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Despite 3 sworn officers per tent, the unhoused in L.A. end up investigating each others’ murders. ⚠️ Graphic illustrated descriptions of homicide and police violence By Ruth, an unhoused anti-displacement activist living in public in the City of Los Angeles. She can sometimes be heard on L.A. Public Press’ podcast SMOGLAND RADIO. 🆓🇵🇸 “Too close to home” When LAPD “knocked” on the door of my tiny home late in the morning on a weekday in August last year, I thought they were there to ask me about the incident that had occurred two nights’ prior. My unhoused neighbor had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance in unknown condition. I had just heard him say “Call 911!” and take off running. I didn’t call, but someone did, thankfully, because I heard the brakes of an ambulance as it pulled in (no sirens) and walkee-talkees beeping and buzzing in the distance. A helicopter launched. Eventually, I was ordered to come out of my tiny house with my hands up. Bright flashlights were shone on me. They asked if I knew that my neighbor had been attacked. He was being rushed to Cedars. They didn’t know if he was going to make it. He had told me to call 911, but I hadn’t. My phone at the time was damaged, so the operator would not have been able to hear me. Plus, he had taken off running. I didn’t even know in which direction. In the morning, red blood could be seen splattered on dead leaves and grass. Yellow CRIME SCENE tape was wrapped around his tent. That was 24 hours before this knock. On this morning, the cops weren’t here about yesterday’s stabbing or my injured neighbor, who they think pulled through. They were here about a murder that happened here overnight. I had heard one single gunshot incredibly close, closer than I’ve ever heard one, around 1:30am. The sound had an unmistakable “CLAP” as it reverberated in the night. I ask who got shot. But this murder wasn’t a shooting. It was another stabbing, a fatal one this time. “Overkill,” they oink and grimace, whispering gruesome details to each other. Again, they want to know what I saw, but I still hadn’t left my tiny house. They kept giving me more reasons not to. “Like I said last time, it’s been incredibly dark out here, ever since  —  ” “Maybe the next victim will cooperate,” the cops said coldly. “  —  the lights here went out in November 2019,” I continued. “We’ve asked the City to fix them, we tried 311…” “It’s not safe out here!” the Senior Lead Officer says, handing us his card on his way out. There has been no less than one recorded homicide per day, on average, in the City of Los Angeles for two consecutive years (2021 + 2022). In 2022, there were 382 homicides in the City of L.A., according to LAPD, which was a slight drop from 2021, when there were just over 400 killings. 2020 marked the change from a steady rate of <1/day observed for at least eight consecutive years prior. From 2012 to 2019, there were never more than 299 total homicides recorded by LAPD in a single year. In 2020, there were 355 homicides, or just under 1/day, on average. 1+ daily homicide in 2021 and 2022. What is even more alarming than L.A.’s “new normal” 1+/day homicide rate is that this City is becoming an increasingly dangerous place for the most vulnerable subpopulations among us, and safer for everyone else. Also, justice is becoming increasingly rare for marginalized crime victims and their families, who often perceived by LAPD as not being “taxpayers”, therefore not contributing to their overly-inflated paychecks, and not deserving of their protection. Homicides of unhoused people in the City of Los Angeles have 4,600% since 2010, and more than doubled from 2019 to 2021. From 2010  —  2014, there were never more than 5 unhoused homicide victims in a single year. Unhoused people are disproportionately represented as victims in recent excess homicides —  and our homicides are significantly less likely to result in any consequence, such as the identification and arrest of a suspect. This is especially concerning when you consider that people experiencing homelessness outdoors, in shelters, and in vehicles “on any given night” are <1% of the population — and we typically have far more contacts with law enforcement than the housed majority <1% of the population of L.A. is homeless “on any given night”. (LAHSA) Since we are “known” to police officers due to our frequent contact, crimes against us should be easier to solve, and yet our cases typically go cold. More than half of the homicides with unhoused victims from 2022 were still open in January 2023, when I received an answer (below) to my November CPRA request to LAPD. At that same time, the overall homicide solve rate was only 58%, but it rose to 77% by March 2023 because more cases got closed. UNSOLVED HOMICIDE AND MANSLAUGHTER COUNT WITH VICTIM/SUSPECT HOMELESS FOR DATES 01/01/2022 — 12/31/2022 • Crime: Criminal homicide • Count: 158 • Victim homeless: 48 • Suspect homeless: 5 Note: One additional homicide with an unhoused victim was discovered before the 2022 report, bringing the total to 92. In 2022, 91 homicide victims were recorded as lacking housing, and 291 were presumed to be housed. Recent research has pegged the danger of living without housing as being at least 3.5 times more dangerous than residing in housing. The difference has been widening over the past decade, far outpacing increases in homelessness. 1 in 4 homicide victims is unhoused. Living outdoors in L.A. has not always been this hazardous. 2022’s total of 91 homicides with homeless victims is a 535% increase from 2015, when there were 17 unhoused people killed by homicide. It is easy to dismiss the increase in homicides with unhoused victims as the consequence of increased homelessness in L.A. in general, but it is not that simple. In the time since 2015 that homicides with unhoused victims grew 535%, homelessness in the City of L.A. had increased, but only 63%, according to LAHSA’s point-in-time counts. The rate of deadly violence against unhoused people is increasing at more than five times the pace of displacement. GRAPH L.A.”Point-in-time” Homeless Count 2010 (around 20k) to present. The PIT doubled to 40k between 2019 and 2020. Of the 382 total homicides that occurred in LAPD’s jurisdiction in 2022, over 150 were still not “solved” as of my CPRA request. It is hard to know where to begin to attempt to make the streets safer without peeking into “solved” homicides with unhoused victims. In trying to do so, yet another alarming trend emerges: a dismal rate of “closing” homicide cases when the victim was homeless compared to the overall “solve” rate for all homicides. This is a reflection of the arrest disparity observed in police departments all around the country of homicide suspects in cases where the victim was not white 158 unsolved homicides from 2022 as of January 2023 “Closed” cases with no closure For as much as the City of L.A. spends on its police department     —     over half of the general funds in the City budget, plus LAPD are granted additional funds by City Council motions every year     —     one would think their solve rate for a major crime like homicide would have been better than 48% (less than half) when the victim is a vulnerable unhoused person. In January, LAPD’s solve rate for 2022 homicides was 58%, but 48% when the victim was unhoused, leaving over 50 “open” cases, and possibly over 50 murderers on the lose Unhoused Homicide Victims in the City of L.A. 2010-2022 MO Code 1218 2022 91 2021 85 2020 58 2019 42 2018 39 2017 28 2016 22 2015 17 2014 3 2013 4 2012 5 2011 3 2010 246X more unhoused homicide victims in 12 years Aggravatingly, “closed” homicide cases sometimes offer little more than “open” ones in terms of closure or insights. Sometimes, the type of insight they provide is more telling of the flaws of the criminal justice system as a whole. When a homicide is “solved”, usually it means a suspect has been identified, apprehended and an arrest has been made. The suspect may be in County jail still awaiting trial or out on bond, depending on the suspect’s financial situation, prior record, the integrity of the evidence gathered by police, and the District Attorney’s confidence in the charges. There are other circumstances besides an arrest that can cause a case to be “closed” or “solved”, although these are unusual. One example would be evidence of the simultaneous death of the prime suspect, such as in the case of an apparent murder-suicide. Obviously this scenario is very rare to encounter, but there are more common ones playing out