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- Homefulness NOT Genocide - Sanctuaries NOT Sweeps
Po/Houseless mamas & papas who participated in the Po Mamas Build Homes with Poems workshop from POOR magazine who will b presenting 5pm Saturday , May 10th at monkey Brains in SF as part of SFIAF Houseless Mamas present their poems to build HOME-Fulness SF and housed and houseless comeunities Say NO to violent East 12th Street Sweeps on Monday By tiny, formerly houseless, incarcerated povertyskola and co-founder of Homefulness “I’m so tired, and really am afraid, because I have nowhere to go,” said Tim, a disabled elder and longtime resident of East 12th Street ComeUnity which is facing a violent and immediate “sweep” on Monday. “The city told me there is a waitlist to get into the shelter, so where will I go?” tim concluded while hurriedly trying to stuff his belongings into a hefty bag while teetering on his walker. Tim wasn’t alone, the entire comeUnity of several hundred people who have resided on that tiny medium strip on East 12 street in Oakland were in panic mode. They had to somehow collect their medicine, precious mementoes, walkers, wheelchairs, clothes, bedding and even homes in a matter of days. And most of them had nowhere to go. “We will be closing the whole street to set up a 'safe work zone.' said Harold Duffy, Oakland City Manager. Him and other City officials held what they called a community meeting about the East 12th Street Sweeps last Monday, May 7th, where they laid out their plan to violently sweep this longtime comeUnity. Repeatedly, East 12 Street residents and advocates who were present, stated clearly that they have nowhere to go and don’t feel safe, but the City had already set their agenda, proving once again they aren’t listening to the comeUnity at all. “We have 105 beds at Mandela House, and there are already 34 people in residence there,” stated one of the representatives of an Extended Stay Hotel that the city has contracted to be available for placements for a scant few of the residents of Mosswood Park, (another large comeunity of houseless relatives swept from their comeunity overnite) and East 12st Street “There are already 79 people registered for the rooms from East 12th street,” Duffy added. At this point this povertyskola’s head exploded with the impossibility of this math. So basically that means there are no rooms for the hundreds of folks who have resided at these two comeUnities for years. Not to mention that the Mandela House Project (aka Extended Stay) is another example of what i call ‘About us Without us’ programming. They took the stoves, the refrignerators, the microwaves and the phones out of the rooms. And there are countless “rules” imposed on residents that make these so-called “solutions” into jail-like institutions. These aren’t solutions. We don’t just need a roof when we are outside struggling for years with street survival. We need comeUnity. We need healing, we need love and we need support. In addition so many of houseless residents are elders and/or gravely disabled with multiple physcal and mental health challenges. The Oakland Homeless Union is appalled at the gross negligence and blatant disregard for human life that the Assistant City Administrator, Harold Duffy, and other involved parties continue to display by carrying out these sweeps. When entire communities of elderly, BIPOC, disabled, and mentally ill individuals are repeatedly subjected to violence, to the tune of $90,000 a day”, said Freeway, co-founder of Oakland Homeless Union. The destruction of street comeunities like East 12th street, Wood Street and MossWood Park are acts of war crimes against our poor, houseless, disabled Black and Brown bodies. When we are in Comeunity we take care of each other and watch each others back, When we lose our comeUnities we lose our safety which is why it is always so strange to me that “public safety” is the reason the City cites for these sweeps and why it so clearly articulates that houseless peoples are not considered part of the public. In fact, we are not considered human at all. "Sweeps are causing extreme harm to vulnerable members of our communities, and sweeps are wasting critical public funds in the midst of a budget crisis. We urge city leadership to stop the sweeps and redirect these resources to permanent housing. Listen to the ideas and leadership from curbside communities who have solutions." -Talya Husbands-Hankin, Love and Justice in the Streets Not only does this violent act of sweeping humans like we are trash cause us to be destabilized, criminalized and permanently harmed it also leads to our death Multiple deaths followed the sweeps of Wood Street Commons in West Oakland, the sweeps in LA at Aetna Street and the sweeps in Vallejo last month with the death of James Edward Oakley from a bulldozer in Vallejo, and Cornlius Taylor in Atlanta. In every single incident, all of the residents lose their communities, their safety, and their precious belongings. Oakland perpetrates this violence even though Wood Street Commons and POOR Magazine have viable, affordable solutions. We as houseless peoples have solutions that don’t include millions of dollars sweeping us like we are trash which has now been calculated to cost over 90,000 a day for each sweep in the state of California, since the Grants Pass versus Johnson Supreme Court ruling and the subsequent order by governor Newsom. “In a place that we have always called home since time immemorial, we were the first to be swept from our homes, into prisons we were forced to build,(Missions), into forced labor, and then off the land. What has this society learned over the last few hundred years? History is repeating itself in all the bad ways, continually creating harm and trauma on those who are the most marginalized. When will humans find their moral compass? When will they realize that each of us needs all of us?” - Corrina Gould, Tribal Elder and Co-founder of Sogorea Te Land Trust and member of the Homefulness Family Elder Council. Corrina is just one of the spiritual elders who is part of our family elders council and helps us houseless and poor peoples create a powerful solution to homelessness we call Homefulness that currently houses 23 houseless youth, adults and elders in deep east Huchiun (Oakland) in all of the Homefuless projects we incorporate multiple healing pactices for both mental ad physical wellness as well as art, education, media and cultural projects. None of this medicine happens