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When I hear the word scholar, I imagine a specialized scientist, writing on a scroll with ink and quill, and everything looks like a renaissance painting. But what is it actually to be a scholar? What is Scholarship? In the last couple years that I have been part of a poor magazine, participating in Deecolonize Academy, summer programs, eventually living there and the youth mentorship I learned a lot. Many ideas and beliefs I was implanted with were challenged and now I walk with a different perspective. One of the most crucial concepts I learned was the idea of Poverty Scholarship. This concept challenges the mainstream idea of scholarship and it acknowledges the experience and knowledge people in struggle have. Growing up in poverty is a constant fight for survival, crucial things like food, shelter, heat, and clothes are uncertain and coming and going. But all those who have lived and experienced this know it all too well. Homelessness specifically is one of the harshest forms of poverty. A lot of times people dealing with homelessness can’t go to school or study for certain trades because of reasons like, they won’t be accepted, no house to change or bathe, or just simply too busy surviving, looking for food and shelter. This means a lot of people get called and labeled as incompetent or illiterate. When I read and learned more and more about the Poverty Scholarship poor people led theory. All these ideas got flipped on their head to me. The book speaks on how everyone has knowledge, how experience is one of the best teachers and people in struggle sometimes ain’t got nothing but experience. Instead of being labeled “ poor people '' or “the homeless people” this book and concept changes all those labels to teachers, construction workers, healers, artists, engineers, writers, poets and much more. When one is in these situations of survival, adapting and learning is crucial, being creative is important. Very early on when I had just joined Poor magazine, we were doing Roofless Radio. Which is when we go out to housers communities to give out food and write workshops. We help people get their story out in their own terms and words. One thing I remember while listening to these people's stories and situations, was that these people are anything but stupid, dumb, lazy, illiterate or any other stereotypes that are placed on houses people. While I had grown up (up to this point) I had mainly heard all the hate and stereotypes that housless people get but I had never heard their perspective or stories. And just doing that alone with teach you a lot. I could have never guessed how much I would grow from just listening to someone tell their story. All this is Poverty Scholarship. Our stories are experiences passed thru words, and experiences are knowledge. This is why it’s important to have a media platform like Poor magazine, where people who are usually silenced and unheard have a place to express and teach. Without having to worry of their words being manipulated or changed. We are all scholars, experience teaches so we all have knowledge. We are all human, all individuals with ideas, feelings and opinions, no one more than the other. It’s been four years that I have been part of Poor Magazine, because of Poor, I have grown as a person, my perspective has been widened and beliefs solidified, I have nothing but respect and gratitude for everyone is the community and hope to repay all that has been given to me.

Mark Rivera had won the day against the City of San Rafael. 72 hours before the City Manager had ordered all camping to be prohibited at Falkirk Cultural Center. Sergeant Cleland of the San Rafael Police Department had posted a Notice to Vacate on his home - his tent where he has lived for the past three years by the Falkirk Cultural Center for Marin. The Notice threatened to arrest Mark and his property. I had come to Mark’s spot just a few hours after the notices had been posted. We looked it over, and saw on the notice that “shelter referrals” were being offered by the City. We called the number, and got a voicemail of Lynn Murphy saying she would be out on vacation until August 7th. Mark indicated to me that he was going to make a stand, and he wanted as many people with cameras and reporter to come on Monday to bear witness. I agreed, and suggested we also seek a restraining order in US District Court. Immediately, we started on working on the lawsuit. Within 48 hours, we completed the lawsuit, along with an ex-parte motion for temporary restraining order with a single declaration from Mark. The complaint and restraining order was focused. Mark, who is a survivor of two strokes, suffers from anemia, and a complex form of malnutrition induced dementia relied on the water, shade, and nearby bathrooms by the Falkirk Cultural Center to survive. Under the Fourteenth Amendment State Created Dangers Doctrine, putting Mark’s life in danger would be unconstitutional. We also challenged the anti camping ordinance. Mark had been threatened with arrest for living outside when no other shelter was available in violation of the Eighth Amendment under the Ninth Circuit Case Martin v Boise and Johnson v Grants Pass. There were also claims under the American with disabilities act, and breach-of-contract because Mark had lived at Falkirk for 3 years clearing the grounds and watering the plants with a good relationship with the manager there. On Sunday, we emailed the lawsuit to the City of San Rafael. I served it at the clerks office at 8:30. Jason Sarris drove over to the US District Court House in Oakland, and right when the courts opened filed the lawsuit. ABC 7 News was covering the story and their television van was parked in the parking lot. Around 11:30, City Officials Chris Hess and Mel Burnette appeared at the camp with the television cameras glowering over them. They had no offers of shelter or housing. They did not have any guidance for other places to camp nearby. They had nothing to mitigate the danger they were placing Mark in. In spite of that, they still said unless the court issued a restraining order they would go through arresting Mark and his property if he did not leave around 12pm. Thankfully, the Court Room Deputy Clerk for US District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers called at 12:05. He said the “TRO will issue”. We informed Chris Hess and Mel Burnette, who then left. By 1pm, the restraining order was posted on the docket of the lawsuit, and we printed copies to post onto Mark’s tent. This was the fastest restraining order I have ever seen issue. Within three hours an entire City had been stopped. A hearing is scheduled for next week to see if the restraining order will be expanded into a preliminary injunction.