regularly across the country in San Diego, San Francisco and New York City this year. Banko Brown & Jordan Neely had their homicide cases closed despite witnesses, video evidence, and suspects in custody. Two recent examples of cases that closed without “justice” that have gained a lot of attention in the press are the murders of Banko Brown and Jordan Neely, both vulnerable Black unhoused people in places considered “public”, killed by privileged men who are paid to use guns  —  a Marine and a security guard. In April, Banko Brown, a young, Black unhoused trans man and organizer, was accused of shoplifting a small amount of food from a San Francisco Walgreens and subsequently shot in the back by a security guard outside the store. In May, Jordan Neely, a young, Black unhoused subway performer, was tackled to the ground by a U.S. Marine while riding the New York City subway and held there until he stopped breathing. Both of these awful cases resulted in arrests  —  the security guard and the Marine were taken into custody by SFPD and NYPD, respectively  —  but they were only held briefly for questioning before being released without facing any criminal charges. Six weeks after choking Neely to death, Marine John Penny was finally indicted for second-degree manslaughter and, two weeks after that, also arraigned for criminally negligent homicide. But Banko Brown’s killer, armed Walgreen’s security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, was interrogated and released, and D.A. Brooke Jenkins is now under investigation by Attorney General Rob Bonta to see if she abused her discretion by not letting a jury decide. There have not been any updates since July, but the family of Brown have filed a wrongful death lawsuit. For homicides with unhoused victims in the City of L.A. that did result in the apprehension of a suspect —  even in highly publicized cases where video evidence and eyewitnesses were available  —  it is possible that some or all of the suspects ended up walking free, after all One of Granny Annie’s teenage killers got a slap on the wrist for “hobo hunting”. On May 11, two teenagers shot a sleeping 68-year-old homeless woman outside of a San Diego coffee shop with pellet guns, rupturing her aorta. They weren’t arrested until August. On Friday, the 19-year-old who drove their car pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting assault with a deadly weapon, receiving a suspended three-year prison sentence, for which he will serve six months in County jail. The shooter has been charged with first-degree murder but has not yet been sentenced. Some of the killers of unhoused people were on-duty LAPD officers. Those are some of the only cases that got solved. How was the officer involved? LAPD shot 37 people in 2022, including ten unhoused people and 15 “mentally ill”* people. They call these incidents“Officer-Involved Shootings” (OIS). *Prior contact with LAPD’s dedicated Mental Evaluation Unit (“M.E.U.”), SMART was the criteria used by LAPD to declare these victims “mentally ill” (MI). LAPD’s classification has nothing to do with the victim ever actually receiving a mental health-related diagnosis from a doctor. Since “MI” designation only has to do with prior contact and not diagnosis, unhoused people are more likely to receive the MI designation because we categorically have more interactions with police LAPD shot 37 people in 2022. In shootings of unhoused people that were not committed by on-duty LAPD officers, LAPD struggled to gather evidence, identify persons of interest and make arrests  —  resulting in over half of them remaining unsolved as of January 2023. By the time of the release of their 2022 Homicide Report, LAPD claims to have solved 64% of “homeless-related homicides”, but that’s a combination of cases with homeless victims and homeless suspects, because LAPD chooses not to differentiate. It also includes cases that were solved without arrest. So, while 50% is objectively a terrible clearance rate, it’s not that much worse than LAPD’s overall homicide clearance rate at the time of my CPRA request, which was 58%, or their arrest rate for homicide suspects, which was 51% when calculated by Washington Post in 2018. Thinking about the fact that in January of this year, there were potentially 158 murderers running around “scot-free” made me feel utterly failed by the over-resourced department’s lack of action over the violence we experienced the previous summer. I felt like I had put in more effort to solve the homicide of my unhoused neighbor than LAPD and LASD, who were also on the case, while also having several frivolous LAMC § 56.11 and 63.44 tickets keeping me deeply in debt to the city still hanging over my head. 3 sworn LAPD officers per tent “Stay safe.” Last month, the same LAPD Senior Lead Officer who questioned us back in August tried to get us to voluntarily move closer to the exact location where the brutal murder occurred last August, while admitting there had been no developments in the case. Click here to hear the SLO promise to arrest us if we did not move from the lit public area where we had resided for six years, down into the dark corridor where the unsolved homicide and assaults took place in August 2022. When I pointed out the contradiction in being criminalized for having “bulky” things like an umbrella in public space (It is actually legal to have up to a 10’ umbrella or canopy per person in public beaches and parks in the City of L.A per 63.44.) and now being told that I was not in public space after all, the SLO suddenly didn’t know anything about my multiple LAMC § 56.11 and 63.44 citations and warnings. If only LAPD’s homicide investigations were handled with the same level of enthusiasm as 41.18 ticket-writing. It was not lost on me that the assaults occurred at the exact same time that LAPD was gaining thousands of additional opportunities to harass and fine us under the resurrected LAMC § 41.18, which was being expanded at City Hall on 8/9 in between the assaults and the murder. LAPD have fully embraced 41.18 by committing hundreds of arrests, which staff of City Controller Kenneth Mejia visualized in an interactive map. Disproportionate penalties It’s not just that it feels like napping is treated as a worse crime than the killing of a napping person in the City of Los Angeles. That feeling is supported by evidence showing a total lack of consequences for many murders, compared to the thousands of dollars in penalties and weeks or months spent behind bars incurred by people who dare to doze off outdoors. A single LAMC § 41.18 charge can result in up to $2,500 in fines and/or six months in jail—the same sentence the 19-year-old driver and accomplice of the “hobo hunter” who murdered Granny Annie in San Diego got handed on Friday. Who is killing unhoused people in L.A., and why are they getting away with it more often than they’re not? It figures that LAPD’s #1 most arrested person is Annie Moody, a Black unhoused grandmother who lives in a tent and has spent around 18 months in jail awaiting trials for 41.18. Meanwhile, the suspects who killed these victims* in 2022 are still unknown or at large: Nicky Chandler, a Black 47-year-old, died on 6/2 after his tent was lit on fire at Grand Ave & 83rd Street Gayane Stevens, a white 43-year-old woman, was discovered dead after being shot in the head at a “transient encampment” on Colorado Street and the L.A. River Alfie Serrano, a 54-year-old Latino, who died of gunshot wounds in a dumpster on Halloween Christopher Schunemann, a white 35-year-old who was stabbed on 8/10 near his tent on Laurel Canyon & the L.A. RiverWay Manuel Moreno Sagrero, found at 2:30am on 7/18 in a burned motorhome on the 3400 block of Marmion Way. “Video evidence shows an unknown male setting fire to the RV.” David Ramos, a 48-year-old Latino was shot through the mouth and neck in the wash at the 3900 block of Chevy Chase Drive on 9/3/22 John Dorsey, a 35-year-old Black man was shot in the parking lot of a motel where he was staying on 11/6 at the 8400 block of Sepulveda This is by no means a comprehensive list of unsolved homicides of unhoused people, and it’s possible not all of the victims named were actually unhoused. I selected them based on available details about the location and circumstances of their deaths gathered from news, LAPD data, reports and press releases, L.A. Coroner records, court records, council files and media. Keywords I looked for:  tent, encampment, transient, motorhome/R.V./camper/recreational vehicle/trailer, river, wash, etc. For many people who died in vehicles or on roads, there was no way for me to know if they were possibly residing in their vehicles or unhoused. Please feel free to add or correct info in the comments below. I would like to review all cases where no arrest was made and the victim may have been unhoused to identify patterns that may have gotten overlooked. At least 47 homicides with unhoused victims have occurred so far in 2023. Click here for a list, compiled from open LAPD data (this list includes only 44 because it was made before serial killer Jerrid Joseph Powell murdered 4 people this week, with three of them unhoused. It was the housed victim that he was initially caught and charged for, of course) © Ruth roofless⛺️🛒 Graphics made on Canva Illustrations made with Dream AI