without the permission and protocol of the indigenous nations upon whose lands we are building, creating and mamafesting as i call it. We are currently working to help houseless relatives in LA, San Francisco and Seattle create their own Homfulness projects based on the powerful template we are living in now and only because of the medicine of Homefulness is this houseless mama and daughter currently housed. “We don’t need a shelter or a transitional bed, we need a homefulness,” said Junebug Kealoha, one of the formerly houseless mama co-leaders of POOR Magazine, at a recent action for houseless mamas sponsored by Coaltion on Homelessness. “Let’s not continue doing what doesnt work and expect it to miraculously work.” said LaMonte Ford , formerly houseless co-founder of Wood Street Commons. “As people of faith and conscience, we uphold the sacredness of all people, including those who are unhoused. Everyone is deserving of safety and belonging. Violent sweeps, criminalization, destroying people’s property, and continuously displacing people from one place to another fails to address the root causes. People need permanent homes and support for homeless people’s real solutions.” - Rev Deborah Lee, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. "There’s a lot of talk in Oakland about public safety, but safety for whom? There’s also a lot of talk in Oakland about ending the violence. But violence against whom? Sweeps of encampments where people have made homes and communities in a city that refuses to house them is violence, and it’s violence that makes everybody less safe and flies in the face of the values the city purports to uphold. It is our hope that under this new mayoral administration, sweeps will end and housing will begin. Housing is in fact, a human right." -Cat Brooks, co-founder/executive director APTP. Because of the violent sweep planned for Monday and the daily sweeps harassment all across Oakland and San Franciso, POOR Magazine, Wood Street Commons, and Oakland Homeless Union are asking our new incoming mayor Barbara Lee to intervene to stop the East 12st St Sweep and Mayor Lurie and Mayor Lee to meet with us and immediately implement a sanctuary moratorium on all sweeps and support homeless peoples solutions to homelessness like Homefulness and the Academy created by Wood Street Commons and Mike Pyatok. Join us Saturday, May 10th at 5pm at Monkey Brains 933 Treat St in Yelamu (San Francisco) as we Poor and houseless Mamas from occupied Yelamu will be sharing our Poems we build homes with as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival - check out more info here The event is a benefit for Homefulness Yelamu. Join Us In Huchiun (Oakland) on Monday, May 12th at 8am as we demand sanctuary Not more violent sweeps at East 12th street and 18th Ave Click on this link for sanctuary solutions/demands created by houseless and formerly houseless residents and leaders of Homefulness/POOR Magazine and Wood Street Commons Po/Houseless mamas & papas who participated in the Po Mamas Build Homes with Poems workshop from POOR magazine who will b presenting 5pm Saturday , May 10th at monkey Brains in SF --
- Swept off of shattuck
By Sis Omowale/POOR Magazine ?manna From Heaven 28 April 2025 They breathed their last free, uninterrupted breaths at 3:59 am on that encamped Wednesday morning on the West and East sidewalks of Shattuck, just south of the 51st Street side of the ARCO fossil fuel gas station and its AM-PM Mini-market. Then the earth caved in with the sounds of cop-hands exploding metal molecules on car hoods and door sides. Cop hatred spewing venom languages , screaming "Get out", GET OUT", "we got your stuff", "Walk away"; more shock-waved anti-sleep vibrations, fraying the nerves of the waking residents. Confusion and anger, forced shouts of resistance, dogs barking trying to run free to bark-bite their home defenses. Then, grab your stuff. Acts of preservation, grab it and pile it, grab it and hide it, but where? Three Oakland PD cruisers had far too many thieving hands and voices everywhere, arriving all of a sudden...! By 6:23 am, the sweep was over, but the vibe of loss resounded in the standing sleepers, rocking to-and-from in shock, switching back and forth from hurt-filled, pained anger, like "why did they not NOTIFY us the DAY before"? WHY NOT? The cars taken. The RV/s yanked from blocks. The people-licenses and doggie-ID's, records of their former homes and babies' footprints, Great-grans' rings and antiqued family jewels and hand-crocheted accessories, all dumped along with AC Transit bus passes and empty clipper cards. Sis. Min. Joycelyn saw them first, spoke with one brother who seemed the least traumatized. He relayed the story to her and then she to me, thus suddenly without breath, when I had arrived 12 minutes later. We began to serve, as best we could, bringing the shocked to our breakfast site for that morning. We returned with breakfast plates for those too shocked, too stunned to bring wet tears, and too saddened to move. ****** EPILOGUE. At 3:00 pm in the afternoon, the OPD death-by-a-thousand-cuts unit did another raid on the encampments on the diagonal side of the same intersection at 51st Street, facing Shattuck east, in broad day-light, during the beginning of peak traffic. They hit and split before we were even able to hear of the raid. We heard what the witnesses saw: that nothing was left, and no one was resilient enough to find anything or anyone. COMPLETE GENOCIDE...in less than 12 hours on the same day, the 16th of April: the devil's power number. - 30 - Ms. S. Omowale Fowles
- Pinche krapitalismo -biografía de Álvaro