There is a 70 year old pipeline owned by the foreign oil company called Enbridge that runs through the Great Lakes in so-called Michigan. The water from the Great Lakes makes up 21% (over 1/5th) of the world's fresh water. “An elder once said that by the year of 2030, water was going to be more valuable than gold.” said Hadassah GreenSky to us youth and adult povertyskola reporters at Po Peoples Radio 96.1fm. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources started issuing licenses for the oil pipe-line 3 to cross the public water to run oil through the pipe causing more damage to sea life and Mama Earth, also The Anishinaabe tribal lands. This Enbridge oil pipeline is past its due date and Enbridge wants to use the pipe again and they have taken this to federal courts. “They have so much money and they are promoting the pipeline on the ads and on commercials like it doesn't benefit them at all,” added Hadassah. This pipeline 3 is going to ruin the water for the Anishinaabe fishing tribe. This pipeline is going to have no gain for the people. This pipeline goes through both of the tribes on each side and their rivers go up and down going 180 during this pipe. They tryna rebuild an oil pipe that can leave a big oil spill that could contaminate all sea life. This pipeline is destroying Mana Earth and polluting the water where the tribe lives and it mostly affects the indigenous people who live there that use that water for everything for themselves and for the community. Water is so important because we all need it. Us humans can't make water only Mama Earth can, so we should watch how we treat Mama Earth. Nowadays It is becoming more and more difficult to get a cup of water and some places don't even have lakes or rivers. I'm scared that we might not have water for the community or for society because we are not being careful of Mama Earth instead humans and corporations are being greedy and corrupt, damaging Mama Earth where there is no water for our future. Water is life and makes everything possible. Hearing Hodassah’s story was very powerful for me as a low-income youth of color living in West Oakland. I never even knew about the struggle for water. I hope more youth realize this is our future and we need to stand up, or we will all end up dying of thirst .

In 2018 a new program called Urban Alchemy was implemented in the city. Urban Alchemy (UA) presented themselves as a group made for the purpose to get people off the street, stop drug usage and overdoses and to mediate and defuse violent interactions. Nowadays 5 years later, there are lots of UA “practitioners” patrolling and posted all over Downtown San Francisco, more specifically in the tenderloin. However, some people would argue that they are causing more harm than good. Just recently on July 20th, 2023 a video was recorded showing an urban alchemy employee flashing an alleged knife or baton to a housless person sitting in the street. Regardless of what it was, having any weapon as an employee violates policies that UA have and it contradicts statements they make: “So far, we’ve engaged in over 6,000 de-escalations that kept the community safe without police involvement.” being one of them. “What I heard was a bunch of yelling that alerted my attention, so then i just started recording, and then this guy he just pulls something out, i didn't even understand what i was recording at that time, within minutes I realized this guy had a machete, he pulled it out of his pants” explained Charles, a poverty skola and longtime POORMAGAZINE family member who is currently housless and who recorded the video that got published in many places including sf chronicle. While i was searching online for more info on this incident i ended up running into countless articles on incidents caused by Urban Alchemy, some examples were, Guns being shot by UA, sexual assault allegations, and lots of stats arguing against their efficiency. I was surprised cause in the media they are shown as a solution to homelessness, apparently they house people. “Urban Alchemy has been an invaluable partner in keeping our city safe, clean and welcoming for all. Every day Urban Alchemy's workers are out on the streets providing essential services and support for so many in our city, and we appreciate their continued partnership in bringing out the best of San Francisco.” said Mayor London breed Some Urban Alchemy staff members did drugs on the job and sexually exploited homeless females, according to more than 10 current and past residents of the Sausalito camp who spoke to the Pacific Sun. “It sounds good on paper,” says Couper Orona, a street medic who was homeless in San Francisco from 2016 until recently, but the reality is that UA is “another Band-Aid instead of fixing the actual problem” of homelessness. “It’s a security force that can bully people into doing what they want—but it’s OK because it’s not the police.” Earlier this year, Orona sat down with Kelsey, an unhoused man who had spent time living in a tent city run by UA next to the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library, for the first of a series of video interviews with unhoused individuals to record stories of Urban Alchemy’s maltreatment of unhoused people in San Francisco. “The guards are constantly making it hard on us living there,” Kelsey says on camera. “They steal from us. If anyone tries to speak up, like I’m doing, they bully us. There’ve been accounts of violence against people from the workers.” Some people argue it's just the individuals. Like the bad apple in a good batch metaphor. But really in my opinion it's a flawed system. It is good how Urban Alchemy hires people who were previously incarcerated. Most of them dealt with really long sentences. But when u get people who are fresh out the cage, which is a very violent and traumatizing environment where one is in a constant state of survival, and put them institutions where they are dealing with more traumatized people in struggle dealing with extreme poverty things will pop. especially since Urban Alchemy doesn't actually do any training in situation defusing, unarmed defense or grappling techniques, psychology or really anything that would help in those incidents. We are constantly sold and given these “solutions" when in reality UA, DPW, “affordable” housing and other forms of these programs and organizations are not solving anything. The sweeps DPW do arent house anybody, in fact it destroys the little bit of shelter people built. The bullying and abuse UA perpetuates to people in struggle and dealing with homelessness is another form of a not solution. All these affordable houses that keep coming up are way above any sense of affordability. Which is why Poor Magazine, a media