by Israel Munoz/por Israel Munoz The president of Mexico has been creating more jobs so that the emigration of our Mexican citizens does not continue so that the people can survive in our country. He has proven that he has many resources so that the people do not have to leave their homelands. The last presidents who have followed the political tradition of corruption and have no scruples for the people who really need it. These behaviors of indifference are caused by the poor teaching of the schools that the conquerors began and gave us and tried to erase our indigenous schools from our grandfathers and our ancestors. But, this president has been demonstrating the values ​​that our ancestors left us. Everything is still in practice that the past presidents have taken from the people. The president, Lopez Obrador is returning and distributing back to Mexico. He has returned the country’s train tracks. He has constructed schools and airports. He has created social programs for the elderly. He has also silenced major news outlets, tabloids, like Televisa and many others who do not want progress for the common Mexican people. Lopez Obrador is putting elderly people and the next generation and our people first and is much more than any president in the history of Mexico has ever done. The next question is, who is going to be the next president? Will they continue his legacy or will the next president destroy the things that have been achieved and how long will this progress last? El presidente de México ha estado creando más empleos para que no continúe la emigración de nuestros ciudadanos Mexicanos; para que el pueblo pueda sobrevivir en nuestro país. Ha demostrado que tiene muchos recursos para que la gente no tenga que abandonar sus países de origen. Los últimos presidentes que han seguido la tradición política de la corrupción y no tienen escrúpulos ante la gente que realmente lo necesita. Estas conductas de indiferencia son causadas por la mala enseñanza de las escuelas que iniciaron y nos dieron los conquistadores y trataron de borrar nuestras escuelas indígenas de nuestros abuelos y nuestros antepasados. Pero, este presidente ha venido demostrando los valores que nos legaron nuestros antepasados. Sigue en la práctica todo lo que los pasados ​​presidentes le han arrebatado al pueblo. El presidente López Obrador regresará y distribuirá a México. Ha devuelto las vías del tren al país. Ha construido escuelas y aeropuertos. Ha creado programas sociales para personas mayores. También ha silenciado a los principales medios de comunicación, tabloides, como Televisa y muchos otros que no quieren progreso para el pueblo mexicano. López Obrador está dando prioridad a las personas mayores, a la próxima generación y a nuestro pueblo, y es mucho más de lo que cualquier presidente en la historia de México haya hecho. La siguiente pregunta es ¿quién será el próximo presidente que continuará su legado o destruirá lo que se ha logrado y cuánto durará este progreso?

"I have moved from the stage of helping friends and neighbors to the stage of now trying to help my family." GoFundMe linked below "My house wasn't just walls, roofs, and some furniture.. it was my kingdom and a source of security where I and 15 members of my family lived. Three families lived in two apartments. My father, Muhammad (77 years old), had built the house 21 years ago. He laid one stone after another and dream after dream to provide us with a decent life, but the brutal occupation did not leave us a dream or a stone. They demolished the home on January 10th and displaced everyone in it. Homeless in this bitter cold and this fierce war, but we will try to heal our wounds and struggle to survive to build a simple life for every child in the family, the oldest of whom is not yet 11 years. I have moved from the stage of helping friends and neighbors to the stage of now trying to help my family." - Yousef Al-Thani, February 3, 2024 Istanbul, Turkey GoFundMe https://gofund.me/60cf937c Picture by Yousef Al-Thani, 2024

From avaaz.org "Urgent - more than 27,000 Maasai are on the verge of losing their ancestral lands! Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan wants to evict them from their homeland to make way for luxury safaris and trophy hunting, eyeing immense profits. Years ago, when our community stood up for the Maasai with millions of people joining our campaign, the President heard us. Now our partners are asking the Avaaz community to help alert the world, again - sign now to amplify our call and reach 4 million voices! We urgently need your support. Years ago when we faced these threats, more than 2 million Avaaz members rallied behind our call! Together, we created such a storm that the former President promised never to evict us from our lands. But now, the gross eviction plans are being revived! President Samia Suluhu Hassan may not listen to us, but we know she’ll respond to media and public pressure – to all of you! " Sign the petition HERE

Youth Essays by Nija, Jay, Zaire Black Land theft From the 90's to the 2024's By Nija Black land theft was common in the South after slavery because of Jim Crow Laws. These were a group of local and state laws that supported racial segregation. The theft and removal of Black people's land and homes happen now in the 21st century because of segregation happening back then. In 2024 poor black mother Terry B is a black poor mother who is fighting a legal battle . who lost her land on the streets of Oakland after fighting her family and the courts for the place where she stays with her family. Terry has been Going through the probate process since her mother-in-law passed away in 2021. Probate is what the courts go through to lose one's assets like a house, car, or jewelry to decide or divide them equally. Soon after the house entered probate Terry lost her house to her own family and the paper knives of the unfair court system. Terry's family had lived there for 10 years before she was forced to leave. Her mother-in-law owned the house but did not have a living will set in place causing the house to go into probate and the ownership of the house to be divided. Terry's sister-in-law flew from New York 2 days after the funeral to get ahead on the house's net worth so she could profit from it before Terry and her family could even start to think about it. Back in the 1921s, 100 years ago The Tulsa Massacre was a redlined city in Oklahoma that was destroyed because 300 black Tulsans were murdered by white ritors, and a thriving neighborhood of that Oklahoma city burned to the ground, not because of the boy but because it was starting to benefit the black community while also generating wealth for black people. But in May the Black Wall Street Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, what happened on this day was one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history, with hundreds of black residents killed and thousands left homeless. The same thing happened with Move Africa but in a different way… A horrific incident happened in the year 1985 when the Philadelphia Police Department bombed the Move organization's headquarters in West Philadelphia, Numerous city blocks were destroyed and several people lost their lives as a result of the explosion. 