Search Results

By Audrey CandyCorn aka SistahSaveASoul January 5th, 2023 23 things to throw away in 2022, and the new year is here. 2023—how quickly has the time gone by. Starting back in March of 2020 the big Coronavirus hit, it seems like from that starting point time has sped up triple-time. 3 years have come and gone. My children, they are now towering over me. My youngest is 14 and my middle child is 19 and my oldest child WOULD BE 24. All 5 years apart, we’re all purging and growing in spirit. I often miss him. I'm learning how to let go of physical tangible relatable things…items. Items of my past lives stuffed and big black bags and brown paper boxes. Oh, but I've had a breakthrough. It started with a big black bag and the pile of stuff brought to the surface and centered in the middle of the floor of my living room. Every loose piece that my eyes could see I gathered. Obviously, these pieces needed a stationary place to be. Not strolled all over the place openly displayed, things had begun to get a little bit out of hand. All these items needed a place, a space of their own to be placed. Easier said than done. Well, I decided to pick 23 things to get rid of. Starting with: 1# all old papers 2# anything that was not legible 3# old make up 4# my tooth brush 5# old bra and panties #6 old clothing #7 old shoes #8 not working cords #9 old food in refrigerator #10 old cups #11 old plates 12# useless pens 13# dried out markers 14# manicuring pedicuring set 15# old appliances I don't use 16# outdated canned goods 17# tarnished fake jewelry 18# throw away holey bags of all kinds 19# got rid of books 20# old outdated faded purses #21 appliances with missing parts #22 old lotions #23 old nail polish It's taken some time to complete the task. But the day is here. It has come, ground zero has been broken. I'm ready for takeoff, the blessing in it all is the simple fact that there are some patterns that come with certain behaviors which pay tribute to the cause and effect. It wasn't until I realized the struggle I kept losing to over and over again. It was because I had no structure to the madness. I had a method that wasn't very functional. I needed a system, and one that worked... My mind was used to kind of getting it done however it got done, unorthodox and scrambled, yielding 100% to me and my effort to clean, to declutter, to unorder and to free myself. Piece by piece… It's been 3 years since coronavirus first hit—a lot has shifted and changed. The world As We Know It has catapulted into a new world, sliding into a one world order slowly but surely. Reading us of how we know life to be included in the way we clean. I took an oath, and I am determined to keep on with the keeping on of the mission: Of decluttering my home.

Presentamos RoofLessRadio PovertySkola Reporteros de Wood Street Commons Introducing RoofLessRadio PovertySkola Reporters from Wood Street Commons Las siguientes historias fueron creadas por nuevos reporteros de povertySkola en el taller de escritura callejera de POORmagazine en WoodStreetCommons - The following HERstories and Histories were created by new povertySkola reporters in the POORmagazine street-writing workshop at WoodStreetCommons Monte - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reporter My loss of family and now the threat of losing the community that has saved my life. Not sure what it will look like but I’m sure it won’t be a a good picture, for anytime the city comes to evict, they usually come with the cops and arrive without empathy or understanding. They come weaponized with one mission on their minds… to push and pull the destruction of what I call home and many call home. This places houses my family and friends. I will fight to keep the love, sustainability, and growth of the community. - Monte - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reportero Mi pérdida de mi familia y ahora la amenaza de perder la comunidad que ha salvado mi vida en. No estoy seguro de cómo se verá, pero estoy seguro de que no será una buena imagen, para cada vez que la ciudad viene a desalojar, suelen venir con los policías y llegar sin empatía o comprensión de. Vienen armados con una misión en sus mentes… para empujar y tirar de la destrucción de lo que yo llamo hogar y muchos llaman hogar. Este lugar alberga a mi familia y amigos. Lucharé para mantener el amor, la sostenibilidad y el crecimiento de la comunidad. John - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reporter The beeping noise over and over again. It stops, you all have five minutes to get what you can. After that all I see is dump trucks Caltrans workers, Highway patrol officers. My brothers and me and some groupies half dressed and fucking tired of moving every fucking week. over and over again. What the fuck! So now we all are across the street watching our camp site be destroyed! All our stuff again! being crunched up for what? Maybe because karma/ is a motherfucker and me and my brother are the best fucking bike thieves that ever lived. Maybe it’s god telling us to get right? maybe we are just the scum of the earth and thats that. No, thats not it. But For some reason today it feel like I’m back to square one. I need this shit to stop I need people to hear my brothers voices I need to know what the Fuck is going on in America. I need you to stop sweeping us I need the beeping to stop I need to know my life is not trash I need to know so that I can understand! I don’t care but I do CARE and I don’t understand why they don’t understand. - John - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reportero El pitido sonará una y otra vez sobre. Se detiene, todos tienen cinco minutos para conseguir lo que puedas. Después de eso, todo lo que veo son camiones de volteo, trabajadores de Caltrans, oficiales de la patrulla de carreteras. Mis hermanos y yo y algunos groupies de medio vestidos y follando cansados de moverse cada maldita semana. una y otra vez. ¡Qué mierda! Así que ahora todos estamos al otro lado de la calle viendo nuestro sitio de campamento ser destruido! Todas nuestras cosas de nuevo! ¿están aplastados para qué? Tal vez porque KARMA / es un hijo de puta y yo y mi hermano son los mejores ladrones de bicicletas que jamás haya vivido. ¿Quizás es dios diciéndonos que hagamos lo correcto? tal vez somos solo la escoria de la tierra y eso es eso. No, eso no. Pero por alguna razón hoy siento que estoy de vuelta a cuadrado uno. Necesito esta mierda para detener a Necesito que la gente escuche a mis hermanos voces Necesito saber lo que la mierda está pasando en Estados Unidos. Necesito que dejes de barrernos. Necesito el pitido para detener. Necesito saber que mi vida no es basura. Necesito saber para que pueda entender! No me importa pero sí ME IMPORTA y no entiendo por qué no entiende. Jon Sullivan (they/them) - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reporter That feeling of failure. that feeling of individual aloneness that comes creeping into my mind because of this capitalist system. Every time that I fail, get evicted, can't earn a living wage. The loneliness creeps in. The deafening roar of the system chews me up and spits me out without missing a step. But only recently have I learned that the capitalist system was designed this way. This fact brings me peace and has brought me into a community that has been effected in various ways. The poor people's community brings wisdom, care, and a deep desire for revolution. - Jon