Damn krapitalism - Álvaro's biography De donde soy! Por que estoy aqui? Naci y creci en La Gran Tenochtitlan, fundada en el Lago de Texcoco, rodeada de chinanpas y Grandes Teokalis, Grandes Tlatoanis y Guerreros/as!Hoy Ciudad de México, jungla de asfalto con millones de gente y mucha contaminación. Por mis venas corre sangre Tarasca/Nahua y Zapoteca/Mixteca, soy Mestizo, soy Guerrero, soy Mitotiani (Danzante). Mi viaje de Migrar comenzó por necesidad y supervivencia, como lo hacían y lo siguen haciendo nuestros antepasados, ahora las fronteras nos impiden hacer estos viajes sagrados. (Pinche Krapitalismo) Mi segundo hogar siento que es YELAMU Tierras Sagradas de la gente OHLONE (Hoy S.F. ca) Lugar donde te abraza el sol, el viento y la neblina a la misma vez junto con la noche y las estrellas y su Gran Bahia. (¿Por qué Estoy Aquí?) Después de años de trabajo sin beneficios, de felicidad, tristezas, enojos pero con una bonita familia, empezamos a experimentar la Gentrificación y después el desalojo y acabamos sin hogar y viviendo en nuestro carro por casi 3 anos ( en el primer año de covid) (Pinche Krapitalismo) (¿Por qué Estoy Aquí?) Yo no encontré a Homefulness y Poormagazine! Ellos me encontraron! Gracias al destino soy un ser humano con dignidad y ahora con un techo donde vivir!!! Tlazocamati Familia de Homefulness y Poormagazine por este nuevo viaje. In Tlanextia in Tonatiuh (Pinche Krapitalismo) Por A. Kepokamaztli -------------------------------- Where I am from! Why am I here? I was born and raised in the Great Tenochtitlan, founded on Lake Texcoco, surrounded by chinanpas and great Teokalis, great Tlatoanis and Guerreros/as! Today Mexico City, concrete jungle with millions of people and a lot of pollution. The blood runs through my veins Tarasca/Nahua and Zapoteca/Mixteca, I am Mestizo, I am Guerrero, I am Mitotiani (Danzante). My migration journey began out of necessity and survival, as our ancestors did and continue to do, now borders prevent us from making these sacred journeys. (Damn Crapitalism) I feel my second home is YELAMU Sacred Lands of OHLONE People (today S.F. ca) Place where you embrace the sun, the wind and the fog at the same time along with the night and the stars and its Great Bay. (Why am I here?) After years of work without benefits, happiness, sadness, anger but with a beautiful family, we began to experience gentrification and after the eviction and ended up homeless and living in our car for almost 3 years (in the first year of covid) (Damn Crapitalism) (Why am I here?) I didn't find Homefulness and Poormagazine! They found me! Thanks to fate I am a human being with dignity and now with a roof over my head!! In Tlanextia in Tonatiuh (Damn Crapitalism) Por A. Kepokamaztli
- Trabajadores de las carreras de caballos
Horse Race Workers Por Teo Esta es una historia de las personas trabajadoras- que por razones de supervivencia- viven con sus familias en un campamento cerca de donde los trabajadores hombres y mujeres trabajaron alimentado caballos para el hipódromo. Ellos disfrutaban de su trabajo. Los caballos corren todas las temporadas de las carreras, algunas veces se transportaban a otras áreas pero ellos eran responsables y tenían necesidad de trabajar y trabajaban con gusto por que en las carreras se mude mucho dinero y algunos de ellos recibían buenas propinas. Pero la política del estado de california cambió y en algunos condados de las ciudades donde se llevan a cabo carreras de caballos, repentinamente les comunicaron a estos trabajadores que no van a poder seguir trabajando por decisión de regulaciones de los condados y en especial en el condado de Alameda. Los están tratando de desalojar lo más rápido posible pero es una injusticia especialmente a los más jóvenes que no entienden por que sus padres se encuentran en esas situaciones. Cualquier gente es responsable que trabaja para tener estabilidad de vivir independiente. Tenemos que hacer cualquier trabajo para producir dividendos y poder llevar una vida. ---------------- This is a story of the working people who, for survival reasons, live in a camp with their families near where they used to work taking care of horses for the racecourse. They enjoyed their work. The horses ran all seasons of the races, and were sometimes transported to other areas. The workers were responsible. They needed the work and worked with pleasure because there was a lot of money in the races and some of them received good tips. But the state of California policy changed and in some counties of the cities where horse races happen they suddenly informed these workers that they will not be able to continue working by decision of county regulations, especially in Alameda County. Now they are trying to evict them as quickly as possible. But it is an injustice, especially to younger people who do not understand why their parents are in these situations. Any people who work to live independently are responsible. We have to work to produce fruits of our labor to support our life.
- About us WIthout Us… a “Community” Meeting that Never was meant for the Community
For Immediate Release Contact: Tiny garcia 510435-7500 / Jon Janasko/ (510) 712-7639 Wood Street Commons /Freeway Oakland Homeless Union 510-260-9420 Houseless/formerly houseless organizers and advocates with Wood Street Commons and POOr Magazine call out the lack of houseless community members in an upcoming community meeting about houseless community members When:5:30pm TODAY Monday, May 5th Where: EBAYC 2025 East 12th street Oakland What: Invitation to Media to witness non-community meeting held about us without us houseless people . Over the month of April houseless residents of Mosswood Park were violently “swept” from their long-time comeUnity to nowhere. Some of the residents were offered rooms in the Extended Stay hotel, many were not. Now the City of Oakland is planning a huge and devastating “sweep” of a longtime houseless comeunity on East 12th street medium where hundreds of houseless, disabled, elder Oakland residents reside in their street communities. “What Meeting, I never heard about a meeting,” Jack Ray, a disabled elder resident and RoofLEss Radio reporter for POOR Magazine declared. “I only know about the sweeps and im afraid cause i have nowhere to go,” he concluded. “Once again the powers that be in Oakland decide to have a community meeting without the people impacted most by the decisions made by the City of Oakland. There is never an excuse for this kind of intentional exclusion of impacted voices,’ said John Janasko, Wood Street Commons Wood Street Commons and POOR Magazine, two houseless/formerly houseless, poor people led movements providing street based advocacy, support, solutions and resources to fellow houseless residents of the Bay Area, have been conducting ongoing direct outreach and support to residents of East 12th street for the last several years and when this community meeting was announced, they polled the East 12th street community to see if they were coming to the meeting and no-one even knew it was happening. “This follows a pattern of exclusion, extraction and violence by the City of Oakland, always working to create decisions about us without us. Last week after the City spending thousands and possibly millions of dollars on police and trash workers to evict peaceful residents of Mosswood Park, a meeting was hosted by Extended Stay