11 people were killed including the organization's founder and five children. Over 250 residents were left without a place to live after 61 homes were demolished. Members of Move had regular encounters with law enforcement. When then-Mayor Frank Rizzo, known for having a tumultuous history with black citizens and activist groups. Frank ordered Move to leave their house, and the group entered a 15-month standoff. Nine members of MOVE, often known as Move 9 were controversially found guilty and sentenced to life in prison after the altercation resulted in the death of a police officer. Four years later, Move relocated to the quiet, largely middle-class African American residence on Osage Avenue 6221. Their neighbors continually complained to the city about trash around their rowhouse, confrontations with residents, and that Move members sometimes broadcast obscene political messages by bullhorn. After they’d spent three years on Osage Avenue, then-Mayor Wilson Goode, the first African American mayor of Philadelphia, gave the order to unlawfully evict them. A resident of the neighborhood: “We went to my friend’s house, and later that day we saw the bombing on the news. We were devastated. I was angry and heartbroken. It was a beautiful home. They were travelers. They had priceless things. And they lost everything. Everything”.  This is another example of black land theft. Diane J. The single adult Move survivor of the explosion Ramona Africa was found guilty of conspiracy and rioting and sentenced to seven years in jail. In a civil action verdict rendered in 1996, a federal jury granted her and the families of two bombing victims a total of $1.5 million in damages9. Neighbors returned to shoddy construction in 1986, and by the early 2000s, two-thirds of the neighborhood was bought out by the city. Today, the houses are largely vacant. ` In the Bay Area, there are over 35,811 homeless ppl tht have no home or nowhere to go about 70% percent of those ppl are unsheltered and are trying to live on the streets with and without their belongings. This is because of the high cost of living in the Bay Area and the high cost of the city. The connection that these stories have is that their land was taken away from them forcefully by white people because of systemic racism and classism. Terry did not get evicted because of her mom's past she got evicted because she was poor. In the capitalist system, we have today When poor people get stolen from they become another percent of the homeless in their area. Almost every 3.6 million people get evicted yearly and end up on the streets. Jay A Lot of Black folks get into debt with banksters who raise interest rates, so high they can’t afford the mortgage and they get foreclosed on. This is an example of Black Land Theft in the 21’st century. There are 17,501 houseless  people in both Oakland and San Francisco because of the rates that the government is raising with bills and taxes.  There are roughly  44% of black people that are homeowners, dwarfed by three quarters of  white homeowners. People can become houseless in so many different reasons-eviction landlords raises the rent to high so its  too expensive for a lot of people , substance use  because people go through traumatic experiences, physical disabilities like crisis and depression or unexpected events like family separation and domestic violence and more.. Another process that leads to Black Land theft and often homelessness of Black families is paperwork and laws .  For instance if a family member passes away without a living Will   The government will take over the decisions about Property owned by the family and than lose the property and possibly become homeless. Property is sometimes the only asset a family has. An example of an Asset is when a person or company having a Value and available to meet debts, commitments or legacies. Equity is the value of, could also be known as the amount a business or person is known to be worth. “There were six of us here..    ,” said Terry B, who just lost their home through probate. Probate is the legal process that must happen when a person dies, which involves proof of death (validation) and alot of legal paperwork (administration). Terry B had to go through the probate process and their ending unfortunately was not a good one. The lawyers and judge came to a conclusion that they were not tenants, her sister inlaw was not her landlord and they no longer own the home nor are they allowed to stay at this home. They had gotten evicted. There are many examples of Black Land Theft such as The Tulsa Race Riots was a two day massacre that took place in 1921. This is about African Americans becoming too economically powerful and showing their wealth by creating buildings creating properties and jobs for others. This is what brought on the violence to black wall street, which became ruins with the mob trying to ruin any normalcy, destroying their  places of business houses not to mention their lives. The destruction that was brought upon them was by far the worst act of violence in history. This is a severe act of black Land theft. This Act on Violence on color is beyond me. The Bombing of Philadelphia and the killing of our African American People including children on May 13th of 1985. As they say “small war” The Government was killing our Black african american people by using force with Police. Police hit them with Tear gas and extremely powerful water to try and evict them. The children were soaking wet and There were a lot of people tear gassed and harmed. That’s not the end as they were getting comfortable because of that incident. There was a 2nd most tragic incident embarrassing to Philadelphia on the big Boming to Black African American   to both adults and children a lot of people were killed a lot moved and never came back. What I forgot to mention is that this group called MOVE a young powerful movement to Philadelphia because Black Folks were tired of this white supremacy lead with Move Africa. A small brief on how this is connected to Black Land Theft because the White washed Government/Police bombed two blocks and evicted our people. By taking their land where they live. I think that this situation with Black families getting kicked out of their homes is very unfair.The Government tries to take away people’s homes because of the amount of money the government makes out of selling your house, sadly, that you’re living in.  Don’t worry because you can always put up a fight in Court if they Try to take your home away. Family Unlawfully Evicted By Zaire “We were unlawfully evicted. In 2020 my mother in law passed.” said Terry b Terry B is a mother of 4 who was living with her mother in law for ten years, in the family home that was owned by the mother in law. This is a 21 century example of Black land theft. Black people are more likely to take on debt in order to purchase homes,strapping them down with increased liabilities, this often leaves them with no way to get/ afford a lawyer setting them up for yfailure,“There are not only crooked lawyers but crooked judges also,” said Terry b, meaning if you have the right money they can grant you a an entitlement which is what Terry Bs sister did. Herit law allows an individual who has the right and entitlement to succeed to the wealth and property of the deceased individual, under the signed legal will else personal succession law applicable. The Tulsa Race Massacre is a common  example of black land theft Tulsa Greenwood in Oklahoma /or Black wall started off as a secluded, segregated community for Black folks. Being in the segregated community, black people began to rely on each other,  residents to create a self-sufficient district, making black wall street one of the most successful communities. A fully realized antidote to the racial oppression of the time, Tulsa Greenwood Oklahoma  was home to a thriving Black commercial district, whose many red brick buildings belonged to Black Americans and housed thriving businesses, including grocery stores, banks, libraries. Eventually it was burned down by white people “We are not tenants, and my sister in law is not our landlord, the judges agreed to that, its illegal” said  Terry b stating that what the sister in law is doing is illegal and the judges and lawyers are allowing it because the sister has the money for attorneys With their sister taking the home away Terry B's family became houseless with nowhere to go,  one of the reasons she became houseless is because of the system of probate. Probate is the legal process that you must follow to transfer or inherit property after the person who owned the property has passed away.  A document that can be used to cause black land theft. If Terry B's mother-in-law had a Living Will which is a record of what assets you want passed down to whomever,  it could’ve been settled through a 50/50 split.  I'm sure the mother didn't want her son ( Terry's husband) and his family homeless or for the family to split up over a house. In the end the system is designed to fail us, with racial targeting of Tulsa Greenwood. And laws and documents like probate. Heir’s law etc. These are all examples of black land land theft in history to now.