Sullivan (elle/elle) - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reportero Esa sensación de fracaso. esa sensación de soledad individual que viene arrastrando a a mi mente debido a este sistema capitalista. Cada vez que fracasa, me desalojan, no puede ganar a un salario digno. La soledad se arrastra adentro. El rugido ensordecedor del sistema me mastica y me escupe sin perder un paso. Pero solo recientemente he aprendido que el sistema capitalista fue diseñado de esta manera. Este hecho me trae paz y me ha traído a una comunidad que ha sido efectuada de varias maneras. La comunidad de personas pobres trae sabiduría, cuidado, y un profundo deseo de revolución. Jaz - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reporter Unguaranteed futures, part of me were safe an unexplained safety, a safety unpacked over time, a safety with a cost, a safety at the expense of others Parts of me unexplained to me parts that were unsafe Parts of me that I found in others because they had words for what I could not describe about myself but knew intrinsically something in my bone and spirit that did not quite fit in the world that those that mattered the most to me wanted me to live in. I danced in that world trying to get in tune with what it was that didn’t feel right What it was that felt cold, manipulative, empty, scared about what could be around the corner, empty kindness built on expectations that people believed without knowing why they believed, that they wanted me to believe but I could never justify Like why my father could slash my moms tires and still claim to be the victim like how he could throw shit at her and scream, but she was the “bitch” that he could throw my body around and turn around and say he loved me When I realized my fathers ways were a microcosm of the ways of the capitalist white world. I cracked open and released a flood that could seek out root systems of real love, tangible love, constant ever changing love, love not built on words nor merely actions but a love that just is. Love like a driving force that laughs in the face of greed because it has no need for it love that cries in the face of fear because it know it and flows thru it to treat it and heal it - Jaz - WoodStreetCommons povertySkola reportero Futuros no garantizados, una parte de mí era segura, una seguridad inexplicable, una seguridad desempaquetada con el tiempo, una seguridad con un costo, una seguridad a expensas de los demás. Partes de mí inexplicables para mí partes de que eran inseguras Partes de mí que encontré en otros porque tenían palabras para lo que no podía describir sobre mí mismo, pero sabían intrínsecamente algo en mi hueso y espíritu que no encajaba del todo en el mundo que los que más me importaban querían que yo viviera. Bailé en ese mundo de tratando de sintonizar con lo que era que no se sentía bien Lo que era lo que se sentía frío, manipulador, vacío, asustado por lo que podría estar a la vuelta de la esquina, bondad vacía construida sobre las expectativas de que la gente creía sin que supiera por qué creían, Que querían que me creyera, pero nunca podía justificar a como por qué mi padre podía cortar los neumáticos de mi madre y aún así reclamar ser la víctima como la forma en que podía lanzar mierda a su y gritar, pero ella era la “perra” que podía tirar mi cuerpo alrededor de y dar la vuelta y decir que me amaba. Cuando me di cuenta de que los caminos de mi padre eran un microcosmos de los caminos del mundo blanco capitalista. Me abrió y liberé un de inundación que podría buscar sistemas raíz de amor real, amor tangible, amor constante en constante cambio, amor no construido sobre palabras ni acciones sino un amor que simplemente es. El amor como una fuerza que se ríe en la cara de la codicia porque no tiene necesidad de ello El amor que llora en la cara del miedo porque lo conoce y fluye a través de él para tratarlo y sanarlo ti Johaniscapery A word is EXample OF truth but truth is our Action that Change Can happen if we Allowed our change to happen when speak truth The wow And for every A Lie can be our mistake but truth can be a A lot to those and Lie can be The word or many governing us all but if it hurts then let truth be that hurt today comes with Action and not but wants but be showing and one day we will be All Saved but will And not wants wants is not but seen through EYES that might get us killed but will is the need to DO and get it done and be that will it is Done bye Love. not but wt wants more and can will and round us all All but God will give all IF we can say care is a will not want and it need $ need can get us All kille but it more food bills to survive is a want to others out to me it is a will with our not or nothing. - Johaniscapery Una palabra es un ejemplo DE verdad, pero la verdad es nuestra Acción que el Cambio puede suceder si Permitimos que nuestro cambio sucediera cuando diga la verdad el wow y por cada Una Una mentira ¿Puede ser nuestro error, pero la verdad puede ser un mucho para ellos y la mentira puede Sea la palabra o muchos que nos gobiernan todos, pero si duele, entonces deje la verdad sé que duela hoy viene con Acción y no, pero quiere, sino que se muestra y un día seremos todos salvados pero seremos y No quereres quereres no es sino visto a través de OJOS que podría hacernos matar pero disponer es la necesidad de HACER y hacer It y ser que lo hará Está hecho bye Amor. No pero wt quiere más y puede y nos redondea a todos, pero Dios va dar todo SI podemos decir cuidado es una voluntad no quiere y necesita $ necesita puede conseguir todos matados pero es más comida bills para sobrevivir es un deseo de a otros para mí es un will con nuestro no o nada. ANONYMOUS Why doesn’t my family want to be around me? Am I that hard to get along with? Is my gluten free/shellfish free/msg free diet actually such an unreasonable ask at family gatherings? Are people just tired of hearing the truth? Or losing arguments to pure logic and verifiable facts? The thing that causes the most pain every single day of my life is not having my daughter near me. I spent the past five years in this spot and many years before that in other places doing anything that I thought would help me create a safe space where my daughter would be happy to be there with me, but no matter what I do towards the end it seems like all I can do is FAIL FAIL FAIL. And the worst part is not knowing why… why won’t she tell me about her important school functions? Why won’t she come to any party I invite her to? Why can’t she see me on a school night. ANÓNIMO ¿Por qué mi familia no quiere estar a mi alrededor? ¿Soy tan difícil de llevarse bien con? ¿Es mi dieta sin gluten/sin mariscos/sin msg realmente una pregunta tan irrazonable en las reuniones familiares? ¿Están las personas cansadas de escuchar la verdad? ¿O perder argumentos a la lógica pura y los hechos verificables? Lo que causa más dolor todos los días de mi vida es no tener a mi hija cerca de mí. Pasé los últimos cinco años en este lugar y muchos años antes en otros lugares haciendo cualquier cosa que pensé que me ayudaría a crear un espacio seguro donde mi hija estaría feliz de estar allí conmigo, Pero no importa lo que hago hacia el final, parece que todo lo que puedo hacer es FALLAR FALLAR FALLAR. Y lo peor es no saber por qué... ¿Por qué no me habla de sus importantes funciones escolares? ¿Por qué no viene a ninguna fiesta a la que la invito? ¿Por qué no puede verme en una noche de escuela?