organization run and created by poor/Houseless /Black/Brown /Indigenous people, started Homefulness. Homefulness is a landless/homeless peoples solution to homelessness. Housing that doesn't charge rent, a community that holds each other in respect and accountability and a place to heal from our addictions and traumas. All this is done without city funding or grants. Resources come from people with privilege and wealth redistributing what they have. This happens by teaching people in better financial situations what its like to struggle. The Untours that we do here in Poor Magazine are one of the ways we spread our teachings and stories. The Stolen land/Hoarded Resources Tours, loosely based on the Bhoodan Movement of India launched by Vinoba Bhave who walked through India asking wealthy "land-owners" to gift their land to landless peoples will be sharing a similar vision with SF poltricksters, akkkademik land-stealers & wealth-hoarders who are planning to evict thousands of Houseless mostly disabled, majority Black and Brown elders who are currently residing in motels onto the freezing San Francisco streets ( and 500 residents) four days before the holidaze. "Leadership requires making space for everyone. In a time of COVID on Winter Solstice, Mayor Breed is attempting to turn people out onto the streets without a plan in place. Creating the further dehumanization of people by not acknowledging them as fellow human beings. During these eight months of shelter in place, the leadership had time to create an alternative to the hotel vouchers, if they truly wanted to "fix" the problem. There are no new shelters, no-income/low low income housing built. There is no plan... The worst kind of Grinch, the mentality that was taught out of colonization...Colonization created poverty/Greed and homelessness. Facism creates laws that throw away other human beings and US Hastings is acting just as the royalty and gentry that use laws to sweep away human made conditions. Breed and Hastings Law school are on the wrong side of history. Leaders should create a better way for ALL not create more destruction," stated Corrina Gould, Indian People Organizing for Change. While she connects early versions of colonization to our modern problems and struggles. Specifically in the San Francisco area, she also critiques london breed for prioritizing public image and money spending instead of creating or supporting actual solutions to these issues. As poor people we know what we need and how to help ourselves. We dont need anyone to save us, we need to be heard, listened and looked at as leaders, and people with knowledge.

Theater of the POOR free workshops starting! Create your own theatre for healing, life, and change. The workshops start July 30 at noon and run for 4 weeks. Location: Redstone Building 2940 16th St San Francisco Theatre of the POOR/Teatro de los Pobres -a project of Poor Magazine- begins its free workshops for low/no-income/Houseless survivors of the ongoing war ON the poor.

By tiny, and Youth PovertySkola reporters Zion, Tiburcio, Gerry, King, Ziair, Ru, Akil, Amir and Gabino Eviction Moratorium for Mama Earth - To truly liberate her from her paper dollar worth Eviction Moratoriums = Forever Houzin can weave a different story For the mom and pop landlord class who have been told and sold the lie of buying mama earth with cash support then with resources so they can pay their occupied land taxes How bout a moratorium on Mama Earth The end of seeing her for how many paper dollars she is worth No some of us can’t function in the increasingly unjust Hamster wheel Forcing us to steal Looking for the WalMart deal Closing brick and mortar jobs every second of every day- Roboting and AI’ing our paychecks away So how bout the trillionaire class who makes cash on our broken backs Support permanent safe housing that forever lasts How bout all the next door haters who don’t want to see our homelessness Support us to live without the lie of rent ? You say you want to end the “homeless problem politrickster?- then don’t end the Eviction Moratorium, securing safe housing for ever for us with no end…tiny/povertyskola “Mama what is rent,? My five year old sun came home from school one day and saw the notice first. $700.00 rent increase effective July 1, It was a pink sheet of paper with black lettering taped to the front door of our rented house we called MamaHouse in the Mission district of San Francisco. I had launched MamaHouse, as a safe home for me and other houseless, no-income single mamas and children where we would support each other with child care, resources and love. My Sun was too young to understand what that notice meant but knew that something was wrong. I sat down and cried. It was already too much. My loca vida with eviction came back to me as I tracked the impending end of the eviction moratoriums in all the cities that still had post-pandemic moratoriums in place. Cities like Oakland and San Francisco who are expecting literally thousands of people to be added to the already thousands of houseless people in these cities. “I am houseless now, after they ended the eviction moratorium in Alameda, I trid to make payments, i applied for all the federal aide, but i got long covid and i can’t work, im probably living in this trailer for the rest of my life, if they don’t arrest me, that is, “ said Carol D, who wanted to remain anonymous because she hopes to get into an apartment somewhere and after the eviction moratorium got evicted by her landlord. Evictions stay on our records as tenants, making it even harder to get inside when you outside. Carol is one of over 243 new evictees who just became officially houseless after the eviction moratorium in Alameda county expired on April 29th of this year. To lift up this terrifying situation POOR Magazine’s Youth Leaders in our Summer program at Deecolonize Academy, who have all struggled with housing insecurity or homelessness, decided to launch one of our WeSearch Projects about how many more people will become houseless when the moratorium ends this month and demand these settler colonial towns never end the eviction moratorium. In fact, as one of our youth put it “make all the housing rent-free” like we do at Homefulness- a homeless peoples solution to homelessness that never charges rent because we know thats what makes us poor folks houseless. Evictions in Alameda county shot up the day after the moratorium was lifted. Over 240 cases were filed and we know there are more to come. “As someone who has experienced being houseless I side with continuing with the eviction moratorium meaning putting a freeze on all evictions. So it can allow people to stay in their homes, and at least help not escalate the numbers of people