. 10. 2000. Are you folks sick
and tired of seeing my columns about voting? Too bad. Any of you
voting for ŒPrez or Vice, Senator1s Judges, Right to Life/Choice,
and Racism or Tolerance, Space, Cryonics, Life Extension, and/ or
Immortality am I right?

I did go to City Hall to find out if I1m registered to vote in
the upcoming elections. I1m registered so I1m voting... for whom?
That1s my choice as is yours not to be revealed until I1m in the
voting booth. I will give folks a hint I1d like to continue beyond
the 20th century moving ahead towards habitats in space, reproductive
rights for women, social security protections, and universal health
care, not only that but also openning the flood gates to life extension
because we1ll all need it as we get older . Is that enough of a
hint folks?

Every generation has had a crisis to face from the founding fathers,
to World Wars 1 and 2, to a socalled Police Action named ŒThe Korean
Conflict - A police action? I still think when you place boys and
men in uniform, train, em, to kill, have Œem sent to fight on foreign
soil against other young boys and men with dying on both sides I1d
tend to call it a war, undeclared or not soldiers on both sides
died in that midcentury conflict. Viet Nam, the first war ever lost
by the then undefeated United States, Then a short glorius war in
1991 called Desert Storm.

If we don1t watch out we may end up a Viet Nam like scenario again
in Korea. You know our government, when we the people are silent
that tells them to have a ball, spend money, Have A War. Uhh, I
think economically speaking making weapons to kill each other is
no longer the economic stimulus it used to be. Peacetime is a better
way less dead citizens lying around, less money to be made on dead
consummers unless you1ve read The Body Broker1s in the Orange County
Register in April off 2000. Vote Vote Vote, Stand up, learn facts,
figures, his/herstories of candidates, then chose and Vote. Is it
November yet? Oh, crap-I Œgotta write this for another month. Well,
here1s the message; whom ever you choose its up to all of us around
this great fertile land to futurize not fossilize America. Do it
early, do it late, but do it; VOTE Bye.

(back to top)

by Staff Writer

I once heard of someone writing about a blank piece of paper, now that I look at my blank piece I could start to imagine what that person probably thought, no better yet what I think , I look at this paper sort of as my people unappreciated and taken for granted, unnoticed or rather yet ignored, when I say my people I don�t just mean BLACK but as a wise teacher once said the �P.W.C� do they view us as sand paper , that we will just lay there unused and get sick and die HELL NO we stand as construction paper hard and hard to break no matter how much weight but you ask what happens when you get to the point when there is not much more you can take�. Recycle and come back stronger next time�� no let me stop feeding you that bullshit line don�t go no where stand , stand stronger then those �fixed levi�s� and taller than the eiffel tower then well see in the end who really has the fuckin POWER�

DeVaughn Glaze

by Teresa Molina/PNN Voces de Inmigrante en Resistencia

Scroll Down for English

La mañana estaba fría y afilada, mientras yo, una inmigrante trabajadora, madre y reportera de Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia en Prensa POBRE estaba parada entre cientos de trabajadores emigrantes en San Francisco City Hall mas temprano en este mes en solidaridad con todos los trabajadores de la nación luchando por justicia--luchando para ser pagados por nuestro trabajo--peleando la epidemia del robo de sueldos. Todos est·bamos emocionados que nuestra voz sea escuchada, hacen acto de presencia y que miles y miles de empleadores que no han pagado sus trabajadores, algunos desde el 2006 seran puestos a la luz. Estos empleadores han motivado la epidemia del robo de sueldo.

Hilary Ronen de La Raza Centro Legal dice que esta acción y protesta fue dada porque, "ay una epidemia del robo de sueldo!". En esta manifestación, estuvieron presente como ochenta personas, y varias organizaciones, como La Colectiva de Mujeres, La Raza Centro Legal, POWER, MUA, Filipinos por Acción Afirmativa, La Asociación Progresiva de Chinos, Filipinos Community Center, Young Workers United, y Prensa POBRE.