Please join POORmagazine/Homefulness in signing this important letter of support for Wood Street Commons here as they face another eviction on Janurary 9th Image of previous evictions of Wood Street Commons Residents from Wood Street Commons Letter contents reposted from WoodStreetCommons (original link): ​DATE: 12/21/22 TO: The West Oakland community, its leaders, and any/all concerned individuals who have an interest in the threat that our community faces FROM: Wood Street Commons residents SUBJECT: STAND WITH WOOD STREET RESIDENTS—A SIGN-ON LETTER OF SUPPORT Hello, My name is Jessica Blalock, but I most commonly answer to “Freeway”. My husband, Joel, and I are residents of the Wood Street Commons, and today I am writing to you on behalf of our community. We need your help. Since 2018, the Wood Street settlement has blossomed as a place of refuge for many of Oakland’s unhoused citizens. The majority of us were displaced when the city conducted sweeps at other encampments. Through one avenue, or another, we found a home on Wood St. The numbers started small, then grew over the last few years. But something else grew as well, our sense of community and belonging. Throughout our time here, we’ve worked cooperatively with the city and various organizations, some of which have been commissioned to serve us. With every demand by these institutions, we have risen to the occasion and worked together to see that our proverbial side of the street was kept clean. However, despite the promises made by the powers that be, more often than not, our cooperation was ignored and our own needs and requests have fallen on deaf ears. We have watched, disheartened, as the land that we were once told we could be on, was suddenly snatched away from us, often with little or no notice. All too often, we’re left with very few, if any, of our belongings, and shuffled around from one plot of land to another like cattle with fear and intimidation, all too familiar tactics used to insure our cooperation. This grief was felt again most recently at the shocking news of the impending January 9th eviction. Is it such a coincidence that the day that our city is to celebrate the inauguration of our new mayor, Sheng Thao, is the same day as the evictions. We had been making such great strides before this eviction notice, such as: the bike ride to Sacramento to raise awareness of our fight here, the charitable peer outreach program, “Homeless Helping Homeless”, spearheaded by our own, John Janosko (ig: @woodstreetcommons), our community efforts and celebrations of triumph in City Hall, the recognition of our individual community members’ birthdays, our resource fairs, etc. We are human beings, no different than our housed counterparts. We are artists, activists, chefs, carpenters, teachers, students, caretakers–we have different strengths and weaknesses, and we don’t always see eye-to-eye. But when the chips are down and one of us is in trouble, we band together to pull that individual up. Now, it’s our settlement that needs the support of the greater Oakland community. We are citizens of this city too and as such we have basic rights. We aren't asking for outlandish requests to be honored. All we are asking is for the local government to make good on the promises they have not delivered. Promises which so far have been empty and unfulfilled. By signing your name in support of Wood Street Commons residents, you are showing our city that from this moment on We Stand United - housed and unhoused and the indifference that has preceded us until now is over. Desmond Tutu once said, “If you choose to be silent in the face of oppression, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” We cannot afford to wait any longer to have our voices heard. Everyday that passes is a day closer to the demolition of everything we’ve strived to achieve. Our deepest appreciation and gratitude in advance and may you and yours have a safe and festive holiday season. Sincerely, The residents of the Wood Street Commons Please sign up for our text alert system for updates and to stay connected. Text : wood to +1 (205) 354-6992 -- Please sign the letter of support for Wood Street Commons here

By Ziair Hughes In New York there is a lot of poverty just like in California. Almost on every block you will see someone houseless. Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, is “finding a solution to homelessness.” He has ordered many sweeps and has spent millions on police and sanitation workers. He also said he would put 171 million towards shelters— instead, it went to sweeps and more. But he's “helping” homelessness. On Tuesday we went to Caltrans to deliver our F.O.I.As ( FREEDOM OF IMFORMATION ACT) to find out the budget of these sweeps. Here are some of the speakers: “Are they housing people, are they feeding people?” said John Janasko (resident from Wood Street) when talking about Caltrans, referring to the sweeps that they’re doing. No, they are not feeding people or housing them, and we can obviously see that every time Caltrans interacts with encampments, they terrorize the residents by sweeping them, power washing and taking their belongings. “Caltrans has shown reckless negligence in their actions,” said Delphine. Caltrans says they only throw away trash, but a lot of Wood Street residents have lost important personal items such as, IDs, birth certificates, and wheelchairs from Caltrans moving carelessly. “In the sweeps I lost pictures of my daughter that I don't get to see,” said T.J Johnson from Coalition On Homelessness. This is an example of reckless negligence. poLice at Caltrans sweep of Wood Street residents The action at Oakland Caltrans is very similar to the actions of Mayor Adams of New York. He announced a plan to involuntarily remove mentally ill people from the city's streets and hospitalize those who cannot care for themselves, but some experts have expressed skepticism. Nobody should be forced to get off the streets and put into rehabs while having a mental illness. That, to me, is very evil. One of my teachers said, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink,” meaning you can give someone an opportunity but not force them to take it. New York is one of the most famous states in my opinion and it always attracts newcomers, now every state has a suburb/tourist area. New York has a couple places like that, and if New York has poverty and homelessness everywhere, that's not going to attract tourists. What Mayor Adams is doing is actually propaganda faking for the camera to push his agenda. Once again, all the money he put towards destroying and sweeping houseless people's homes could have at least gone to buying apartments/hotels and homes— that’s the real solution. Council members, mayors, and Presidents of all states try to overlook the solution when it’s in fact a very easy formula to help stop homelessness.