houseless in the streets. Zion Angeles, Youth Poverty Skola Reporter with POOR Magazine Cities across the United Snakkkes can’t file those papers fast enough. Eviction filings are more than 50% higher than the pre-pandemic average in some cities. The cities struggling the worst with post -moratorium evictions are Houston, In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, Phoenix and Rhode Island And to prove the buying and selling mama earth greed has no limit rent prices nationwide are up about 5% from a year ago and 30.5% above 2019 I am on the street now because the eviction moratorium was lifted in Alameda County - John Bowell reported to WeSearch reporters at POOR Magazine. The store i was working at closed. Im’ 67 and disabled, who is going to hire me and no, my SSI doesnt cover rent. I have been on BACS wait list for a year and I’m tired.” He concluded by shaking his head. Carroll Fife Oakland District #3 Supervisor who has worked tirelessly to support houseless communities and helped us at Homefulness is implementing the Rent registry in Oakland to help tenants get support and clarity from the lies and loopholes of the so-called “rental market” The mission of the Rent Adjustment Program is to promote community stability, healthy housing, and diversity for Oakland residents, while preventing illegal rent increases and evictions, and ensuring a fair return for property owners. “I believe that the Eviction Moratorium should continue, and that when it eventually ends there needs to be a solid plan of action to make sure the rent buildup doesn’t immediately evict everyone who couldn't pay during the Pandemic. Tiburcio Garcia Formerly houseless youth Povertyskola reporter with POOR Magazine My name is Gerry. I am a youth student at poor magazine researching how you become homeless in your own hood. In my opinion lots of people become homeless in their own hoods because of eviction or increase in rent prices. Lots of landlords sell their property to bigger companies to make more profit in their hands. Lots of families that rent the property aren't notified that their landlords have just sold the property till the last minute and the last minute becomes very stressful to families because they have nowhere to sleep and their house isn't theirs anymore and are eventually kicked out of their homes having nowhere to go but live on the streets. Evictions are very common and are one of the main causes towards homelessness around the world. Gerry Matias, Youth PovertySkola reporter POOR Magazine As the child of a disabled mama, i had already struggled with paying rent and staying housed for so much of my life, living homelessly, sleeping in doorways and shelters for over 10 years of my childhood and young adulthood and then years later when my mama was sick and i had my infant sun. My connection to safety always came down to resources. If i didnt have a job, I had to choose between food and rent. MamaHouse was eventually destroyed by an eviction- causing all of us poor mamaz and children to be houseless again. We didnt recover and we lost sisSTAR Laure McElroy in the process, cause poverty and homelessness kills. After many more years we launched Homefulness and are working right now with Sustainable Economies Law Center and Sogorea Te Land Trust to implement the Land Liberation Legislation, a dream I dedicate to all the poor mamaz and elders who have died trying to stay safe on these occupied streets. Land liberators, conscious just transitionists, and legislators, how about we consider keeping these moratoriums on indefinitely? This krapitalist system encourages the lie of rent, buying and selling of colonized mama earth, and keeps us engaged with it by forcing us to do the same. We need to break from this violent cycle, and remove ourselves from the idea of Stolen Land as a commodity. Join houseless /formerly houseless Youth and Family poverty skolaz from POOR Magazine/Homefulness, Wood Street Commons and more as they release their WeSearch findings at Oakland City Hall on Thursday, July 13th at 2pm in the Oscar Grant Plaza 14th & Broadway in Oakland

By Juju Angeles As a daughter of an indigenous disabled migrant single mother, men have violently abused her. As her legs and right hand young girl, I also became an outlet for poor choices. The hollowness behind having no blood family, leaving her island breeze shack and ten in a two room home to the crack cold New York, perhaps left my mother looking for blue skies and warm sand in a brick and concrete layered city. But all she found was the heat of a cracked nose, running bloody down her lips in broken men who only had empty promises and balled fists. And all I felt was fear, different homes and different beds and a childhood left on the fingers of grown men who were rapists and not fathers. Domestic violence is a huge culprit of houselessness. 73% of women on the street were/ are victims of domestic violence. According to the American Civil Liberties Union Women’s Rights Project, the lack of affordable stable housing, leaves women at risk of domestic violence. The lack of alternative housing leaves women in abusive relationships and makes it hard for women to leave. The report also states: “In 2005, 50 percent of U.S. cities surveyed reported that domestic violence is a primary cause of homelessness.” These facts not only speak to the unfair power dynamics of men over the safety of women and children, but it also shows how poverty is a causation factor to domestic violence which leads to homelessness. Domestic violence is a symptom of patriarchy and capitalism, ideas that women do not have inherent power or dominion over their bodies, their children, or their homes. With the case of my mother, those men did not support us in any way. They took my mother’s resources and because my mother was physically vulnerable with small children and no family we were isolated and eventually lost our housing and we were on the streets, couches, and shelters. Aside from the trauma of domestic violence and homelessness, it also led to her children being abused as well. It wasn’t until working in the Crushing Wheelchairs production put on by Theatre of the POOR, which is a poor people led theater production of Poor Magazine where their primary focus is “on providing non-colonizing, community-based and community-led media, art and education with the goals of creating access for silenced voices,” did I learn that domestic violence leads to Homelessness for a lot of people. Then, I realized our family was never actually alone, even though that is how it felt. To learn more about the report cited: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/dvhomelessness032106.pdf - Como hija de una madre indígena migrante con discapacidad, hombres la han abusado violentamente. Como sus piernas y la mano derecha joven, también me convertí en una salida para las malas decisiones. El vacío detrás de no tener familia de sangre, dejando su choza de brisa de la isla y diez en una casa de dos habitaciones a la fría Nueva York, tal vez dejó a mi madre en busca de cielos azules y arena cálida en una ciudad de ladrillo y hormigón estratificado. Pero todo lo que encontró fue el calor de una nariz agrietada, corriendo ensangrentado por sus labios en hombres rotos que solo tenían promesas vacías y puños cerrados. Y todo lo que sentí fue miedo, diferentes hogares y diferentes camas y una infancia dejada en los dedos de hombres adultos que eran violadores y no padres. La violencia doméstica es un gran culpable de la falta de vivienda. 