Houseless, Indigenous, Disabled Youth & Elders Teach, Share, Pray and Walk Homeless Peoples Solutions to Homelessness in Occupied Tovaangar Lands (LA) What/Where/When: 5pm Thursday, March 14th -Part #1 UnSelling Mama Earth Talk at UCLA- 12noon Friday, March 15th- Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour - Pacific Palisades- 21st and San Vicente-(pls text 510-435-7500 to confirm location) 1pm Saturday, March 16th PoPoets Writing Workshop for Liberation- EastSide Cafe 4pm Saturday, March 16th Ceremony for Ancestors Stolen by Homelessness *& Politricks - Without community there is No Life at Van Nuys Orange Line Metro Station (6060 Van Nuys Blvd) The Activities: 5pm Thursday, March 14th Rm 2235 Public Affairs Building - UCLA campus UnSelling /Unsettling Mama Earth into a decolonial vision of Healing, Rent-Free forever Housing, LandBack and Reparations for houseless LA residents and all of us. (see attached flyer) 12 noon Friday, March 15th Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour thru Pacific Palisades - 21st and San Vicente (text 510-435-7500 to confirm location )  Walk with Indigenous, Black, Brown, Houseless & Disabled Peoples to lay down prayers, share medicine of Radical redistribution and ComeUnity reparations with communities who have extreme wealth and excess resources while houseless people die on the streets of LA- 4pm Saturday March 16th - Ceremony for Ancestors on Aetna Street: Without Community There is No Life at the Van Nuys Orange Line Metro Station (6060 Van Nuys Blvd) Weekend Events Co-sponsored by POORmagazine/PrensaPobre,Krip Hop Nation, Relcaiming Our Homes, Aetna Street Solidarity and more to come All ComeUnities welcome to walk with us/co-sponsor/pray and/or speak. "This mayor doesn't let you set up a tent in LA, so what happens? you just have people sleeping without any blankets or covers and protection right out on the street," said General Dogon, LA Community Action Network. The weekend of March 14-17th Houseless Black, Brown, Disabled povertyskolaz from Occupied Huchiun and Occupied Tovaangar will teach, share, pray, honor and activate radical redistribution, ComeUnity Reparations and poor people-led solutions to homelessness in occupied Tovaangar (LA) Launched with the first in a series of land liberation talks at UCLA , the weekend will include a "Stolen Land Untour thru Pacific Palisades, a workshop with low-no-income LA residents and a ceremony for houseless relatives who have died from classist, racist, ableist policies that target and criminalize poor and houseless residents of LA, but rarely house them.

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

povertyskola poltrickster round-up on two of the anti-poor people LIEgislations in upcoming Selection by tiny gray-garcia aka povertyskola “OWWW, OWWWWWWWW, OWWWW, OWWWW, OWWWW, OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW” Bobby, a houseless neuro-divergent relative had been screaming in 2 second intervals from the bed he was forced to lay on in in the nursing home for the last several hours. Picked up on a 5150 hold in Alameda, he was supposedly being “treated” rather than “tented” or  incarcerated. Bobby’s nightmare will get frighteningly worse with the upcoming statewide LIEgislation Proposition 1. Which is why  I need to drop some povertyskolaz knowledge on some of the ballot initiatives that will mess us poor folks up even more than we already are. LIEgislations loaded with and cloaked in so much double-speak you may not be able to untangle the truth from the BS.So Im gonna focus on Prop 1 (Statewide) and Prop F in SF (for F-U poor people with substance use struggles)  And to all my fellow houseless/po’ povertyskolaz- please vote on March 5th - your vote matters for local and state issues, no matter what you think bout the rest. Politrickster Propaganda: Proposition 1 – Treatment not Tents – will refocus billions of dollars in existing funds to prioritize Californians with the deepest mental health needs, living in encampments, or suffering the worst substance use issues. FACTS: Prop 1 will codify, LIEgislate and demand forced treatment of houseless peoples bodies. Period. Prop 1 will support the arrests, tent, belonging and medicine seizure of houseless peoples bodies and comeUnities. Prop 1 Would impose a new $6.4 billion bond to primarily fund forced treatment and institutionalization, so if we refuse their “shelter beds” we end up incarcerated and finally Prop 1 will divert money from beautiful education, art, afterschool and support services for poor youth and elders that keep us poor people from becoming isolated, abused and/or depressed, which often leads to our homelessness Notwithstanding the ironic prop 1 tag-line Treatment Not Tents, they are already violently and endlessly sweeping us houseless humans like we are trash all over California and the U$. “Newsom is pimping the Care Court, Prop 1 doesnt increase treatment at all, it funds the beds he said already existed in Care Courts,” one of my povertyskola mentors and truth-teller Paul Boden broke it down. For this povertyskola Newsom’s politricks on the backs of the poor is sadly nothing new. He literally became San Francisco’s Mayor by pimping houseless peoples struggles, causing this povertyskola to lose my measly cash crumb that helped keep me my mama and my Sun housed with the infamous LIEgilsation Care NOT Cash, which he created. Care NOT Cash demanded that poor people pay for their “shelter beds” instead of receive the little bit of money we were getting for toiletries, medicine, etc Care courts were another Newsom plan, adding an additional layer of allegedly more user-friendly court systems directed at poor people, which haven’t led to more treatment or beds, but instead have funneled alot more money to anti-social workers,  judges, non-profiteers and the injustice  system. “I lost my tent and I was raped,” Mary S reported to RoofLessRadio from Tongva (LA) skid row The sick, sad part is every settler town in Occupied Turtle Island has multiple LIEgislations, laws and codes on the books, new and old as the pauper and ugly laws that adjudicate our lives when we are outside, In a recent RoofLessradio interview I did with comrade General Dogon from LA Community Action Network in Tongva (LA) he broke down the insanity of LA's new Tent-taking law 41:18. "Under 41:18 this mayor doesn't let you set up a tent in LA, so what happens? you just have people sleeping without any blankets or covers and protection right out on the street," said General Dogon, LA Community Action Network. If a povertyskola I know needs substance use treatment or a home, I would NEVER refer them to Care Court,  I get to work referring them to my underground system of grassroots advocates and what we at  POOR Magazine call Revolutionary Love Workers, like JuneBug Kealoha, Manna from Heaven’s Diane and Omowale, Aunty Frances Moore and the Self-Help Hunger Program and all of us warriors at POOR Magazine and Homefuless, to name a few. “Prop one is just the next block in the structure that they have been building to force people into internment out of sight out of mind where they can continue to collect money off the backs of the poor. Like care Court, conservatorship, and now prop one none of these  provive the true resourcing and real time housing that is needed.” said warrior sisSTAR Crystal Rose Sanchez, Sacramento Homeless Union “They took my tent, I was in a silent meditation. Now I just want to get out of here,I’m not safe here, please let me out,” Bobby told me calmly in a rare break from his OWWW, “I mind my own business outside, I just need to be free, like you, like any human,” he turned his head toward the wall and stopped talking and resumed crying. Bobby, like so many of our relatives in deep struggle inside our own minds, living on the street, absolutely don’t want to be inside. Don’t want and are terrified of forced treatment and forced “housing”.Similarly, there are thousands of us on the street who are desperately trying to get inside, but