Muchos de los empleados injustos no les pagan a sus empleados, o les pagan lo que les da la gana. No es justo porque estos empleados criminales, ponen a trabajar a las personas horas extras y no lo reconocen, y no les dan descansos; y los abusos siguen sin parar. Los patrones abusivos siguen explotando al trabajador, y este problema no solo se enfocan en la industria de trabajadoras domesticas o jornaleros, también se han visto afectadas las personas que trabajan en hoteles, cuidadoras de niños, y trabajadores de restaurante. Por eso estamos aquí, reclamando al gobierno para que se haga justicia. Que ajusten a los empleadores que no pagan y que los arresten. Ya basta! Que cumplan con las leyes porque no estamos haciendo respetados. Somos los que hacemos los trabajos mas peores y mas pesados.

Todos aqui presentes, de cualquier modo expresamos los abusos que pasamos con nuestros patrones. Uno de ellos es Julio Loyola, un jornalero del Day Laborer Program, quien expreso sus sentimientos hacia los abusos de los jornaleros, "que nos han puesto a trabajar y los exponen a quÌmicos peligrosos y los ponen a trabajar sin equipo de protección, y aparte le roban su sueldo."

Al preguntarle a Hilary Ronen, una abogada de La Raza Centro Legal, ìcuales son sus esperanzas al tener esta manifestación?" ella respondió, "espero que la cuidad se envolviera mas en recursos y hacer cumplir a los patrones de San Francisco sobre las leyes laborarles. Es ley que todo trabajador debe recibir su sueldo independientemente de su estatus migratorio."

Aqui en prensa POBRE estamos cansados de la injusticia y es la razon que salimos a luchar. Porque si no luchamos no seremos escuchados, porque nadie va luchar por nosotros. Con la unidad siempre ganaremos! Solos no podemos.

Unete Pueblo a la Lucha!

Ingles sigue

The morning was cool and sharp, as I, a migrant worker, mother and reportera for Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia at POOR Magazine stood with hundreds of migrant workers at San Francisco City Hall earlier this month in solidarity with workers all across the nation struggling for justice – struggling to be paid for our work- fighting the epidemic of “wage theft. We were all excited that our voices would be heard, and that thousands of employers who have not paid their poor workers, some since as far back as 2006, would be brought forth today. These employers have fueled the epidemic of wage theft.

Hilary Ronen, from La Raza Centro Legal, said that this action and protest took place because, “wage theft has become an epidemic!” There were many powerful community organizations present such as, La Colectiva de Mujeres, La Raza Centro Legal, POWER, MUA, Filipinos for Affirmative Action, Chinese Progressive Movement, Filipinos Community Center, Young Workers United, and POOR Magazine.

Many of the unjust employers have not paid wages, or they pay them whatever they want. It is not fair, because these criminal employers make the workers work overtime, then do not recognize the hours or they do not give the workers any days off; and the abuses continue without a stop. The abuse employers continue to exploit the worker, and this is not a problem that only focuses on domestic workers or day laborers, but it also extends to hotel workers, nannies and restaurant workers. This is why we are here, to demand the government in order to seek justice. Arrest the employers who do not pay their workers. Ya Basta! Enough! We are not being respected and these employers are not abiding with the law. We are the ones that do the heaviest and dirtiest jobs.

All of us present, in one way or another expressed the abuse we have endured with our employers. One of these people is Julio Loyola, a day laborer from the Day Laborer Program, who expressed his feelings about the abuse that many day laborers face, “that they put them to work exposing them to dangerous chemicals and they make them work without any protective equipment, and they still steal their salary.”

After asking Hilary Ronen, a lawyer from La Raza Centro Legal, “What are your hopes in having this protest?” she responded, “I hope that The City gets involved with more resources and make the employers abide by the labor laws of San Francisco. It is law that all worker gets paid for their work independent of their immigration status.”

Here at POOR Magazine we are tired of such injustice and it is the reason we are out here resisting. If we do not resist we will not be heard, because no one else is going to fight our struggles. With unity we will always win! Alone we cannot win.