73 % de las mujeres en la calle fueron/son víctimas de violencia doméstica. Según el Proyecto de Derechos de las Mujeres de la Unión Americana por las Libertades Civiles, la falta de vivienda estable y asequible deja a las mujeres en riesgo de violencia doméstica. La falta de vivienda alternativa deja a las mujeres en relaciones abusivas y hace que sea difícil para las mujeres salir. El informe también dice: "En 2005, el 50 por ciento de las ciudades estadounidenses encuestadas informaron que la violencia doméstica es una causa principal de la falta de vivienda". Estos hechos no solo hablan de la injusta dinámica de poder de los hombres sobre la seguridad de las mujeres y los niños, sino que también muestran cómo la pobreza es un factor causante de la violencia doméstica que conduce a la falta de vivienda. La violencia doméstica es un síntoma del patriarcado y el capitalismo, ideas de que las mujeres no tienen poder o dominio inherente sobre sus cuerpos, sus hijos o sus hogares. Con el caso de mi madre, esos hombres no nos apoyaron de ninguna manera. Tomaron los recursos de mi madre y debido a que mi madre era físicamente vulnerable con niños pequeños y ninguna familia, fuimos aislados y finalmente perdimos nuestra vivienda y estábamos en las calles, sofás y refugios. Aparte del trauma de la violencia doméstica y la falta de vivienda, también llevó a que sus hijos fueran abusados. No fue hasta que se trabajó en la producción aplastante de sillas de ruedas puesta por el Teatro de los POBRES, Que es una producción teatral dirigida por los pobres de la Poor Magazine donde su enfoque principal es “proporcionar medios de comunicación, arte y educación no colonizadores, basados en la comunidad y dirigidos por la comunidad con el objetivo de crear acceso para voces silenciadas”, aprendí que la violencia doméstica conduce a la falta de vivienda para muchas personas. Entonces, me di cuenta de que nuestra familia nunca estuvo sola, a pesar de que así era como se sentía. Para obtener más información sobre el informe citado: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/dvhomelessness032106.pdf

Houseless/Evicted/Youth and families in poverty release WeSearch Findings & offer a proposal What: WeSearch Release When: 2pm Thursday, July 13th Where: Oscar Grant Plaza Oakland City Hall Over 243 Eviction cases have been filed just since the end of the eviction moratorium in May in Alameda County- Quote from ©WeSearch findings compiled by youth and families in poverty in Oakland. WeSearch is poor people-led research. "As youth who have become homeless due to eviction we know that eviction leads to the homelessness of families and elders, " said Tiburcio Garcia, POOR Magazine youth povertyskola reporter 92% of the RoofLEss radio reporters cited eviction as one of the main causes of our homelessness. "Once we are evicted it is very hard for us to get back inside," said Lila G, a mother of 3 who is currently houseless in Oakland and is asking to remain anonymous as she is afraid she won't get re-housed if potential landlords know her rental history. The eviction on our records is just one of the many struggles we face once we are houseless, the end of the eviction moratoriums in Oakland and Berkeley will cause massive rises in our homelessness, said tiny gray-garcia- formerly houseless resident of Homefulness - a homeless peoples solution to homelessness. Houseless/Low-income Youth reporters at POOR Magazine have been doing this WeSearch as part of a Summer Youth Leadership program in media, art and social justice at POOR Magazine and Homefulness for youth in poverty. WeSearch Report on Evictions cause homelessness will be available at the press conference

EBT – U got me EBT u got me EBT – best believe Im yo baaadest b Sell my azz for crumbs like these Ebt – EBT U already know Im deep in poverty- Can’t you see Im yo best ho – excerpt from “The Sidewalk Motel: Poems and PoShunary from a povertyskola” Tiny and Aunti Frances Moore on an UnTour of Stolen Land and Resources, visiting door to door in ultra wealthy neighborhoods around the US, share the medicine of the Bank of ComeUnity Reparations with wealth hoarders in Beverly Hills. The ache at the bottom of my stomach had claws. The claws were covered in blood and bits of old food scraps still floating around my empty gut. I imagined this quiet horror inside my body as I stood on Sansome Street in then bustling downtown San Francisco trying to sell bootleg hand-painted T-shirts. Each person walked past me and said nothing, bought nothing and as a matter of fact didn’t even look at me. This meant the hunger would get worse and last longer and there was nothing I could do about it. You see, I had no money at all. If someone didn’t buy one of my T-shirts, I would never get enough to buy a sandwich, a cheese stick, candy or anything. Me and my panhandler and street performer comrades working next to me were having the same day. Which brings me back to the claws. When Jordan Neeley and Banko Brown’s stories splashed across my social media, the strength left my body. I was right there again, a younger me tryna hustle survival money or die. I had been a street performer, a vendor, and a survivor, povertyskola since I was a child with my mama. Both of us floated in and out of housing when we could afford it but more often than not, sleeping in cars, doorways, park benches and filthy SRO rooms. Now today, less than a month after Jordan and Banko’s murders for being hungry, the politricks started to swirl from the LieGislators about the so-called debt ceiling, or what I have re-named debt-lying. In addition to the requisite TRILLIONS for wars and war machines to kill more indigenous peoples and steal, rape their lands across Mama Earth, they were now gonna make financial aid debt violence part of our collective lives again and, in the republicrat neo-poor-people-hate reality, make poor people even more likely to starve with more scarcity requirements