Hotel management on zoom, which included none of the recently swept MossWood Park residents and none of the soon to be swept residents of East 12st street, Extraction because the City of Oakland granted the HCEB management over 7 million dollars without houseless peoples input or vision, while poor peoples led solutions like the Academy by Wood Street Commons and Homefulness exist and were presented to them,,” said tiny gray-garcia, co-founder POOR Magazine/Homefulness- a homeless peoples solution to homelessness (Listen at this link to the broadcast of the zoom meeting on Poor Peoples Radio) ‘The East 12th street sweeps follow the sweeps of Wood Street, the death of James Edward Oakley from a Sweep in Vallejo and the brutal sweep of Lake Merrit, in every single incident, all of the residents lose their communities, their safety and their precious belongings, having serious impacts on their already fragile health “The Oakland Homeless Union stands in solidarity with all unhoused Oakland residents, and we will continue to fight until the voices of the unhoused are acknowledged as the experts of our own lives that we are. We are not subhumans, nor are we garbage to be swept into the shadows; we are human beings, and one day history will show who was on the side of right, and who was not.”,said Freeway , Oakland Homeless union Because of the upcoming deadly sweep of East 12st street and the daily sweeps harassment POOR Magazine, Wood Street Commons and Oakland Homeless Union are demanding the City of Oakland place an immediate moratorium on sweeps and we are inviting Press to attend tonites non-inclusive community meeting Click on this link for sanctuary solutions/demands created by houseless and formerly houseless residents and leaders of Homefulness/POOR Magazine and Wood Street Commons Please follow: IG & fb @poormagazine IG @woodstreetcommons IG & fb: @oakland.homeless.union
- “HUNGER STRIKING FOR TRUE FREEDOM” TOUR Launches in LA With Strike Soundtrack Listening Party & “5 MICS” Experience
K.A.G.E. UNIVERSAL® | CALIFORNIA PRISON FOCUS® | ARTIVIST KADRE® PH: 510.213.4008 | 1643 12th Avenue | Oakland, CA 94606 EMAIL: KAGEUNIVERSAL11@gmail.com | WEB:K.A.G.E.UNIVERSAL - Artist, Workshops, Music & Apparel FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: K.A.G.E. Universal | info@kageuniversal.org California Prison Focus | outreach@prisons.org ARTIVIST HOUSE | connect@artivisthouse.org “HUNGER STRIKING FOR TRUE FREEDOM TOUR” LAUNCHES IN LOS ANGELES WITH STRIKE SOUNDTRACK LISTENING PARTY & “5 MICS” EXPERIENCE FEATURING RAS KASS, ARTIVIST KADRE, & DJ PSYCHO LES Los Angeles, CA — A new wave of art, activism, and music is rising from the streets of Los Angeles as K.A.G.E. Universal, California Prison Focus, and ARTIVIST HOUSE announce the launch of the Hunger Striking ForTrue Freedom Tour, an explosive convergence of Hip Hop, culture, and social justice. Kicking off Third Thursday in the heart of LA, the event features: • Exclusive Strike Soundtrack Listening Party • Truth Be Told: The Dark Side of Gentrification 2 screening • 5 MICS with Ras Kass & Artivist Kadre — uniting Bay & LA Hip Hop chapters • Special guest DJ Psycho Les (Beatnuts / Real Psycho) • Resident DJs Fatlip (Pharcyde), Brad Rush, and Marcus the Artist This isn’t just a party—it’s a movement. Designed to build bridges between generations, coasts, and cultures, 5 MICS celebrates excellence in Hip Hop without glorifying materialism. A tribute to tradition, innovation, and equity—this is where resistance meets rhythm. Sponsorship and tiered buy-in opportunities allow for community members and organizations to become part of the solution through the ArtivistKadre Tier Action Items (Tiers 1–5). Proceeds support prison reform, women’s rights, racial equity, and reentry programs. Join Us. Third Thursdays. Every Month. Respect the roots. Move the culture.
- Love and Hate… My 51 years living in the “Fillmoe”
By Queennandi I was born in the Western Addition aka Fillmoe in the early 70’s, and my spirit has been residing here ever since. In the earlier years it was a beautifully diverse community with Asian, African, Filipino, Latina and Pacific Islander families, with a few sprinkles of European immigrants. The community got along well amongst those who called Fillmore home. There were no “gentrifuhkers” riding on electric bikes, joggers in designer workout clothes, looking at us “Fillmore Natives” like WE don’t belong, but best yet, we had the “Artery of community Education,” Marcus Bookstore. Fast forward several decades later, the “gentrifuhkers” have succeeded in creating a “paradise for parasites,” and in a blink of an eye our community’s historical murals were painted over as if we, the people darker than blue, had never existed, and Marcus Bookstore—the best learning institution for the people—was destroyed and the family was displaced by a insignificant hair salon that serves red wine. Corner of Divisadero and Hayes, 1978, iconic mural in background. In the late 1970s, this area, called NOPA in the 2000s, was almost entirely African-American. Image and caption from FoundSF digital community history archive. https://www.foundsf.org/The_Fillmore:_Black_SF SF housing eventually was overrun by wealthy “devilopers ” who put their “dead souls” dollars into the community, but not into the interests of the people. The forced removal of our learning institution—Marcus Bookstore—was a fatal blow to our community of color because the lack of concise information and knowledge. Ourselves and our youngins began to glue our faces to the social media BS, and now many folks have chosen the “ratchet reality shows and how to snatch a $300 wig off of someone in 10 seconds!” as a doomed form of education. My birthplace, Plaza East in Fillmore, is now owned by John Stewart. At first, some folks displayed a glimmer of hope that our living conditions would improve, but unfortunately that is not the case. After I had endured black mold, carpets that has been proven to be a contributor to asthma and other allergies, so-called gangster office management forced me to move out of an apartment in 15 more minutes before throwing away my property—some priceless items also—and made a mockery of my age and disabilities and depression. I had reached my breaking point then! The only thing that improved was that the ratchet so-called gangster office management was replaced because some residents were violated by these 3 women so horribly to the point that there would have been some serious fighting going on