Community Unite and Join the Struggle!

by Tiny/PNN

Houzless chyle….

sky iz r roof

keepin us lookin up.

windowz r tha eye’z of r people

showin us socitiez

justice iz just.ice.

capitalizm has no human worth

Excerpt from the poem :Houzless Chyle by Jewnbug, Po’ Poetz ProjecK of, POOR Magazine

"We are here today to hear the truth of homelessness and to remind people that there are homeless people who have died on our streets….we have to find a more compassionate way to solve homelessness and to be compassionate really means to suffer with people and through the identification with people, to relieve their suffering," I watched the warm brown eyes of Reverend Dorsey Blake from the Church of the Fellowship of all
Peoples as he prepared to participate in the multi-denominational, and truly inspiring Covenant of Compassion ceremony held last Sunday in San Francisco’s City Hall plaza. As he spoke, I clutched a handmade wooden cross, one of 100 crosses created by the ceremonies organizers; Religious Witness with Homeless People covered with the name of a houseless San Franciscan who had passed, unnoticed, uncounted, unnamed and unremembered, until now, on the ice-like streets of San Francisco in 2004.

As a formerly houseless, member of POOR Magazine’s Po Poets Project, I, too was preparing to participate by spitting spoken Wordz and poverty scholarship with my fellow po’ poets Jewnbug and, A. Faye Hicks, in a day focused not only on honoring the houseless who have passed but also to hear, recognize and act compassionately on the real story behind the racist, classist, anti-homeless people legislation known as Care Not Cash(CNC) launched as the mayoral platform for Gavin Newsom

"We live in very violent times when the current (presidential) administration is more outraged at a breast shown at a football game than the systematic abuse and torture of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay" The day began by hearing from

Assemblyman Mark Leno who along with SF supervisors Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty sponsored a legislation that would force the City to start counting and naming the City’s homeless who died on the streets, a process which used to happen every year but was ended in 2001, Mark continued, "when violence is so glorified, humanity and the value of humans is debased –we need to put a name and a face on the people that have died on the streets"

SF Supervisor Chris Daly followed him,"Its not just about the fact that people who have died on our streets should not go unmarked and un-mourned but its also about analyzing how we’re doing as a city and a society on one of our most difficult and confusing issues, homelessness"., With his support of this and other issues Chris continues to be one of the few consistently progressive voices on the board for economic justice in San Francisco

"Allaaaaaaah Aloo Akebah" After the triumphant news that we had won back the right to recognize the passing of San Francisco's’ homeless, the diminutive and powerful Sister Bernie, Executive Director of Religious Witness with Homeless People launched the days cross denominational "Solemn Opening of Service" which included a Buddhist bell sounding, a Jewish horn, a song about homelessness and a haunting Muslim chant by Souleiman Ghali. As he sung/chant I was transported to the multiple targets of Bush/Cheny Inc.'s Krusades/kolinazation efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran and mused at the similar ways in which the corporate media promoted international abuses and local abuses of marginalized and unheard peoples.

"We come here today because our sisters and brothers with no homes have asked us to listen to them in their time of suffering despite the rosy picture created by the media" After the Solemn service Reverend Jana Drakka described the focus of the covenant of compassion, "Throughout the past eight months that the legislation Care not Cash has been in effect the media has repeatedly reported on its wonderful results and indeed over 628 homeless adults have been placed in rooms. And we rejoice as members of religious witness in that fact as we have been advocating for housing with supportive services for the last eleven years. Sadly, however, the way Care Not Cash has been implemented has resulted in the suffering of many other homeless people- by both the 1000 people targeted by Care Not Cash as well as the over 13,000 San Franciscans not targeted by Care Not Cash - a study released in November conducted by homeless people confirmed what we have been told.

She concluded with a grace that only a religious leader could muster, "Let us be clear we are not here to question the commitment of Mayor Newsom and his administration to, and I quote, 'end homelessness as we know it' but we Leaders, friends and members of religious witness are committed to listening to the voices of our poor and homeless brothers and sisters to stand compassionately with them in their suffering and to join them in their struggle for justice."

"We think its wrong for a shelter to be considered "housing" which is how it is worded in the CNC legislation," Shelly Roder from St Boniface Shelter was one of the first advocates to address the gathering, "to consider a mat or cot cramped in with a lot of other people which often ends up being a mat on the floor, housing, is not right- and then making a shelter mat part of a (welfare) benefit package displaces many of the homeless who don't receive city funds (i.e., Welfare/ General Assistance/GA ) cause the beds are reserved for people on GA"

"I just wanted to start by thanking Mark Leno cause Food stamps were restored to felons who were convicted for drug offenses thanks to his tireless efforts" Next we heard from Bill Hart, the formerly houseless, executive director of General Assistance Advocacy Project /GAAP