By Nija G. Caltrans workers on their way to evict poor people at Wood Street It’s a familiar experience for many unhoused people in the Bay Area: to leave their encampment for a few hours and return to find their tents, clothes, bikes, and family heirlooms taken or trashed. And this happens almost weekly. The police and Caltrans workers treat these homeless people like trash, spraying them with high-pressure hoses and things and putting their personal belongings in trash compactors. They feel like your stuff is trash and they will throw it away. Many people have lost important items such as IDs, birth certificates, SSNs, and other things. At the Freedom of Information action the academy did, John J. from Wood Street said, “They are not housing us. Instead, they sweep us from one side of the street to the other side of the street.” Sweeps happen very often depending on where the poor people are located in the city. There are a lot more sweeps happening because of the street cleaning and city complaints about trash and smells. Many of the residents that live near encampments talk about how the homeless people make their neighborhood look bad and how they deserve a cleaner California. But it's hard to have a cleaner Cali when the cost of food gets higher and people are being put out of their houses daily and rents are on the rise. John is a part of the Wood Street Community that got swept back in September. Wood Street Collective was home to many. The community has grown over the last 11 years. A huge piece of the encampment is gone. The encampment was spread over 25 city blocks and housed over 300 homeless people. I got to see Wood Street myself and it was a ghost town when I got there. No people, no art, no murals, just stuff in piles. Wood Street Collective was not just homeless people in one space together, it was a solution for everybody. One of the things that John J. said was that “Cal-Trans ain't here to help us even though they act like it.” Many people with the power to help are not. At the Freedom of Information action, Decolonize, Stolen Belongings, Collision Homelessness, and Wood Street members made a physical attempt to deliver a Freedom of Information Act because a lot of everyone's so-called heroes are hiding the truth from everyone. 29 Wood Street members from the encampment fought for a TRO against the agency, stating that the state would be putting them in danger by evicting them with nowhere to go. The state ordered Cal-trans to find shelter for the residents, then gave the okay for the sweep after only 40 local shelter beds were open, leaving 160 people on the streets with barely any of their stuff. One of the things happening right now that is causing homelessness in my area is the cost of the new homes that the city is putting up. The cost is too high compared to the old buildings. The new buildings are being built and the old ones are getting taken down, meaning that the people who originally lived there had to move out and were moved elsewhere, and most didn't come back because of the new high cost of everything, leaving them to their family or the streets.

An Origin Story by Tiny, daughter of Dee, povertyskola co-founder /visionary of Homefulness @povertyskola on Twitter and IG Decolonizing or dying? I mean how can we talk about just transfers and still b owning her while she b desecrated and yet we keep buying and selling and buying Mama earth is who I speak of Our great mama who like our mamas we only have one of Her purchase Your profit Leads to all these violent Evictions and sweeps that got us poor peoples dying From WinnaMucca to Wood Street to around the corner from 1st nations elders to grandmamas like Iris Canadá and Elaine Turner Buying selling renting and dwelling -if u po u lucky if u win the real esnakke monopoly end up housed instead of at the mercy of scamlords, poLice and more jailing If u worked all yo life to own yo spot -I ain’t mad at ya -it’s all we been taught Sold and told it’s what we shud attain jus to b safe in a krapitalist pyramid game that keeps poor people in chains breaking poor peoples backs grown on poor peoples labor and intentional poverty by the ongoing lie of private property Would u sell yo own mama ? Would u put her on the auction block Would u evict and sweep So u never have to see How much she got robbed, thawed, and bought What's the answer ? Clarifying the problem It's a complete stop to same ole same ole process Stop the Wealth hoarders so they can't steal and profit And tell the Philanthro-pimps don’t dole out yo blood-stained dollars Cuz they stop exchanging mama earth on the market Begins by questioning all you have bought All you have been sold and all u have been taught Fight for 1st Nations and Black land BACK Fight for no more hygenic metaphors about the poor Question the multiple lies of rent The scamlord and the poverty pimp The ones you pay to keep a roof The one Who gets paid to Help you while seeing your struggle as moot Fight for her - Your mama - our mama - our Mama Earth fight for her so we all stop this hurt Decolonizing Homelessness “A lot of us elders, disabled elders, who have been here for decades have been evicted and are now homeless,” said Jim Ayer one of many life-long 1st Nations residents of the Winnemucca Indian Colony which was “established” by the US settler government in 1917 for “homeless indians.” The Winnamucca tragedy which ended in the eviction of scores of long-time elder indigenous residents of the colony on December 2nd is sickeningly ironic as the "colony" is on land already stolen from 1st Nations peoples to make them “homeless” in the first place, and now in the 21st century, indigenous peoples from Turtle Island in many settler towns make up the majority of the unhoused population in their community. “200 years ago before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust at a powerful shellmound to shellmound walk from the over 5,000 year old shellmound in West Berkeley to the centuries old shellmound in Emeryville which the settlers and CorpRapeshuns turned into a mall. Poverty has been a consumer product of krapitalism since the settlers first came here, as a matter of fact poverty and disability was a crime in all the countries the settlers came from. So where did homelessness come from? Its origins are not, as many 21st century researchers will tell you, because of lack of rent