at Plaza East. Many of us were at our breaking point at this particular time like I mentioned before, but my nightmare was far from over. My family has been and still is being harassed, stalked, car vandalized and our safety put in jeopardy by a squatter who has a boyfriend whom lives at Plaza East and she, Ms. S. Smith, comes over and raises hell with the community by starting fights with not just my family but other residents have been assaulted by this woman. My family’s attempt to get a protection order failed because a few residents continue to hide her in their apartments from the law. Police reports are useless to us and JS company is not even entertaining the idea to place a stay away order against Ms. Smith, and even though her boyfriend’s house was raided and several guns recovered by police AND KRON news did a story on it, a slap on the wrist basically is what these folks got along with other trouble makers that reside at Plaza East. Trouble makers like GR, a neighbor from hell who destroyed my zen garden and allows her dogs to come outside every morning around 8am to attack passersbys and young children, AND runs a raggedy daycare on the property. Despite my five year restraining order against her and her violations on the grounds, Ms. GH didn’t so much as receive a lease violation. Animal control was a joke also because her dogs are still being let outside every day to bite and bother people. Ms. LB, another hellraiser at Plaza East was rewarded with a brand new apartment here after she had committed “set up” robberies in which a relative of mine was a victim also and she would lie to her gun-toting relatives that she was afraid (of retribution) some of us residents here. Plaza East Apartments. Yesica Prado/San Francisco Public Press Around May 14th of 2023, Ms. LB had once again called over gun-toting relatives based upon lies, and while I was parking my car, Ms. LB’s “cousin” was walking up on a group of females, including myself, my children, my disabled neighbor and other innocents and attempted to shoot all of us on the block. Then out of the blue, a youngster who is not known to be a “hood terrorist” had pulled a “quick draw McGraw” and saved our lives and at that very moment I had to unblur the lines between “hood terrorist” and “hood hero,” because regardless of how I felt about violence in the community, this young man, Mr. KH, had prevented a massacre of elders, children and disabled residents. Ms. LB was never held responsible for telling lies to incite violence nor was she held liable for being an accessory after the fact. After hiding in a rabbit hole for a short while she was given a fresh new apartment at Plaza East in the same complex. I guess it’s safe to say that “hood terrorist” have more privileges and entitlement to even have good community folks injured or killed because they are well aware of their immunity on John Stewart property. The recent loss of my firstborn daughter-and another young man who was murdered in Larch alley has my PTSD so high that my trauma is not even located on earth anymore! And John Stewart security was a big cartoon joke, failing to protect the residents and following proper procedures. The woman, S. Smith, is still allowed to this day to stalk and follow my family because she has a “boyfriend” living on Plaza East grounds. She even threatened to assault my 4-year old grandson and even with evidence stemming from a text, nobody gave a damn. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when Ms. Smith was trying to coax myself and youngest daughter to come out of our apartment because her “homeboy” was waiting outside with a gun. At this point, my mental state was the color red so I attempted to defend my family by chasing them back across the street on Eddy with my puny little weapon (butter knife sword) but I was successful in getting the gunman and Ms. Smith away from my home but the heartbreaking fact is I had to teach my four year old grandson how to go upstairs in our home to hide whenever Ms. Shamiyah Smith was squatting at Plaza East. As I walked back to my home after running Ms. Smith and her gun-toting “homeboy” into her boyfriend’s house, a blinding red light flashed in my eyes with someone shouting “BITCH, DROP YOUR WEAPON OR I’LL BLOW YOUR FUHKIN HEAD OFF!” Comparing my “weapon” to the gunman’s was like comparing a teacup yorkie to a bull mastiff! A passerby and two of my neighbors pleaded with this trigger-happy hankie-head John Stewart security guard not to shoot me which he yelled at them to go away. I did comply with his demands even though I felt like the SISTUH who got shot in Chicago by the police—by putting what was in my hand inside of my home, getting on my knees on my “welcome mat” and interlocking my fingers on my head. I was frozen with fear that turned into anger and then into a full-blown anxiety attack because this so called security guard at Plaza East was tempted to shoot me in the back while my 4-year old grandson was inside. I pleaded with the house negro to allow for me to SLOWLY reach into my right pants pocket to make phone call to my mental health specialist and again he said that he would blow my head off if I reached for my phone. My daughter was able to call on my behalf while the sellout uncle Ben bastard contacted SFPD. Perhaps there was a possibility that he was related to the “lying hood terrorist” Ms. LB because he had got on the line shouting as if he was auditioning for the TV show “cops”- “I NEED BACKUP NOW! THERE IS A WOMAN WALKING AROUND THE WHOLE COMPLEX THREATENING TO HARM PEOPLE!” But in reality it was a grandmother who was seeing red and fed up with a damn SQUATTER coming to my home with gunman like so many times before and I stood tall against them! When SFPD arrived on the scene my panic/anxiety attacks were so devastating that I was handcuffed because I couldn’t function or stand still. The “bootlickin’” security guard went on to tell the officers all these lies about the incident to make himself look like a hero until an courageous angry neighbor had shouted out “WHILE YOU STANDING THERE LYING ON THE VILLAGE MOTHER TELL THE POLICE HOW YOU BE SNORTING COCAINE ON WILLOW STREET DURING YOUR BREAKS!!!” I didn’t know about the John Stewart/Plaza East security guard’s alleged drug use, however when that one neighbor spoke up, a few more were speaking up the next day. The file of evidence my youngest daughter was saving for over a year was the proof that we were being terrorized and it contradicted the security guard’s statement, and one of the SFPD officers had given the guard the “uh oh, caught you in a lie” look while another officer had scolded the punk guard.