there is no place we can afford or be accepted because of multiple hoops, credit checks, wait-lists, gatekeepers and the lie of rent. In the middle of all this, there are solutions like Wood Street Commons, Nickelsville (Washington State), Aetna Street, Camp Resolution and Homefulness. Solutions created by poor, houseless, neuro-divergent, disabled people. Informed by poverty scholarship and our own overstanding of each others lives and struggles. But these settler governments refuse to listen or see anyway but their own incarceration nation. “We had a community that took care of each other, we provided free, healthy food stocked kitchen, healing services and a free store, but most of all community, provided where people felt safe,” John Janosko, resident leader of Wood Street Commons, PROPOSITION F (For F-U low-no-income substance users) Poltrickster Propaganda: Proposition F would require anyone who receives CAAP benefits to be screened for substance use disorder if the City reasonably suspects the person to be dependent on illegal drugs. When screening indicates a recipient may be dependent on illegal drugs, the City will provide a professional evaluation and may refer the recipient to an appropriate treatment program. First of all, this is a racist, classist abelist invasion of privacy, as the majority of people seeking the cash crumb are people of color, disabled and/or houseless. 2) The cash grant itself keeps alot of poor people who happen to also be substance users, housed which will lead to more of us poor, disabled people holding on by a thread into the street. Finally, There is such a thing as harm reduction London Breed! There are beautiful, amazing warrior survivors of substance abuse who are working their harm reduction programs and thriving. No they wouldn't pass these tests, but they are low-income and will quickly become houseless when and if they fail them, or just opt out of the test and lose that urgently needed support. “No matter how many times you sweep me, jail me or count me, it doesnt give me a home,” tiny 2019 To hear more on the upcoming Selection poltricks for povertyskolaz tune in to Po Peoples Radio live radio and podcast at poormagazine.org/radio 6pmPT Tuesday, Feb 27th or find Po Peoples Radio wherever you get your podcasts-

By Audrey CandyCorn aka SistahSaveASoul February 22nd, 2024 Hydeia Broadband Dies At age 39 I was heartbroken when I got the news out the blue it hit me. Like a dump truck the information I downloaded my heart was beating a million miles per hour I begin to sweat as if I were in a marathon run I felt as if I had been reunited with a long lost relative just to be told that they had passed away And disbelief I was she's gone Hydeia  sweet sweet Hydeia  Hydeia touch so many lives starting at the age of three her journey began truly I can say she has served her whole life ... I'd like to think of her as the gift that keeps on giving and I only use that statement with my beloved deceased son Torian Dajour Hughes You see we all have a purpose we all have at least one gift some of us operate in our purpose and some of us never operate in our purpose some of us are aware of our purpose and some of us are not aware of our purposes however in this life we learn quickly that we perish daily as we're growing we're dying simultaneously together the flesh gets old and we call it growing .... We celebrate when babies come into the world and we cry when people leave this earth  ... Somehow we managed to get it backwards we're supposed to cry when we enter Earth's realm and rejoice when we departure this tangible Realm called life in human form. Ashes to ashes dust to dust... Only what you do for God is lasting and so I think of these things when I think of the character and nature of Hydeia Broadband in case this name doesn't ring a bell and depending on the age bracket it may not ... I'd say anybody 35 to 80 ... Would possibly be the age range ... Hydeia Broadband started out her journey at the tender age of three , not knowing her fate this beautiful brown-eyed coily hair Earth bound angel Was Tasked TO Send A MESSAGE to AMERICA ONCE SHE DEPARTED FROM HEAVEN... ACCEPTING THIS TASK little Hydeia was Born June 14th 1984 Her parents were Loren and Patricia You see this family story is unique in the early 90s there was an illness that plague the land kind of like how Corona did in 2020 no one could escape it and there was no amount of money that could cure it .. It was like a plague taking everybody out from Hollywood to the ghetto and all in between blacks and whites Latinas and Asians we all lived in fear pure terror ... During this time there was a rapid increase of births and then a rapid decrease ... Folks were dropping like flies babies were being born ill Doctors were baffled and it didn't have a name eventually one surfaced and when it did , folks were mortified the terror was real ... One day while sitting at the family's table I was introduced through my television screen to a little girl by the name of Hydeia She was 5 yrs old she had a story to tell barely being able to speak she had a message to give "WE LIVE NORMAL LIVES JUST LIKE YOU " Would soon be the campaign and the start of an activist . She was sickly the doctors figure it out ... Couldn't pinpoint the calls didn't have a name for the sickness and wasn't sure what it was whatever it was HYDEIA  had it And IT WAS THE NUMBER ONE KILLER IN THE WORLD so of course the people in her lives were very concerned especially since her life had just begun . Determined to live little Hydeia and her family begin to crusade creating awareness seeking answers and sharing the knowledge at least what little bit they had which was none at the time ... At the time there was a Hollywood big name a superstar that had the SAME illness as Hydeia Threw Divine appointment the little girl made it to the news and was on my TV screen ... Her story was touching and she had left a mark on me I'm sure she had left the mark on the rest of the world ... Eventually Little Hydeia Broadband Was diagnosed with HIV come to find out she was born with it and by the time she was 5 years of age it turned into full-blown Aids ... Years went by and Hydeia would make guest appearances one of them was on Nickelodeon a kids program ... She also got the opportunity to meet magic Johnson face to face and together they shared their stories supporting one another and sharing the news of awareness ... Hydeia didn't stay in the limelight but she definitely got the attention deserved to help Kickstart Her Footsteps Paving The Way For her to Reach and receive the help/ Recourses She MUCH needed ... (Giving her access ) by the time she was 7 Hydeia A (The ) national symbol of HIV AIDS advocacy ... Hydeia never capitalized or went Hollywood when it came to the matter at heart she remained humble and utilize the platform to create longevity for herself and others that dealt with this unfortunate virus .. A REAL ANGEL Hydeia dedicated her life from start to end NOBLY she took up the torch of an illness that plagued her body with BRAVERY and RESPECT ... Never did we ever hear anything NEGATIVE about her ... Of course she was human and I'm sure she had her flaws before the most part she did exactly what she came to do ... And she did it with Grace ... And so I wanted to take the opportunity in the month of February Black History month to honor Hydeia As I gather the information of her passing on Feb 20th 2024 . What a Great Soul to have visited Earth Dear Sister you will be missed. The WORK Dedication Love And Devotion You have given To yourself and Our Community WORDS can't Express ... There have been so many causes and partnerships Sistah Hydeia Has contributed too Will And Has forever time stamp A significant phase of History Starting out As A BLACK Female Child Finishing As A Full Fledge Women Up until her most recent transition. You take the opportunity to do your research you will learn about the AIDS healthcare Foundation the God loves me billboard she spoke in 2014 in Los Angeles as an LONG LIFE Aids activist and Also She Was the speaker in 2015 Alabama AIDS forum ... Just to name a few ... Hydeia Broadband had no control over the life that she was born into however Hydeia Broadband CONTROLLED her destiny and accepted the path she excelled passing the test with flying colors and great strides to know her or to know of her is to love her and to be grateful for her because she did not have to step into the role but she did for if she didn't we may have never known of her and she may not have lived as long as she did May her spirit rest easy and live on forever for the greater good and cause of mankind and God's Kingdom fly high baby girl because of you age was never looked at the same . You brought the world together and made us humane no one could resist those brown piercing almond shaped eyes that REMIND ME OF my Torian ... Life is what you make it