control, redlining, violence, trauma or profiling, ableism, racism, eviction and gentriFUKation. Those are most definitely what has made homelessness go to terrifying epidemic levels. But these are NOT its roots and homelessness as we now experience it could not have taken hold had it not been for the original theft of Turtle Island, implementation of the deep Settler lie of private property to launch the real eSnake speculative industry and a multitude of extractive industries set up because of that original theft for profit, extraction and colonization. “I’ve been staying under the 101 offramp on and off for the last 5 years and then one day, they came and took all my belongings and threatened me with with guns if I didn’t leave,” said Rogelio G, an elder migrante houseless relative from Michoacan, Mexico, now residing houseless in San Francisco. So why are the origins necessary to clearly describe? Because it enables us to clarify what we are fighting against and fighting for while we recognize the violence of homelessness, including death from exposure, sweeps and poLice terror. The criminal acts called sweeps against houseless people's bodies are increasing from Seattle to San Francisco and they are directly tied to the commodification and decolonization of Mama Earth. Settler politricksters want us to be CONfused so we don’t question, upset and resist the original crime. So we don’t all recognize our deep connections to each other's struggles as houseless people, Black, Brown, Indigenous, migrante and even po Wite or what I call broken settlers. Instead we demand land from systems put in place by the settler government that will NEVER give us “land” because it was taken for the sole purpose of profit. We demand actual affordable housing, which will NEVER happen because then no-one would make money on that housing. We demand access to not be poLiced and incarcerated for sitting, standing, walking, sleeping on Mama Earth without paying ground rent, which will NEVER happen because we are taking up space without paying for it and therefore no-one is making any money on the spaces we inhabit- not to mention our mere presence “lowering property values” as we poor people are told by scamlords, realEnakes and racist, classist neighbors all the time. So as we resist the onslaught of violent criminalization and sweeps against our unhoused bodies all across this occupied land we need to incorporate the larger demand of decolonization. It’s not enough to fight against criminalization, we need to fight against the settler lie of ownership of mama earth itself. How is ownership of Mama Earth a lie? Well technically it’s not a lie, because ownership of mama earth happens everyday, everywhere and in occupied Turtle Island aka the US it is the most “solid” krapitalist investment there is, as reported by ekkkonomists constantly. But all indigenous peoples and ancestors across Mama Earth will tell you Mama Earth has not now, nor ever will be for sale, and selling, renting, profiting and extracting from her and off of her is the roots of most colonial terror we deal with today, including poLice terror, gentriFUKation/displacement and eviction violence and of course the endless laws created to criminalize poor and disabled people from being alive on her without paying money to someone, aka rent. The settler colonial narrative of ownership began way back with the Feudal societies creating papers and documents asserting that they owned indigenous people’s lands of origin in Europe, launching the idea of the landed gentry (the roots of gentriFUkation) and then suddenly charging people rent for the lands they had peacefully stewarded for centuries, this led to massive evictions and huge and deadly exoduses by people. One of the most famous examples was the wrongly named potato famine- it should have been called the scamlord famine because what is rarely talked about is it led to the eviction of literally hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples from their lands. Historians and others have long debated the exact number of people who were evicted during the Famine years, with some estimates suggesting between 250,000 and 500,000 families were removed. But the famine evictions were part of the second wave of deadly evictions -preceded by Pauper laws ( anti-poor people law) which of course was the precursor for the anti-poor people/anti-houseless people laws we have today in the United Snakes. Famine era evictions occurred in four great waves. Firstly, following the introduction of the Irish Poor Law Act in 1838, landlords began to remove tenants, ushering them to the newly created workhouse system where they were somebody else's problem. At those times, just like now, it mattered not if you were an elder, disabled, sick or a child, if you were in the way of profiting off of rent you were evicted. Period. Thrown on the street with the clear knowledge you might die. This kind of evil became the template for removal that was codified and exported into the genocidal style of land removal and land theft when the same wealthy slave and land-owner class came here to suddenly “own” Turtle Island. And then of course all these lies (I mean laws) led to the Ugly laws and the criminalization of being disabled and poor in so-called public, which was just another way to profit off of poor people’s bodies by throwing them in jail/settlement houses (the early forms of shelters which were supported by the settler governments again). The Public relations project called Parks As concerns about the impacts of development grew, and illegal land use by corporations expanded, a new idea emerged. A number of leaders including President Theodore Roosevelt, naturalist John Muir, and Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service, began to advocate for some of the lands in the public domain to be set aside for the use and enjoyment of all people. At the turn of the century, settler heroes like John Muir rode in with their lie of Parkkks, forest service, Teddy Roosevelt and the equally CONfusing lie of public land to wash their genocide, land theft, slaughter and extraction with supposed public good land grabs which was even more stolen land indigenous land mass across Turtle Island. The funny not funny thing about parks in today’s reality is several houseless folks hide and sleep and live in parks like me and my mama used to