- The officer asked “WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE WHEN DEALING WITH CITIZENS WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OR SEEING RED?!?!” After the security guard’s “Abba dabba boo boo huh?” Response the officer said “YOU NEED TO BE INVESTIGATED BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DE-ESCALATE THE SITUATION, NOT THREATEN TO BLOW THEIR HEADS OFF!!!!” After the officers has assisted me to catch my breath from all the attacks, one officer asked “Ma’am, were we able to help regarding this incident?” Four words I don’t remember ever in my life saying, but you give credit when credit is due- I answered “SFPD SAVED MY LIFE!” That security guard still had his gun pointed towards my back even when I was on my knees with interlocked fingers by the time the police arrived and I was terrified that he was going to shoot me with my grandson in the house. He dared me to make any moves or he would shoot me, so my traumatized mind focused on my 4 year old grandbaby and not wanting him to see his grandmother get shot dead by some security koon! THE AFTERMATH??? The security guard was still working at Plaza East and IF I stepped out of my home and saw him, I would run back inside screaming to him not to shoot me! Management on the grounds had refused to give me any information on this security clown, not even his name. Former Mayor London Breed even put in a request for an urgent emergency move to help keep my family safe, but unfortunately for me, the only John Stewart units that were available were the ones that Ms. Smith and her goon friends and family were either residing or squatting at, except for the North Beach housing complex—in which I was flat out denied to relocate there. I went to the corporate headquarters of John Stewart in hopes that someone could help me, but once my words went in their ears, they farted it out of their asses! John Stewart can put our family in a safe home, in a safe environment if he dared cared. Finding an attorney to help my family was fruitless because in my opinion COURAGE is extinct also! I’m still here in Fillmore surviving by default. I survived all kinds of horrific trauma and I even stood tall against “The night stalker” Richard Ramirez as a child when he tried to get me to go into the women’s bathroom. My longtime friend, Terry had survived the “nigger get out!” notes and the house fire that displaced his family. We at Plaza East survived the begging and pleading to put a security gate up so “hood terrorist” would stop walking into Larch Way alley, ambushing and killing our youngins on camera! We are all survivors! Like I said before, I was BORN HERE in this community but having to tolerate “gentrifuhkin’ racist kkk implants” and “hankie-head negro hood klan” has destroyed my mental health to the point of me being afraid to leave my home, to focus on business and in many cases it’s hell just to get out of bed. No good folks in the community deserve this, but sadly we are living in BABYLON where the wicked can roam freely to kill, steal and destroy with impunity… You ask: “who is this native “Fillmolian” that broke her silence?” My Name is Queennandi…. CRDB Village Mother from Fill-no-mo….
- Obstáculos // Obstacles
Por/ By Teo Todos tenemos los mismos derechos de pertenecer en cualquier parte de este planeta que llamamos Madre Tierra. Estamos muy aparte de las constituciones porque por mucho tiempo, nuestros antepasados compartían el instinto de supervivencia pero creo que todos tenemos diferentes perspectivas. Muchos miramos las historias de diferentes maneras, pero en mi experiencia, estoy entendiendo algunas ideas de supervivencia . Pero todos en esta parte de la tierra nos enfrentamos con diferentes tipos de situaciones, algunas veces llamándolos obstáculos. También nosotros, aquellos a quienes llaman inmigrantes, jornaleros, ilegales, también algunas personas racistas los nombramos criminales porque hemos cruzado una línea divisoria de nuestra planeta, estamos afectados por las políticas de oficina. A lgunas personas se encuentran con todo tipo de obstáculos del diario vivir-- por ejemplo el alcoholismo y drogadicción. Estas situaciones se reflejan en las comunidades de todos los rincones del mundo. Por ejemplo, en el estado donde vivimos se refleja los problemas de la comunidad en muchos hermanos y hermanas, tíos y algunos abuelitos peleando con un dejo de consumir cualquier sustancia que disfrutan consumiendo. Eso se refleja ante todos los de los comunidades tratando de vivir en carros abandonados debajo de los puentes de la ciudad, en los parques, negocios abandonados, y residencias abandonados. Construyendo casitas de campaña o de cartón como se pueda, así se reflejan las situaciones de nuestras comunidades. Muchos de estas personas no son emigrantes pero los atrapa el alcoholismo y las drogas We all have the same rights to belong anywhere on this planet we call Mother Earth, no matter what the constitution says. For a very long time our ancestors shared the instinct of survival, but I think we all have different perspectives. Many of us look at the stories in d ifferent ways, but in my experience, I’m understanding this story from a survival perspective. But everyone on this part of the earth faces different kinds of situations, sometimes calling them obstacles. We too, those who are called immigrants, day laborers, illegals, and also by some racist people are called criminals because we have crossed a dividing line of our planet, we are affected by official policies. Some people encounter the obstacles of alcoholism and drug addiction, and these situations are reflected in communities all over the world. For example, back in our home state the problems of the community are reflected in the many brothers, sisters, un cles, aunts, and even grandparents who are fighting the aftertaste of whatever substance they like best. It’s reflected to everyone in the communities living in abandoned cars, under city bridges, in parks, abandoned businesses, and abandoned residences. Building tent houses or cardboard houses when possible, we reflect the situations our communities face. Many of these people are not immigrants but are caught by alcoholism and drugs.
- SATURDAY: A New genre of “UnTour” Book is released that unwashes violent truth about missionaries like Juniperro Serra and more across this stolen land...