put on the fragile food benefit crumbs. The multitude of LieGislations created for the scarcity programs that supposedly “help” poor people, HELLfare, SNAP, medi-cal etc. are already filled with pages upon pages of ways to criminalize poor people for reaching out for help, hundreds of rules and regulations about what you have to do and not do, be and not be, to qualify for the tiny “benefits.” As a recipient of CalFresh, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, I can tell you that first of all to get the benefit, I had to fill out at least 65 pages of a proof of income and eligibility form. I had to have a strange sci-fi meeting in the middle of Covid outside the HEllFare office, which has now thankfully moved onto phone contact in Alameda County. But I’m required to show proof of whatever income I don’t have or don’t make at least 36 different ways. I am required to show proof of work and life and household and am required to sign a multi-page document under penalty of perjury. Not to mention the fact that the reason I call it a “crumb” is the small amount of SNAP “benefit” barely covers one person’s food needs beyond one week. And especially if you are trying to eat healthily or decolonize our killer diets. For all us poor folks already poisoned by food high in sugar, sodium and fat because they are the cheapest and most accessible food to poor people, it is actually dangerous for our health to have so little money for our food. This is another factor that is killing us. Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Obesity and Heart attacks to name a few, based in large part on the crap we can barely afford. Poor Magazine Homefulness runs the Sliding Scale Cafe each week, sharing Free Groceries, Food, Produce, Diapers and anything else that is donated. The Angry-Old-Wite-Man (AOWM) anti-poor people narrative of “Those lazy poor people are getting free money” is now and has always been a lie. Actually, most of us, like Jordan Neeley and me and my mama when we were on the street aren’t even getting the SNAP crumb at all. The paperwork, the “work” of proving our poverty, and constantly being interrogated for our trauma-filled, stress-filled lives is way more than anyone feels like dealing with when we are hungry, tired, houseless or even marginally housed in the crappy, uninhabitable poor people housing we can barely afford. The supposed “changes” to the SNAP crumbs that were part of the debt-lying, I mean debt ceiling, now make it necessary that in addition to the 50-65 page “applications,” endless paperwork and documentation and the basic requirement to work or go to school or be in a training program, you have to somehow work even more. And especially if you are 50? The point is we are already supposed to work, we are already criminalized for applying for a meager bit of support and they have already dropped the Covid era extra off the crumb so it’s hardly any money again and barely gets us through the month. The AOWM syndrome is based on classism, racism and Christian saviorism. By putting all this hate and crumb snatching attention of student debt and food stamp debt on poor people, no one looks at the trillionares, land and resource hoarders who are still hoarding in this bill and have no requirement to share, redistribute or change their violent krapitalist ways. Not to mention the fact that poltricksters, BureAKRAZee’s and non-profiteers are still making money on the poverty they caused us to be in. Creating products, projects and anti-social work jobs to manage us, case-mangle us and criminalize us. This whole 50-year-old additional work requirement will cause not only more people to give up and not try to get support but cause more punitive workers to be hired in the already stupid, broken scarcity system. From land theft to bootstraps to starving artist to bread lines to so-called food insecurity, middle class settlers have been naming, shaming, criminalizing, taking and saving poor and indigenous Black, Brown and disabled people for centuries. Stealing land from First Nations peoples then “saving” them from poverty and the alcoholism they caused. Incarcerating disabled and poor people for being poor and disabled and then “saving” them from poverty is a classic crapitalist template and all goes back to the original pauper laws, ugly laws and settlement houses. The welfareQUEENs project at POOR Magazine made up of us poor and houseless mamas, poets and cultural workers on welfare, SNAP, medi-hell and subsidies were, like me and mama, some of the hardest working people I know, holding down three and four jobs, raising children and doing the multiple punitive forms and appointments required to qualify for the crumbs. In the welfareQUEENS poor mama led WeSearch (my word for poor people-led research) we were able to uncover the racist roots of all these United Snakes programs. Welfare’s scarcity wasn’t even made accessible to women of color and in fact was created only for “white widows of war veterans.” The welfareQUEENs made up of poverty skolas Junebug, Laure, Queennandi, myself, Vivi-T, Flaherty and Tracey Jones Faulkner, to name a few, eventually became a powerful play where we acted out our multiple struggles to survive and thrive through so much class and race hate – which sadly is really not that much different today. Bread lines, free boxes and saviors are not what poor people need or want. We need wealth-hoarders to transform into radical redistributors, Mama Earth de-occupiers, ComeUnity Reparators and change-makers. This is why we poor and houseless people have created the Bank of ComeUnity Reparations which helps wealth-hoarders un-hoard by setting up a sacred vessel of distribution that goes directly to poor mamaz, elders and youth who need it. Ceremonial launch of the Bank of ComeUnity Reparations in September 2019, where blood-stained dollars become love-stained dollars. This non-bank Bank has literally provided food, medical care, hotel rooms and car repair money to poor folks like us who need it and is helping to mama fest the next iteration of Homefulness, a homeless peoples’ solution to homelessness that we houseless and poor peoples are working to build in Deep East Oakland. I never sold that T-shirt that day or any day that week. There were weeks like that. I saw no option but to liberate some food from the market. I am not proud of what i did, but in that moment of struggle and hunger truly saw no other option. I ended up getting arrested by the security guard and later the police, but most of all i felt deep shame for my poverty and for my hunger. “I’m hungry,” Jordan Neeley shouted. Not because he was violent. Not because he was “crazy.” Not because he was “dangerous” – but because he was hungry. Period.