do, but god forbid don’t get “caught” by the park poLice who will not only tell you to move but also call the poLice, CPS, DPW, CalTrans and any other acronym state agencies on you to sweep us like we are trash . Similarly, with the hypoCrazy of parks, aka so-called public land, our comrades at Self-Help Hunger program (SHHP) are another ridiculous hypoCrazy example. The SHHP transformed a pocket park into a food giveaway, love and healing space, and was constantly harassed for using public land for the “public" good as founder Auntie Frances often beautifully says. The violence of homelessness itself and its connection to colonization Strangely, there is a misperception that movements for BlackLand, 1st Nations LandBack and Homelessness are separate. They are actually entwined in more ways than one. In many settler towns across Turtle Island, like so-called Bellingham and Seattle, the largest population of houseless people are in fact 1st Nations peoples of that land. In addition, in Oakland, like in so many settler cities, the largest population of unhoused peoples are Black and then finally in many cities, the broken settler stories, poor wite people are also huge populations of houseless people. Our lives intersect on the street, with all of our messiness, trauma and struggle. And that is why the roots of this krapitalist disease called “ownership” must be dissected and seen and decolonized. Do you see that houseless mama and daughter sleeping in a tent, that’s cause we don’t have money for the rent…. Povertyskola There are many reasons we got here, not the least of which is systemic racism, wite supremacy, fake-ass skool profiling, profiling, poLice terror, abuse, domestic violence and more trauma than can fill a settler dam, but the thing in this society that brings us all together, democratizes our struggle, is the inability to function within a system that puts a price tag on the Mama Earth below our feet, or our tent, to be exact, our inability to pay rent. Even if we lose our places because we had to flee an abusive partner, lost our job, got in struggle with addiction, can’t take the pain inside our heads, we are NEVER able to get back in. Sup. Matt Haney of San Francisco just put a legislation out that I thought was interesting, to cap the security deposit that scamlords charge to equivalent to one month’s rent. As it now is, it can be up to 3 or more month’s rent that these scamlords charge prospective tenants just to get inside, not to mention insane credit and job requirements that no-one low/no-income or houseless can EVER attain. But the oddest thing to me was that the example given in the report was a $5,000 per month 2 bedroom apartment. Who can afford $5,000 per month in the first place, even if we only have to pay one month’s rent deposit? Back in the day when me and mama were houseless, she would insist that my 12 year old self would don the “rent starter” suit and leverage my skin privilege to lie to scamlords about my job, credit, age and ability to pay exorbitant rents. Racism is alive and well in the United Snakkkes so they would often believe me instead of my single , disabled mama of color, about making ridiculous sums of money and having all kinds of credit. The sad part is within months no matter how hard we worked we couldn’t keep up the rent, and we worked REALLY hard all the time at a micro-business, and the rent at that time was between $800-1100 per month for studios and one bedrooms in Oakland and San Francisco. In the end landing us outside. Again. Solutions Not Sweeps action in so-called San Francisco Ownership is your ticket out of poverty In the process of decolonizing our minds from ownership, there remains the reality that “ownership” is told and sold to poor people as the “way to make it” out of grinding poverty. We are sent to workshops and bombarded with ads about how buying is surviving. I know this is true and I ain’t hating no-one that got their little piece of Mama Earth. But I also know that the system is set up to steal poor peoples land and homes. This is the story of Brokin Cloud, an afro-indigenous elder who was on the street for 15 years after his aunty lost the house she worked her whole life to buy, behind an unpaid tax lien. His aunty’s spirit was destroyed by all that and he as well, called “service resistant” by anti–social workers and case manglers. He is now finally home-FULL, in his rent-free home at Homefulness. Not to mention that thousands of elders are coldly and violently evicted, due to the vicious-ness of gentriFUKation, to their death, as POOR Magazine has reported for years. Eviction is Elder Abuse was a campaign POOR Magazine launched and was supported by many other organizations but was shot down by then District Attorney George Gascon. Finally, our homelessness and our homefulness is absolutely connected to our collective liberation and Mama Earth’s decolonization and this story is a plea to other povertyskolaz and badass organizers to join POOR Magazine in recognizing that Homelessness is much deeper than we have been fighting for and so our fight and resistance must be rooted in Mama Earth's beautiful soil. Our guides and our leaders must be 1st Nations/Indigenous ancestors and their descendents from Huchuin to Palestine from West Papua to Puerto Rico. And together we can UnSell and Unsettle Mama Earth for her and all of us. Homefulness #2

Today looking over the Bayview National Black Newspaper of San Francisco I find an interesting story that’s been plaguing the people in the Hunters Point area for years: the so-called cleaning this area up from all chemical waste. This was a naval shipyard for many years. Nuclear waste, chemical waste, you name it. The people in the Hunter’s point area have been suffering for years and years crying out to the leaders to clean this mess up and give reparations to the people in this area who have suffered from the chemical poisoning that they endured. To this day I don’t think that they have been compensated. The fight goes on while the city is telling the people that everything is 100% clean, well I just don’t buy that, so my people let’s talk about it. The youth in state prisons- the people of San Francisco have elected a new district attorney. Will he or she send the youth to adult prison? In my experience it’s not a good idea, adult prisons today are meant to punish not rehabilitate anyone.