Upcoming events: This Saturday; April 26 Huchiun (Oakland, Ca) 3pm | EastSide Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd May 20 Yelamu (San Francisco) 6pm | City Lights Books, 261 Columbus Ave This new genre “guide Book” is full of truth about genocide as well as poetry, prayer, stories and art on indigenous resistance to settler colonial erasure, poLice terror, homelessness and the many acts of indigenous/Black/Brown-led resistance from Turtle Island to Palestine and all across Mama Earth The UnTour Book chronicles the removal of the violent colonizer known as Juniperro Serra who was canonized into sainthood by recently deceased Pope Francis. In Fact the cover depicts the removal by young indigenous peoples. The first Bay Area release was marked by a powerful prayer ceremony held at the mission on Occupied Miwok Lands ak a so-called San Rafael Mission where the Juniperro Serra “ManUment” as named by one of the authors tiny graygarcia, was removed in 2020 by the Indigenous Peoples Day 5 The book chronicles our walks into occupied land and stolen resources in the US. Sites like occupied Lenape Territory aka Philadelphias’ main Line and the historic “Old Philadelphia” are rife with examples of what tiny gray-garcia calls Klanmarks and ManUments, honoring the multitude of self-proclaimed “discoverers” such as Christopher Columbus who in actuality perpetrated great harm on indigenous peoples both personally and historically. Other chapters discuss Clayton Duncan and other indigenous Pomo leaders who work to unwash the lies about the Bloody Island Massacre in so-called KelseyVille named after the murderer who perpetrated the genocide of hundreds of innocent indigenous women and children, and Priscilla Hunter, the Pomo Mama Tree Warrior and Protector of so many old growth trees from the violence of the Lumber Industry. The book uplifts the Resistance Marks of Alex Nieto, Mario Woods and Sean Monterrosa to name a few, killed by PoLice but honored in San Francisco in beautiful street-based murals of resistance to the warrior work of indigenous women creating their own Land Trust, and the story of indigenous women taking down the ManUmeant honoring a Spanish missionary who committed genocide on California Indians, to sites of BlackLand Return and resistance, all of this and so much more, reaching globally into Palestine, West Papua, Hawai’i and Kashmir. “We find ourselves again at a crossroads, where we each need to choose a side AND when our Mother Earth and all living beings are under attack. The UnTour book gives us a guide to how we got here and Hope of finding our way back from the edge of destruction of our very souls.” — Corrina Gould KlanMarks, ManUMeants and Plakkks- UnTour Guide Across Occupied Turtle Island “KlanMarks” are my word for all the colonizer blight claiming sacred spaces and sacred stories and washing the truth of genocide off the stolen land— thousands of mis-named, occupied and stolen indigenous lands and sacred sites across Turtle Island, where the land-stealers, occupiers, genocidal perpetrators, aka colonizers are lifted up as heroes. The names of the murderers, the rapists, the robbers, the stealers, the re-writers, and the occupiers litter Turtle Island. But, in this book, there are also so many powerful acts of re-creating, redefining, LandBacking, and land-returning stolen Mama Earth—from Palestine to Chief Siah’l (Seattle) on Turtle Island, from Bloody Island to Lisjan Land—so this UnTourBook is also meant to honor, pray, dream, and lift up the voices of resistance until all of the KlanMarks are gone and all the LiberationMarks replace them.— Tiny gray-garcia aka povertyskola - visionary and co-writer of the Untour Book Across Occupied Turtle Island El Libro de UnTour narra sus caminatas en tierras ocupadas y recursos robados en los Estados Unidos. Sitios como el Territorio Lenape ocupado, conocido como la Línea Principal de Filadelfia y la histórica “Vieja Filadelfia”, abundan en ejemplos de lo que tiny gray-garcía llama Klanmarks y ManUments (monumentos), honrando a la multitud de autoproclamados “descubridores” como Cristóbal Colón, que en realidad perpetró grandes daños a los pueblos indígenas tanto personal como históricamente, o Clayton Duncan y otros líderes indígenas Pomo trabajan para deslavar las mentiras sobre la masacre de la Isla Sangrienta en la llamada Kelseyville, que lleva el nombre del asesino que perpetró el genocidio de cientos de mujeres y niños indígenas inocentes, o Priscilla Hunter, el Pomo Mama Tree Warrior y Protector de tantos árboles viejos de crecimiento, desde la violencia de la industria maderera hasta las marcas de resistencia de Alex Nieto, Mario Woods y Sean Monterrosa, por nombrar algunos, asesinado por la policía, pero honrado en San Francisco en hermosos murales callejeros de resistencia al trabajo guerrero de mujeres indígenas que crean su propia tierra, y la historia de las mujeres indígenas derribando el monumento honrando a un misionero español que cometió genocidio contra los indios de California, a los sitios de retorno y resistencia de Tierra Negra, todo esto y mucho más, llegando globalmente a Palestina, Papúa Occidental, Hawai’i y Cachemira. “Nos encontramos de nuevo en una encrucijada, donde cada uno de nosotros necesita elegir un lado Y cuando nuestra Madre Tierra y todos los seres vivos están bajo ataque. El libro de UnTour nos da una guía de cómo llegamos aquí y la esperanza de encontrar nuestro camino de regreso desde el borde de la destrucción de nuestras propias almas.” —Corrina Gould.