He continued,"Before Care Not Cash there were 2,497 homeless people receiving welfare benefits-its now down to 852 - but where did the 1090 people go?- most of them dropped off the program cause its too hard to do all the hoops just to get $29.00 every two weeks, including a new rigorous form of job search and they don't even give you a bus pass, so people just said forget it I can’t to do all that"

"We are starting this new year tragically for poor and homeless people. One of the saddest examples of this is when I meet previously homeless people who are now incarcerated telling me that they are better off in prison (where they are now) in San Quentin- they only thing they lost was their freedom but that was better than how they felt on the streets of San Francisco under care not cash living on $59 a month." With tears of horror in my eyes at Bill’s last comment, I wondered if the "paupers prisons" my poor Irish Grandmother used to tell me about could be far behind. But of course who needs them, they are already here…

"Hi, I am Ken Sanders, I am 55 years old and I am a diabetic residing at Hospitality House - I have lived in SF all of my life- only homeless for the last four years - homelessness is a hard job-and cause of Care Not Cash, its even harder" The most important part of the day, the testimonies of folk struggling with this CNC mess, was launched with the tragic voices of African Descendent, Latino and White folks like long-term SF resident, Mr. Sanders and the next speaker, the eloquent David Hawkins-Bey

"I am from Detroit Michigan, I came to the Bay Area in July of 2004 I came here to work in the hotels and come to find out they were on strike. I eventually started to receive the $29.00 CNC benefit but my whole purpose of being here was to work and it seemed like I was being penalized for working part-time and receiving $200-300 a month which I was going to use to move in to an apartment. Instead my food stamps were cut and I still haven't found any housing, I thought if I proved myself to be a productive citizen that the GA program would work for me. In Michigan there is no general Assistance program, no welfare, no nothing- I came here in the hopes of providing a better life for myself and in the end I know that the only savior is love and to believe in love and the love of God - it is all you can take with you"

We then heard a bi-lingual plea for economic justice from the Lorenzo Cruz, a homeless, immigrant day laborer, "The life for day laborers is very hard- in the past, day laborers like me could stay in shelters for a place to sleep but now because of Care not Cash the shelters are no longer a place to sleep for us- and with little work immigrant workers have no money to rent a room- why is this city making the lives of poor people so difficult?"

The day was filled with the poverty scholarship of many more homeless folks trying to express the unbelievably difficult position of poor people living under this corporate poverty pimpin program called Care not Cash sponsored by the city government including one man who spoke of spending all night just to get one bed only to be told at 11:00pm, that his struggle was futile as there was in fact, no room at the Inn.

The powerful and tragic day closed with a Dance of compassion, response "to the testimonies" by Reverend Jane Schlager and Reverend Nobu Hanaoka and closing hymn called The Lord hears the Cry of the Poor……

by Tony Robles/PNN

My Uncle Anthony has this expression that goes, “You might be my color but you ain’t my kind”. He is a street minister who says he’s workin’ for the lord. “The pay might be low but the benefits are out of this world” he says.

You might be my color but…

Working as a security guard, I’ve worked with many people of color. Each has their own personality, their own story, their own trip. I’ve met folks who act like cops and others who have dreamed, or have let their dream slip away. I have met people who have shared their last bit of food with me and those who have shared nothing.

I work at an apartment complex with several other guards. We handle noise complaints; make sure no one’s drinking alcohol in the pool etc.

Surrounding the apartment complex are clusters of trees. Some trees stand straight while others stand at an angle, having withstood the wind and time. At night the moon can be seen peeking through the trees. I look up as the moon announces itself as it did to my elders and ancestors an ocean away in a place whose songs and poetry travel though my veins, nourishing my spirit. In that moment my uniform disappears, I am brown, a man whose bloodline knows only resistance and love and poetry.

Then, a fellow guard approaches me, shows me a slingshot he bought. He is brown like me. He hands me the slingshot and I ask him what he uses it for. “I use it to shoot those birds” he says, “Those black ones”. I ask him if he’s referring to ravens and he answers in the affirmative.

I hand the slingshot back. I look at the moon and the trees that bend. Who would shoot such beautiful birds, those carriers of messages of the ancestors, I ask myself. I hear my uncle’s voice:

You might be my color but…