By AudreyCandyCorn aka SistahSaveASoul December 15, 2022 Suicide. Coincidentally, the word was brought up on today and it was a topic that I had intended to discuss and so today it looks like we will be diving back into a topic that often coincides with mind over matter... This seven-letter word happens to be a new killer on the horizon of the backs of children and young adults. Now, we've known for it to lurk & manipulate its way around the circles of adults, BUT... Never before in history has this word been accepted. Most of the time this seven-letter word has been hiding in the closet and often the elephant in the room. Lately, people have been talking more and more on this topic. The bodies’ number count has risen to an all-time high. Recently, one of my younger family members unfortunately had the honor of comforting one of his peer’s mothers due to the youngster taking their lives... It's been one year. I remember when I first heard of the news and just like that a year has passed and the mother and family are forced to deal with their new reality. The loss to suicide... What a touchy tablet in a tobacco of a situation. Back in the early '70s people would say folks were possessed... Then in the 80s they said folks were crazy, In the 90s, the new way of thinking of it is mental illness... Now that we are in the 2000s, we understand it's an emotional crisis which entails possibly one or all of these circumstances... Most people are driven to suicide due to hurt and pain whether it be physical or emotional internal or outward. Over time we have come to understand that these are a few common factors of why one would want to end it... What I do find to be interesting is people are always shocked once the body is found limp and lifeless with or without a note attached depending on the fixation of the body. Professionals are always able to state the obvious... A suicidal mission complete. Loved ones are always left behind with the thoughts of “If I only had a sign or a clue.” Sometimes people do leave clues, others flat out tell you. The point is, who gets the help...? Is it an illness or a feeling...? Some people take to prayer, others take to pharmaceutical drugs... Some people take to both. Therapy isn't counted out. Often, people need to be counseled. Hell, some people are placed into an insane asylum/crazy house—the 51/50 nut house . In the worst-case scenario, death is always the ultimate established place set for those who unfortunately go through with it. It seems to me the pressures of the world are on so many people’s shoulders that we don't know how to cope. Our eyes and minds are filled with so much from day-to-day traumas, the spirit breaks. The soul is weakened, and a transformation takes place. The will to live no longer has a will to live... It's sad, the best gift of life is the fulfillment of living! Is life only full of misery and torment? Surely there must be more to life than trauma. Of course, this judgment is all in the eyes of the beholder, the one that's trapped in the body with the soul it dwells in... Suicide is on the rise, it has been riding the tide now for a very long time. Suicide is like a plague, a silent killer, and we don't have the antidote. There may never be a cure. Anyhow, there have been whispers that one might call mythical, however some are radical enough to give it a try. It's told to be a knockout concoction, a pair of three combinations which are: LISTENING , LOVING and DEDICATION to the NEED... This is the remedy, it's non-traditional and we all need it believe it!!! SoarTorianSoar

Holiday Arts Market and Knowledge Xchange Mercado de las artes navidenas y intercambio de conocimientos RAIN OR SHINE Sunday December 11 /Domingo 11 de diciembre 2-6pm 8032 BlackArthur (MacArthur) in Occupied Deep East Huichin (Oakland) On the sacred land us houseless peoples call Homefulness En la tierra sagrada que los pueblos sin hogar llamamos Homefulness Artists, Crafts, Poets, Music, Food, Houseless/Indigenous Poverty Skolaz/Prayer Bringers & Youth Performances, 1st Nations Danza Azteca & Ifa Prayer & More Artistas, Artesanos, Poetas, Musica, Comida, Sin Hogar/Indigena Pobreza Skolaz, Portadores de oracion y Actuaciones juveniles--1st Nations Danza Azteca y oracion de Ifa y mas

This is not the board game, monopoly, it is now New Work and California passed by a democratic governor. In New York, ex cop turned mayor just made the board game monopoly into reality for people with disabilities and in California governor Newsom added one more stop on the board and that is mental health courts. What makes this reality an update game is when you put on a virtual reality headset that you can transport you back into time where politicians, police and bureaucrats could just pick up a person with a disability if he/she/they/them were outside and brought to a mental hospital this was made into law called The Ugly Laws. However you take off the virtual reality headset to find out again this is not a game and it is not in the past. Welcome to 2922 where politicians don’t care about our civil rights and are pissing on the Olmstead Act and the newly grave of Lois Curtis! Don’t pass go, don’t collect two hundred dollars, go directly to a mental hospital or jail or be shot by police is the 2022 reality for mostly poor Black/Brown disabled people and like I said this is not new. In the 1980’s I, a Black physically disabled teenager, I was stopped by NYPD officers in Manhattan, NY who thought I escaped from a mental hospital. So today under a Black mayor we return to my youth and even further back to the ugly laws thus institutionalizing poor disabled people in the time of the Americans with Disabilities Act, so called Black Lives Matter, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. But we want to talk about Black celebrities. Remember Allen Moye, a Black blind man in Harlem, NY. who was just standing outside of a store and was stop and frisk by NYPD for now reason back in September 2010 well he took the Stop & Frisk policy to court. From the August 30th/2013 article in the Chicago Defender newspaper it reports as follows: “Moye’s suit is the first after Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin recently ruled against stop and frisk. Her decision noted that the department routinely performed “unconstitutional stops and conduct[ed] unconstitutional frisks” that targeted young Black and Hispanic men. Her decision came after a class action lawsuit against the city by the Center For Constitutional Rights, which brought victims of the policy and NYPD whistleblowers to center stage. She ordered a federal monitor to oversee the department’s stop and frisk policy. Her ruling also made it easier for New Yorkers to sue the city if they feel they’ve been unfairly stopped and searched.” I bring up Allen Moye to show you that once again Black disabled people are the one target by politicians when they pass harmful policies that are carried out by police. Here in California activists especially houses and mental health action know the history of anti poverty, anti houseless that Galvin Newsom continues to run on and helped implement from Care Not Cash when he was mayor of San Francisco to now establishing a mental health court