By Momii Palapaz He held the bottle, jerking the slushy ketchup as it splashed out. The red, thick liquid flew out and landed on mom. Dad was mad. Dad was drunk. As my sister and I watched, in shock and fear, mom looked defeated, saying nothing. She wiped the spray of red off her clothes. Dinner came to a halt. This wasn’t a crisis, this was just another day. Another dinner with dad ranting and raving. 14 million, or one in eight persons are alcoholics in the U.S. California’s citizens, with the most purchasing, consumed 85.7 million gallons in 2020. The mention of boring facts and statistics aren’t enough to explain the discomfort of experiencing an abusive alcoholic user. The numbers hang there without a reason. New water holes and inventions of sweet tasting, liquor infused beverages are flooding the market. Marketing from the liquor industry teases the prospects of vulnerable customers. Down a shot, or guzzle another bottle to smother the dark. Take a sip for courage, confidence, happiness, only to wake up sour and useless. I was born into alcoholism. My mother’s father was a mean drunk, consuming a case of beer daily. Her grandfather, who she said was “so nice,” manufactured sake, a Japanese wine concoction made of rice. It’s “too sensitive to ask about,” I “lack emotional well being,” our families are “still struggling at 70-90 years old. Will we still be traumatized in 60 years?” Over and over, the clobber hit my heart. I was not alone. I was part of a core of generations in the same club of trauma. “I feel so much anger.” “All the yonsei (fourth generation) in my family suffer from anxiety, depression, PTSD and other trauma related issues.” "Assembly center" for Japanese-Americans in Los Angeles County. April 1942 Everyone at the healing circle were descendants of over 120,000 Japanese American families incarcerated in concentrations throughout the west and midwest states of the USA in 1943. Five generations untangling the secrecy, shame, embarrassment and racism. My father, a hard working mailman, was expert in maximum speed and efficiency. Usually hungover but able, he was known as a functioning alcoholic. Clocking out at the end of his workday, he immediately hit the bars of the SF financial district. He came home hours later, making the full round of bus stops, sleeping past his destination. We laughed and were glad he made it home safely. Through the years, I have come to understand his weakness toward alcohol. Despite his addiction, dad was a reader, writer, a union man much more. He introduced me to books by Richard Wright. Dad shared a novel called “Manchild In A Promised Land, about childhood in a poverty stricken Black neighborhood, written by Claude Brown. His affection for jazz filled our SF apartment with music from Charlie Parker, and favorite drummers Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones. I will always love my father.