El Robo de Tierra Negra y La Falta de Vivienda Negra en el Mes de Historia Negra Black Land Theft and Black Homelessness in Black History Month Come out and support a family who lost their family home hear the youth and elder poverty skolaz At DeeColonize academy with their WeSearch report Where: 5542 Harvey Ave Oakland, CA When: 1:30 Tuesday , Feb 27th Sponsored by poormagazine El Robo de Tierra Negra y La Falta de Vivienda Negra en el Mes de Historia Negra Salga y apoye a una familia que perdió su hogar familiar, escuche a los jóvenes y ancianos que viven en la academia DeeColonize con su informe WeSearch Donde: 5542 Harvey Ave Oakland, CA Cuando: 1:30 Martes 27 de febrero Patrocinado por prensapobre

By Leroy F. Moore “Black ableism,” a concept that I have been writing about for years (Moore 2024). Black ableism is a form of discrimination and social prejudice specifically against Black people with disabilities, perpetrated by non-disabled Black individuals. I helped coin this concept, addressing the unique historical and cultural context of ableism within the Black community, tracing its roots to slavery and the subsequent internalization of negative perceptions of disability. Since the 1980s I have worked in both my disability and Black community. Most of my activism and cultural work has been aimed to change my communities based on my identity as a disabled Black man. My work has mostly opened avenues in the disability community, including non-profits by utilizing cultural events, research books/literature and disability studies. In the mid 1990s after feeling used and discriminated against by dominant disability nonprofits I founded Disability Advocates of Minorities Organization (DAMO) which was active for four years. DAMO was established for people of color with disabilities and the greater Black community.  Upon evaluation of DAMO I realized I have been running away from my Black community because of open wounds unknowingly inflicted by them through forms of Black ableism. As we know, terminology and the power of defining language are really important. Most often new terminology comes from the streets. Often academia adopts this language therefore giving legitimacy to the work of disabled folks without acknowledging their work. Most areas of disability have been taken from us, including the medical industry, and professionals/experts etc.  Until we take it back, redefine it, politicize it, and sometimes change it all together our work will continue to belong to others. Although the term Ableism has been defined by disability advocates from dominant culture, if you put Black in front of anything coming out of disability it must first be stripped down then reshaped in the experiences, histories and words from the Black disabled experience. By now, we must know that the Black disabled experience in America has different roots than our White disabled counterparts. Because of the need of Black disabled people to heal our wounds inflicted by our Black community, one by one or collectively, it is imperative that we tell our stories and define new terminology, definitions, art, music, political views, and provide education and resources for our Black community. Many Black disabled people have had these same thoughts. According to a Black disabled lawyer educator and organizer Talila Lewis’s working definition of ableism is: “A system of assigning value to people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression leads to people and society determining people’s value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, “health/wellness”, and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, “excel” and “behave.” You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.” (2022) If we view this definition from the perspective of the Black experience reaching back from the capture and shipping of slaves to the teaching of disability and our bodies, almost everything we have done has helped shape Black ableism toward Black disabled people. Due to the lack of awareness of race and racism that continues to exist in the disability rights movement, it is not surprising that the Black community has not made steps to recognize their own ableism. I have defined Black ableism as: Discrimination and social prejudice against Black people with disabilities or who are perceived to have disabilities from Black non-disabled people as far back as slavery. For example, slave owners used disability as a reason to devalue a slave because of what he/she could contribute to the plantation. And as we, a new people emerged out of slavery and saw by the slave master’s example that disability meant devalued. Therefore slaves internalized disability was a sin, something that needs to be healed using the outdated Religious Model of Disability mixed with The Tragedy/Charity Model of disability that says the following: The idea that disability is essentially a test of faith or even salvation in nature. If the person does not experience the physical healing of their disability, he or she is regarded as having a lack of faith in God. Mix with depicting disabled people as victims of circumstance, deserving of pity. (Moore, 2024) Unchallenged Black ableism not only holds the Black community from advancing the project of justice for all its members, but it also makes the Black community hurtful and irrelevant for the Black disabled people and their families. Black Ableism can cause many deep-rooted problems in a Black disabled person. The problems are as broad as low self-esteem, to trying to reach the unreachable, also known as overcoming or hiding their disability, to most importantly, not having a community. Ableism, like racism, manifests from individual to institutional, where it corrupts Black institutions. Black ableism can only be eradicated by stripping what the Black community has been taught about disability through the lens of oppression and then rebuilding. This rebuilding process must be conducted by coordinated teams of Black disabled people and family members who have had a presence in both the disability and Black communities. Also, part of the formula includes individuals who have held on to their identity politics and have a disability vision and reality for the Back community. In other words individuals who have a deep rooted love of their community and are willing to risk exposing their pain to help the Black community have an understanding of disability from a race and culture perspective. This process will be a long term commitment to healing and detailing the historical significance of disability to present day issues, including Black ableism. For Black disabled people and our families the rebuilding will lead to a path of Black disabled empowerment and a commonality with our Black community. The Black community will be all the richer by embracing their disabled sisters and brothers from a historical, political, participatory and cultural way of life. As Krip-Hop Nation we use Hip-Hop to reclaim, educate, advocate and Krip a space so to connect to the above, I have Krip Public Enemy’s 1989 song, Fight The Power to Fight Black Ableism. Go To “Kripped” Track of Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”