- Day of Mourning, Day of Resistance
Houseless ComeUnities from Across the US gather to teach, share and resist state sponsored violence What: Teach-in Gathering When: 1-4pm April 22 Where Lake Merritt Amphitheater (btwn 12th St and 1st Ave) “These sweeps, they kill us,” said Marco, 64, longtime houseless resident of Lake Merritt in Oakland which on April 7th 2025 experienced a violent sweep and eviction from their comeunity who lived under the bridge adjacent to the lake. Initial findings from a survey of 223 unhoused community members 81% reported not being offered any services at all, 62% had all their belongs stolen and thrashed by authorities, 67% got no advance notice and 81% were still living in the streets afterwards - 68% with Stay Away orders from the neighborhood they were living in! As one person said “Its not the department of homelessness, it the department of gaslighting” On year 2 of a Supreme Court anti-homeless ruling, houseless and formerly houseless residents and advocates from across the State will gather around Lake Merritt in Oakland to teach, speak and share resources, art and resistance to the ongoing myth that objectifies, dehumanizes and criminalizes houseless people for the sole act of being houseless. From James Edward Oakley of Vallejo to Cornelius Taylor of Atlanta, both run over by bulldozers in sweeps in this last year, the sweeps and the violent and ongoing harassment and criminalization is killing us. Deaths of houseless people are up to 6 people a day in Los Angeles. April 22nd known for the celebration of Earth Day, is also a day of mourning, when a case was brought before the US supreme court known as Grant Pass versus Johnson. Grants Pass V Johnson, which was finally ruled on in June of the same year codified what us houseless people always knew and have experienced for years, our human-ness is not valued, in fact we are treated with less respect than a discarded bottle or tin can. “Ever since the ruling in 2024 the sweeps of our bodies and communities have increased to daily, hourly, randomly with no notice and everywhere across the nation, Literally millions of dollars are spent in police and sheriffs to accompany the city trash workers while service providers rarely if ever supply residents with viable housing solutions or places to go,” said Tiny Gray -García, formerly houseless co-founder of POORmagazine /Homefulness “In SF alone during March 2025 police arrested 119 people for being unhoused, the highest such total of any month in the last 7 years. “Homelessness obviously doesn’t exist because we lack enough cops, it exists and continues to grow because our government has wiped out affordable housing funding and access to living wages and treatment. This police approach is brutal, ineffective to address the real issues related to homelessness and also completely asinine” according to Paul Boden with the Western Regional Advocacy Project “They come out and pretend to say they are providing us with services, but they supply us with nothing, there are no services, there is no housing” said John, longtime houseless resident of Mosswood Park- slated for eviction and sweeps on Monday, April 21, 2025 Grants Pass ruling stated that Houseless residents of any city or town across the US, should not be afforded protection under the 8th amendment of the constitution. “It's important to keep our eye on the way public space is being policed and the way people are being corralled out of community. We can first see it at play in our unhoused communities, as we're the most vulnerable to penalties related to not participating in the private property system of real estate. The repeal of the right recognition won, that being criminalized for being unsheltered when whatever shelter you've been able to create for yourself is taken away from you is cruel and unusual punishment, is a hardening of hearts against the harm inflicted on such vulnerable communities” Said Gordon Gilmore, Berkeley Homeless Union . For years houseless people have struggled with sweeps. Millions of dollars in “homeless funding” has been spent on removing, evicting and destroying peoples outdoor communities and throwing away or stealing our necessary belongings. Funding that is theoretically given to cities and towns to support, house or help houseless people is used to remove us and harm us.. “Politricksters refuse to listen to houseless people when we present our own practicable, affordable and healing housing solutions like Homefulness and Wood Street Commons and instead resort to endangering our lives with violent sweeps and inhumane, uninhabitable, life-threatening so-called housing like the “cabins” in Oakland or the Inside Safe Program in Los Angeles,” concluded tiny gray-garcia, POOR Magazine/Homefulness. Theatre of the POOR from POOR magazine and all nations prayer will be offered as well as an altar for all of our houseless relatives lost to these violent sweeps and art activities for all ages. Website for all national activities: https://wraphome.org/a-national-call-to-action-for-april-22nd-and-every-day-thereafter/ Follow @westernregionaladvadvocacyproject on IG for updates @poormagazine for live stream of the event
- Another Day of State sponsored violence against peaceful houseless community at Mosswood Park in Oakland -
For Immediate Release: Contact: Tiny garcia510435-7500 /Muteado Silencio /POOR Magazine Jon Janasko/ (510) 712-7639Wood Street Commons Documentation and Testimonials of violent Sweeps Against a Peaceful Houseless ComeUnity in Oakland - When: TOMORROW- 8:30am Monday, April 21, 2025 Where:Mosswood Park Inviting media to take testimonies from residents who are facing imminent removal from their long-time outside community at Mosswood park .. See Some Testimonials here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ubd9pE06ZX4 On Monday April 14 peaceful residents of Mosswood Park are requesting media to witness and take testimonies of the state terror of sweeps threatened by the City of Oakland as longtime houseless residents of Mosswood Park will be violently swept to nowhere by the city of Oakland.. “They came out here and posted notices and when i asked them about any referrals for housing they said i had to have been a participant in a census taken over six months ago and because i wasn’t present for that, bye bye,” John, a longtime resident of Mosswood Park spoke to POOR Magazine . ‘This follows the sweeps of Wood Street, the death of James Edward Oakley from a Sweep in Vallejo and the brutal sweep of Lake Merrit, in every single incident, all of the residents lose their communities, their safety and their precious belongings. Oakland perpetrates this violence even though Wood Street commons and POOR Magazine have viable affordable solutions,” said tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseles co-founder of POOR Magazine.”We as houseless peoples have solutions, that don’t include millions of dollars sweeping us like we are trash,” she concluded “Once again the city of Oakland feel the need to continue doing things that harms the community and separates us more..” John Janasko, formerly houseless resident of Wood Street Commons Houseless residents of Mosswood Park have struggled with sweeps before proving the futile project of spending millions moving people to nowhere rather than listening to poor and houseless peoples solutions. “The Oakland Homeless Union stands in solidarity with all unhoused Oakland residents, and we will continue to fight until the voices of the unhoused are acknowledged as the experts of our own lives that we are. We are not subhumans, nor are we garbage to be swept into the shadows; we are human beings, and one day history will show who was on the side of right, and who was not.”,said Freeway , Oakland Homeless union Because of this sweep and the daily sweeps harassment POOR Magazine, Wood Street Commons and Oakland Homeless Union are demanding that the City of Oakland, immediately implement a moratorium on sweeps Click on this link for sanctuary solutions/demands created by houseless and formerly houseless residents and leaders of Homefulness/POOR Magazine and Wood Street Commons Please follow: IG @reinadeaztlan IG & fb @poormagazine IG @woodstreetcommons IG & fb: @oakland.homeless.union
- Berkeley Copwatch National Conference 2025
PoorMag's Poverty Skolas will be at the 4th National Copwatch Conference What: 4th National Copwatch Conference Time : Saturday April 19th. Panels from 10am-3:15pm, Evening Program 7pm-9:30pm Place : Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94704 10am Evictions, Displacement, Police Violence Since the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass Decision - Tiny participating in panel with other folks working against displacement. In the summer of 2024, places where unhoused people sleep and congregate are increasingly under attack by the state. In parallel, working class communities are displaced by gentrification. Police are at the forefront of both. 7:00pm An evening of artistic resistance with art, music and poetry! Po-Poets will be performing along with a combo of music, short videos and share-outs.




















