¡Guillermo Presente!
By Con Amor Jas and Tiny Garcia (aka Poverty Skola)
February 19th, 2024
Last Monday evening, February 12th, 2024 over 50 people gathered at 24th Bart Plaza’s SW
corner to pay respects to Guillermo who recently died at the age of 78. Unfortunately, Guillermo lost his housing over a month ago and was struggling to find work in construction as he was living homeless on the streets. A friend of Guillermo’s said he was last seen shirtless around the Bart Plaza at 2am, in which later that morning SFFD confirmed he was found dead at 7:45am, when the temperature was still in the 40s. The beautiful stencils used to honor Guillermo were created by Jaz Colibri, a resident and organizer of Wood Street Commons.
Another life lost at the hands of state sanctioned violence..
In Guillermo’s last weeks he was struggling to even find places to use the restroom, to get around, to find work, he lost his housing just recently, he literally was left to die on the streets. His friends helped him as much as they could but we know there is only so much when there really is no further support. Everyday is a sweep, waking up to a power wash, everyday he had to find a place to just rest. What if all these empty buildings became homes, how many people could still be alive, could live.. and heal?
I want to speak to all the people judging from the comfort of their homes, this is your problem too, stop fighting the poor and help in fighting poverty. Stop calling the police and stop replacing people with your planters. Redistribute to the community you’re profiting off. Your discomfort is nothing compared to those outside, nobody should have to live and die like this.
Everyone deserves housing and to atleast be treated like a human being.
Homelessness isnt just going to go away. We need eachother and redistribution towards our real needs not more policing, not more fencing, not more sweeps, not closing off public space, not more fees, not more barriers & bans that keep us further away from life & closer to death.
That’s all the system has for us tho, so no more waiting or depending on them mi gente, we keep us safe. We must urgently start doing our part and creating collectively.
We mourn in love and action.
Rest In Peace Guillermo.
Con Amor Jas
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Evicted , Swept and kicked cuz settler towns like this
Don’t give a shit
These aren’t tiny homes - these are tiny Tombs-
6x6 boxes cuz gente pobre aren’t listened too
SolutionsSolutons they call it
Death, terror and incarceration
We saw it
We had dreams, we had love
We had comeUnity called
Wood Street Commons, Aetna Street
24th street Plaza….
“Guillermo was one of the sweetest men I had ever met, we will never forget him,” Maria X, a young houseless resident of Mission Street Plaza whispered through tears about Guillermo, a 78 year old elder who transitioned to the spirit world last week while sleeping houselessly in occupied Yelamu, (SF)
Through the intense cold and hard rain, poltricksters and poLice continue to terrorize us with more and more anti-poor people lies (i mean laws) that make it illegal to sit, stand, or live while houseless. Not to mention the violence of “sweeping” humans like we are trash, which they do multiple times per day if you dare to try to rest.
In cases like Guilermo, a Salvadoreno elder, already crossing false colonial borders to be in this occupied land to work as a humble care-giver for the protected settler class of wealth-hoarders, washing their dishes and caring for their babies, we have no place to rest, much-less sit.
Violent architecture, spikes, gates, rocks and planters costing thousands and sometimes millions of dollars are installed so poor people can’t rest. Even in Death.(Luis Gongora Pat’s altar was destroyed and gentriFUKEd “planters” desecrate his humble space where police murdered him in 2016 on Shotwell street. All these blood-stained dollars spent on violently removing us instead of housing us.
Mama Earth is NOT for Sale- Madre Tierra no Se Vende
Mama Earth are commodities to be bought and sold for profit. Our lives only matter for as long as we are able to be productive servants and then when we face crisis or get sick or our minds and hearts get weary from the endless racism, classism and struggle, we end up unable to pay their exorbitant ransomransome for a roof (Rent) and get evicted.
Now we are houseless, subject to their poLice terror, and unending criminalization and harassment and teror by poLice.
Now we are dying. Grandfathers, Abuelitos, Abuelitas, Aunti’s , Tias, Tios, fathers and Mothers, Warrior elders like Guillermo, Luis Temaj, Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, Tyrell Wilson to name a few in the occupied Ohlone Bay. Mike Flo, Anjileen “Green Eyes” Swan in occupied Tongva (LA), we are dying from their hate.
Free stores, ComeUnity kitchens
We need to lift the violence of “ownership off of Mama Earths tired back
We have poor people-led solutions
That have nothing to do with their blood-stained cash
Survivors , poverty skolaz
Held up with love from other broken hermanos y herman@s
Who knew the pain of being alone
When u have no home
When u have no love
When u constantly forced to roam… excerpt of for Guillermo by tiny
And yet this is the plan. As i write this new LIEgisltions are being put into settler “law” that crimialize our bodies even more for the sole act of being alive while houseless on occupied land.
From Poltricksters like London Breed their five Liegilations on the ballot giving more money to PoLice to harass, kill, terrorize and incarcerate our houseless bodies.
I was housesless in the mission for many years- sometimes the cold would get so bad we coulnt feel out manos, “ said Israel Munoz, POOR Magazine povertyskola at a humble ceremony for Guillermo held on Monday night organized and co-sponsored by Mission Defense and POOR Magazine.
Mama Earth is NOT for Sale/Madre Tierra No se Vende
I scream this out to the small crowd gathered for Guillermo, hoping the ancestors will hear, hoping the animas and espiritus can walk with us to liberate Mama Earth and all the mamaz. To unchain Mama Earth from this voilent commodifying so our elders and babies can be safe, so housing can be free, so roofs can available. So we can manifest our own settler-free solutions Solutions like Homefulness, a homeless peoples rent-free solution to homelessness that we houseless folks walking along-side conscious housed folks with resources are *mamafesting right now in Occupied Huchiun (Deep East Oakland) with permission and guidance from 1st Nations relatives of this land.
Mama Dee and me were houseless for years en la mision. Our solutions were created by each other, poor and houseless, indigenous peoples at Prensa POBRE. Gente working together interdependly, with ancestors to build our own solutions that actually take care of us. Not kill us.
Conclusion
We would like to thank all groups who attended last Monday who paid respects for Guillermo:
@poormagazine
@muteado_silencio
@missiondefence_sf
@foodnotbombs_sf
@woodstreetcommons
@zesty_m3ss
Please also watch our closing video of @muteado_silencio speaking about the violence our homeless community suffers on a regular basis.
Guillermo Presente. Siempr
Additional Quotes from Monday:
“To be in some of these shelters, where they police you, where they tell you when to come in and leave; this is why a lot of our paisanos are not in these shelters. This is also violence that Guillermo had to sleep here.” -Miguel Muteado Silencio
“This is part of the violence, genocide program that the government inflicts upon us. It’s homelessness, it’s COVID-19, it’s fentanyl, its incarceration, and depopulation; rest in power to Guillermo. We need to stick together and rise up. Ometeotl” - Aztlan Press
“Guillermo was one of the sweetest men I had ever met, we will never forget him,” Maria X, a young houseless resident of Mission Street Plaza whispered through tears about Guillermo, a 78 year old elder who transitioned to the spirit world last week while sleeping houselessly in occupied Yelamu, (SF)
“ We met in the 80s and he’s been like my father ever since, we took care of eachother”
- Roberto
“ What I want people to remember about him is how happy he was even though he was suffering, he celebrated life”
- Jesus
