A Survivor of 25 years of Homelessness Joins the Ancestors

Uncle Brokin Cloud on his Self-made Bike from recycled parts- photo by Momii Palapaz

Listen and Watch LoveUary for Brokin Cloud here

By tiny

Brokin Cloud aka Billy Simpson Jr, an Afro-Indigenous Elder, was a warrior, revolutionary, artist, teacher and povertyskola, but above all he was a survivor. Non-profit industrial complex workers and anti-social workers as i call them, would consider and label Uncle Cloud as they did me and my houseless mama, "Service Resistant" which is just a way that the system describes houseless, traumatized, often severely disabled, medically fragile houseless people who refuse and resist the harmful, unsafe temporary fixes such as Navigation Centers, Emergency Shelters, Transitional Housing, cabins and so many more solutions for houseless peoples created about us without us.

Uncle Cloud, like many of us houseless and formerly houseless folks at POOR Magazine/Homefulness refuse those "resources" because they are dangerous places for vulnerable, barely holding on and residing on the street folks.

Uncle Cloud was an indigenous Black man and like so many poor peoples of color had lost his families home to the violence of white laws and white lawyers, aka foreclosure and bankkksters and his large family was scattered to the wind. Many of them never recovered from that loss.

Uncle Brokin Cloud struggled with severe trauma which manifested in the compulsive need to collect recycled trash, way more than he could ever manage or store or use, this is often referred to as Hoarder/Clutterer illness, yet another by product of decades of survival on the street and great loss experienced in your life. In any state or federal sponsored or funded "Housing project" he would have faced violations, criminalization and eviction, but Homefulness is informed by Poverty Scholarship (poor people-led theory of change and healing) so instead we launched a series of what we call Love Cleans, which supported Uncle Cloud to live in habitable living while we slowly worked with him to heal from the trauma of collecting and hoarding.

These are just some of the multiple strategies we povertyskolaz at POOR Magazine employ to care for each others severe trauma that never engages the State or the PoLice or other agents of fear as we know that triggers more trauma and pain.

After 25 years on the street, Uncle Brokin Cloud, like 24 other houseless youth, adults and elders found not only a home at HOMEfulness - he found healing, love , family, support, food, art, spirit, prayer, and hope.

Uncle Brokin Cloud moved into his own beautiful unit we called the Luxury SRO ( Single Room Occupancy ) at Homefulness in September of 2022 when the City of Oakland finally allowed us to open our beautiful homeless peoples solution to homelessness, On July 5th, 2025 at 7pm Uncle Brokin Cloud joined the ancestors from heart damage related to his decades long survival on the street. We are supporting his Blood family with Cremation costs and will hold an all Nations Ceremony in his honor tomorro, Sunday , July 13th at 3pm on the sacred land us houseless peoples call Homefulness in Deep East Huchiun - 8032 BlackArthur Bl (MacArthur) , Deep East Huchiun (Oakland)

LoveUaryFor Brokin Cloud aka Billy Simpson

by tiny gray-garcia

Sometimes the birds disappear

So that we can see our way out of here

Sometimes we get to touch the clouds

Sometimes Tonateu collides with Omayacan and the wind calms us down

Sometimes a coyote whispers

sometimes a story becomes a dream

In the shape of a man

Hello little sister

Sometimes trauma looks like love

Sometimes pain grips us tight like a glove

Sometimes waves talk to the moon and

Sometimes -once in a lifetime

 we r on the MOVE

There is a memorial made of clouds

In the shape of a bicycle

At the entrance to a revolution called Homefulness

Built by poor and houseless people

For poor and houseless people

Uncle Brokin Cloud brought it

With all of the things he brought

Broken tools, molded bread

magic , revolution and more bicycle seats than anyone could ever sit on

I know u are riding on one of your cloud chariots now Cloud

And we will miss u everyday

REST IN POWER BROKIN CLOUD

aka Billy Ervin Simpson

9/13/1954 - 7/5/2025

Listen to the LoveUeary here

Read the whole LoveUAry here