system that will have the same affect to what Mayor Adams just done in NY aka Don’t pass go, don’t collect two hundred dollars, go directly to a mental hospital. Like I said this is nothing new in early 2000 I wrote an article against force treatment bill in California assembly. The concept of force treatment have always been tossing around in our local government and it never dies from my youth experience on the street of Manhattan, NY to today Mayor, Eric Adams, recently is “ordering police and emergency services to more aggressively hospitalize those with mental illness who are on the streets, even if the hospitalization is involuntary and they pose no threat to other people.” This is coming from a Black mayor who recently talked about his learning disability matter of fact also Governor Gavin Newsom also came out with his learning disability both men have dyslexia ummm. Both men have redesign the monopoly board game in real life with their policies and given power to police and so called Care Courts to do one thing and that is to continue to lock up poor people with disabilities majority people of color. By Leroy F. Moore Jr. 12/4/22

By Israel/Por Israel (Scroll Down for English/Hacia abajo para Inglés) Yo escuché en los medios de las noticias amarillistas muchas cosas que debe hacer la población latinoamericana en el país de USA. Si el país No América cómo muchos suelen decir bueno en estas publicaciones se dicen que el latino americano viene a este país a robar él trabajo de “Los Americanos” y que somos ilegales. También que somos un tipo Como basurita pero nunca dicen el otro lado de la moneda, que en este país las personas que trabajan supuesta mente o ingresa legalmente pero nunca dicen que también pagamos tax y mucha de esa gente no hacen su w4 y el gobierno no tan gentil y honesto para decir en dónde está ese dinero que personas trabajadoras con tantos años de dedicación a este país han dejado parte de su vida y donde está ese dinero o en qué gasto cómo podríamos saber en qué se usa o en qué bolsillo se cayó o de quién era esos bolsillos o a al político le pregunto si tienen una respuesta por favor suscribirse prensa pobre y así contribuyen a la liberación de nuestras gentes y nuestra madre tierra que tanta falta nos hace. (English/Ingles) I heard in the tabloid news media many things that the Latin American population can do in the country of the USA. If the country is not America its not one where we can prosper, or thats what is told in these publications. they say that Latin Americans come to this country to steal the work of the “Americans' ' and that we are illegal. Also that we are a type of garbage but they never say the other side of the coin, They talk alot about how illegal we are but never say that we also pay taxes and many of those people do not do their w4 and the government is not so kind and honest to say where that money goes. That hardworking people with so many years of dedication to this country and even have left part of their lives, where is that money, how could we know what it is used for or in which pocket it fell into or whose pockets were lined. I ask the politician if they have an answer. please subscribe to poor magazine as soon as you can and thus contribute to the liberation of our people and our mother earth that we need so much.

(ESPANOL/SPANISH) Hoy Fue un Dia muy Bueno, Porque al final sí se pudo seguir el sueño de las personas con Incentivo a crear historia en los Estados Unidos. Las personas que tuvieron la dedicación y la confianza en sí mismos. Para demostrar al sistema que tantas veces ha tratado de controlar a las personas con recursos limitados, Osea nosotros, los pobres. Les enseñamos a la gente dentro el poder del gobierno que con dedicación y tuvimos el honor de demostrar que nosotros, los pobres, hicimos algo que Ustedes, los que dirigen y que supuestamente han tratado de crear por años. Y aun con todo el dinero que tienen, hasta hoy día no se vio algo como Homefulness. y ese es el espíritu de la gente pobre. Este proyecto es creado por la gente pobre para la gente pobre. Sin Ayuda del gobierno amarillista del cual dice que quiere ayudar pero lo que hace en realidad es chingar y subestimar a las personas pobres y trabajadoras. USA no tendría todo lo que tiene sin el apoyo que nosotros les damos. Claramente esta que la madre tierra tiene que ver mucho en este relato y como nuestros antepasados nos enseñaron y nos dejaron una sabiduría, que dice todos coludas o todos rabones. Y así fue como Mama Dee incluyó a su hija y su hija incluyó a todas las personas como yo. Nos ayudó a no ser seguidores pero líderes y hacer valer a todas las personas como lo que somos, Personas. y saber tener confianza en uno mismo. No cómo lo que te hacen creer en las escuelas que hará como no pudieron de otra manera hacernos a cómo ellos quieren. y no nos quieren quitar las escuelas pero ni así nos podrá quitar porque nosotros traemos la sabiduría de nuestros antepasados y eso ustedes nunca lo entenderán y nunca sabrán el secreto de cómo trabajar las tierra sin venderla y no solo es dinero en esta vida porque cuando pasas a ser parte de la madre tierra la tierra no te cobra ni una moneda. La madre tierra como todos nuestras madres nos toma de regreso no importa que mal nos portemos y nunca nos dicen no. (ENGLISH/INGLES) Today was a very good day, because in the end it was possible to follow the dream of the people with the incentive to create history in the United States. The people who had the dedication and self-confidence to show the system that so many times has tried to control people with limited resources -- I mean us, the poor. We taught the people inside the power of government with dedication, and we had the honor of showing that we, the poor, did something that you, those who lead, have supposedly tried to create for years. And even with all the money they have, to this day, nothing like Homefulness has been seen. And that is the spirit of poor people. This project is created by poor people for poor people. No Help from the tabloid government that says it wants to help, but what it really does is screw and underestimate poor and working people. The USA would not have all that it has without the support that we give them. It is clear that mother earth has a lot to do with this story and how our ancestors taught us and left us a wisdom, which says all tailed or all tailed. And that's how Mama Dee included her daughter, and her daughter included all the people, like me. They helped us not to be followers, but leaders and make all people count as what we are, People. And knowing how to trust oneself, not what they make you believe in the schools, which will act as if there is no other choice but to make us how they want. And they want to take away our schools, but they won't be able to take that away from us because we bring the wisdom of our ancestors. They will never understand that and they will never know the secret of how to work the land without selling it and how it's not just money in this life. Because when you return to be part of mother earth, the earth does not charge you a single coin. Mother Earth, like all our mothers, takes us back no matter how badly we behave and she never tells us no.