When "Hefty" Bags are Home (Article) Amir praying in an Aztec Dance Ceremony. "I always had what we needed just in case we ever got kicked out onto the streets. I started to think to myself, and realized that the big black Hefty bag was a part of me."----------Amir Cornish to read the full story, click here. Anti-Police (Article) Amir speaking at a Stolen Land Tour "I believe we should abolish the police because we don’t need any more Black and Brown people dying. People believe that they wouldn’t feel safe if we abolish the police and would say the crime rate would go up."--------------------------Amir Cornish to read the full story, click here. SPIRIT WORK Amir Aztec Dancing at a ceremony in the Mission District. Amir at another Aztec Dance ceremony at Fremont High School. ACTIVISM Amir supporting the biggest homeless encampment in Oakland, Wood St. Commons You Can't End A Revolution - Wood St's Last Day is The Beginning "Wood Street is a wonderful place that John and some other members created for themselves and others to feel safe, also be to a loving community. The City of Oakland never supported them, and they should have. As houseless people, just like us houseless peoples at Homefulness, they know what they need and they created it."----------------------------Amir Cornish to read the full story, click here. BUILDING Amir participating in a Cob Building Workshop Amir assisting the planning of Homefulness 2 TEACHING Amir at the UC Berkeley campus, helping teach the students of Deecolonize Academy Amir dancing with the students of Deecolonize Academy at Homefulness 2 Homefulness Is Like Heaven (Article) Amir with Poor Magazine in front of Homefulness. "Homefulness is not just a place, it’s much more than a place- it’s like heaven. We save lives during this pandemic, we always help our community and never stop, always help the poor. Homefulness is a place where you can feel safe."----Amir Cornish to read the full story, click here. Amir at the Stolen Land Hoarded Resources Tour at SillyCon (Silicon) Valley. Radio Shows Videos Publications Amir wrote a story in this book called "Tamir Rice" pg. 187 Amir wrote a story in this book called "Youth Visions of Homefulness" pg. 142 Amir wrote a story in this book called "Coronavirus, Depression, and Loneliness" pg. 179 Amir wrote a story in this book called "Investigating Bus Rapid Transit" pg. 186 Apprenticed In the Following: Construction Janitorial Radio Broadcasting Graphic Design Publication Nursing In-Home Care Journalism Activism Video Editing Acting Life Skills: Financial Literacy Navigating Bureaucracy and Systems Personal Organization

SOLIDARITY WITH THE HAITI PEOPLE IS SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF PHILIPPINES AND PALESTINE By Momii Palapaz Poor News Network “No country on earth has suffered from (U.S. military suppression) more than Haiti.” From 1791 to 1804, African slaves rising up were “The greatest threat to the U.S. slave owners who controlled Washington. The Haitian revolution had to be crushed” said speaker and anti-imperialist supporter at Haiti Flag Day May 18, 2023 in SF UN Plaza. For a country island only 831 miles from Florida's south, most US citizens are terribly unaware of the centuries old revolution fought by the Haitian people. About the same size as the state of Maryland, Haiti, over 100 years later, with more than 5 million people, is still fighting for sovereignty. HAITIAN FLAG DAY RALLY AT UN PLAZA UNDER THE SIMON BOLIVAR STATUE “Death squads, called gangs, are used as a way to fool people. Its lawless element is supported by the occupatying government of Haiti, the Tonton Macoutes. President Devalier gave guns to [TonTon Macoutes, who earned] their living by exploiting [Haitians] and taking land. Shooting and killing citizens. I grew up in that regime,” said Pierre Labossiere from the Haiti Action Committee. “The imperialist system cannot tolerate any country outside its orbit or unwilling to play their imperialist game… The creation of the first Black Republic in the world and for that they’ve had to wage a struggle ever since to consolidate that basic national liberation struggle,” said Dayton, anti-imperialist organizer. They also paid France for their independence. Literally held up at gunpoint, France stole 150 million in francs from the Haitian people. Today’s dollar value puts that amount at 20-30 billion dollars. It took 122 years for the freed Haitian people to pay them back. Timely that the U.S. military invasions on the Haitian island began in the 1900s. “It's for nothing less than the clarity of the Manifest law dismissing ‘the poor Haitian’… We have to confront our very own political system itself; both parties, Democratic and Republican, that don’t give a shit about the Haitian people or freedom or Haitian self determination. Without that clarity Haiti will never be free … I impart that with you today that the only true internationalism is the struggle for revolution in our own home country. U.S out of Haiti, Haiti will be Free,” continued speaker Dayton. Hispaniola was first invaded in 1492 by Spain and the French via C Columbus, who shipped thousands of kidnapped West Africans to the Carribean island. The French, Spanish, Dutch and other colonizing imperialists had already depleted and abused the islanders in slavery of indigenous Taino or Arawak, Guanahatabey and Carib inhabitants. The population was obliterated under the merciless feet of island invaders. Hispaniola was cut in half in a deal between Spain and France. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are separated with a false border. Today, the mutilated land—overworked, excavated and tortured—has lost acres of topsoil. Farmers, violently kicked out of their homes by the Duvalier Tontons Macoutes, were forced to leave their land, watching produce bake in the sun, unable to reap the gifts of the earth. From the Philippines to Palestine to Haiti, Narissa Lee and Brandon Lee of the SF Co. for Human Rights in the Philippines and The International League for People's Struggle spoke in solidarity with the Haitian people. “U.S. imperialism is wreaking havoc...with 800 military bases in over 80 countries,” said anti-imperialist Brandon Lee, who still has a bullet lodged in his back from fighting for land rights in the Philippines. He survived an attempted assassination by the military-run government. Brother Palestinian speaker, from the US Palestinian Community Network (USPLN) enthusiastically spread unity exclaiming, “We recognize families of political prisoners bringing genuine support from the people of Palestine. We have a lot in common with the people in Haiti [and gathered] donations in 2010. People who are in poverty understand the oppression, understand …enemies of peace [and] recognize [that] the dictatorships of Haiti received training from the Israeli government while getting support from the U.S. government. Two days ago millions of people around the world supported Palestinian for self determination and ending the occupation. They recognize the Nakba of Palestinian people. We truly believe that our faith is to gather our people of Haiti and people of Palestine. We are going to win against injustice. Every part of the world we receive solidarity and support for justice in Palestine except two places. It happens to be the enemies of Haiti and Palestine; the State of Israel and the U.S. of America. This government is supporting injustice around the world.” “When we stand in solidarity with Haiti, we stand in solidarity with the Philippines, with Palestine, with people, brothers and sisters right here in the U.S. We cannot forget the political prisoners here in Haiti, in the U.S. Political prisoners everywhere. We stand in solidarity. We want an end to police brutality, an end to police murders, whether it be here or in Haiti or everywhere else in the world,” said Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee. Haiti Action Committee, POB 2040, ACTION.HAITI@GMAIL.COM