Letters Dedicated Luis Temaj/Cartas dedicadas a Luis Temaj Dear Marisol, I am Kai and I go to school at Deecolonize academy. I heard about your brother and I’m really sorry that happened to him. I hope you and your family are starting to recover from that. I’m praying for you and your family to get better. Love from Kai to you and your family. Querida Marisol: Soy Kai y voy a la escuela en Deecolonize academy. He oído hablar de su hermano y siento mucho que le haya pasado. Espero que usted y su familia estén empezando a recuperarse de eso. Estoy orando para que usted y su familia mejoren. Amor de Kai a usted y su familia. Dear Marisol, I am Avery. I go to school at Deecolonize Academy. I’m in 5th grade and I’m 11 years old. I heard about your brother Luis. I am sorry. I’m giving you blessings. Prayers, Avery Querida Marisol: Soy Avery. Voy a la escuela en Deecolonize Academy. Estoy en 5º grado y tengo 11 años. He oído hablar de tu hermano Luis. Lo siento. Te estoy dando bendiciones. Oraciones, Avery Dear Marisol, My name is Anniyah and I'm 10 years old. I go to school at Deecolonize Academy. I'm sorry about your brother. I will give my heart to you and you give your heart to your brother. Love, Anniyah Querida Marisol: Mi nombre es Anniyah y tengo 10 años. Voy a la escuela en Deecolonize Academy. Lo siento por tu hermano. Yo te daré mi corazón y tú le darás tu corazón a tu hermano. Con amor, Anniyah Dear Marisol, I am Shane. I am 8. I go to school. I am sorry for your loss. Shane Querida Marisol: Soy Shane. Tengo 8 años. Voy a la escuela. Lamento su pérdida. Shane Dear Marisol, I am Donovan. I am 7. I go to school. I am sorry that your brother died in a fire. I hope you feel ok. Love, Donovan Querida Marisol: Soy Donovan. Tengo 7 años. Voy a la escuela. Lamento que tu hermano haya muerto en un incendio. Espero que te sientas bien. Con amor, Donovan Ziair- I am Youth povertyskola reporter for POOR Magazine and student at Deecolonize Academy. Temaj was set on fire by someone while sleeping in his sleeping bag, on San Francisco 25th & Van Ness. Around 5am they say. His sister Marisol does not have vengeance in her heart for who's responsible but does want justice. “I don't wish them to suffer or anything bad to happen to them” said Marisol. “I don't want any other family to go through this”, said Marisol. I believe someone did this to Temaj because they saw him in the neighborhood and saw him as “trash.” To Marisol : I'm sorry that you had to experience losing a Close relative, I have also gone through losing a Close loved one, especially when your loved one was a kind hearted person, not bothering anybody. I wish you all the justice you and your family deserve. Soy reportero erudito de la pobreza juvenil de POOR y estudiante de la Academia Deecolonize. Temaj fue incendiado por alguien mientras dormía en su saco de dormir, en San Francisco en 25º y Van Ness. Alrededor de las 5 am dicen. Su hermana Marisol no tiene venganza en su corazón por quien es responsable pero quiere justicia. “No quiero que sufran ni que les pase nada malo”, dijo Marisol. “No quiero que otra familia pase por esto”, dijo Marisol. Creo que alguien le hizo esto a Temaj porque lo vieron en el barrio y lo vieron como “basura”. A Marisol : lamento que haya tenido que sentir la pérdida de un pariente cercano, también he pasado por perder a un ser querido cercano, especialmente cuando su ser querido era una persona de buen corazón, no molestando a nadie. Le deseo toda la justicia que usted y su familia merecen. Jay- I am Jay - youth poverty skola at Deecolonize Academy and Youth reporter at POOR Magazine - The Written Story on a homeless man that was brutally murdered For No Reason Luis T A houseless man, Luis Temaj, was set on fire by a person who lit up his sleeping bag on October 8th, 2021, around 5:00 in the morning. I just couldn’t imagine one of my close family members passing away in that tragic way. The disgusting 1st- degree murder is sickening. While I was writing this report, I realized it has to be talked about and noticed. Yes, Luis was a “homeless man” but, he was a PERSON just like the rest of us and he had a family that loved him and I bet his family is still grieving. I do send all of my condolences and I’m so sorry that happened to his family. Soy Jay - erudito de la pobreza juvenil en la Academia Deecolonize y reportero juvenil en la revista POOR - La historia escrita sobre un hombre sin hogar que fue brutalmente asesinado por ninguna razón Luis T Un hombre sin hogar, Luis Temaj, fue incendiado por una persona que prendió fuego a su saco de dormir el 8 de octubre de 2021, alrededor de las 5:00 de la mañana. Simplemente no podía imaginar que uno de mis familiares cercanos falleciera de esa manera trágica. El repugnante asesinato en primer grado es asqueroso. Mientras escribía este informe, me di cuenta de que tiene que ser hablado y notado. Sí, Luis era un “hombre sin hogar” pero, era una PERSONA como el resto de nosotros y tenía una familia que lo amaba y apuesto a que su familia todavía está de duelo. Les envío todas mis condolencias y siento mucho que le haya pasado a su familia. Nija- I am Nija- Youth povertyskola reporter at POOR Magazine and Student of Deecolonize Academy - Homeless man was set on fire and killed. Luis Temaj  was killed by stranger after having his sleeping bag set on fire by someone in San Francisco. Luis was a 43 year old and was sleeping outside on 25th street and south Van Ness in the mission district on the 8th of October 2021 when he woke up to his sleeping on fire at 5:00am and called the police for help. He later died because of the attack. He had been homeless for less than a year when he was burned alive. And now his sister is still seeking justice for him in 2024 over two years later. She said even with the 25,000$ reward it's not going to bring her brother back. She is left with sadness and anger not knowing who did this. This is a Message for the family. I'm sorry this happened to you. This is very sad. I hope things like this doesn't continue to happen to homeless people. Soy Nija- Reportero erudito de la pobreza juvenil en la Revista POOR y Estudiante de la Academia Deecolonize - Un hombre sin hogar fue incendiado y asesinado. Luis Temaj fue asesinado por un extraño después de que alguien en San Francisco le prendiera fuego a su saco de dormir. Luis tenía 43 años y dormía afuera en la calle 25 y en el sur de Van Ness en el distrito de la misión el 8 de octubre de 2021 cuando se despertó durmiendo en llamas a las 5:00 am y llamó a la policía para pedir ayuda. Más tarde murió a causa del ataque. Había estado sin hogar por menos de un año cuando lo quemaron vivo. Y ahora su hermana sigue buscando justicia para él en 2024, más de dos años después. Ella dijo que incluso con la recompensa de 25.000$ no va a traer a su hermano de vuelta. Ella se queda con tristeza y enojo sin saber quién hizo esto. Este es un mensaje para la familia. Lamento que esto te haya pasado. Esto es muy triste. Espero que cosas como esta no sigan sucediendo a las personas sin hogar. Amir- I am Youth Povertyskola Reporter with POOR Magazine - and a graduate of Deecolonize Academy  - Luis Temaj was a 40 year old homeless Guatemalan man just living on the streets of San Francisco on 25th & Van Ness when he was burnt alive with his own sleeping bag. He was accounting while lost his job and came to America to find another job but instead lost his job due to the pandemic that he became homeless on the streets being exposed due to danger out in the world. Luis was a humble loving person that people loved him but hearing this terrible thing we shouldn't be killing homeless people because they have no place to go and whoever set Luis on fire, they had no remorse. Luis Temaj had a family too, he was somebody. The person who set that man on fire should turn themselves into the police, what he did to Luis wasn't right, he was still human at the end of the day. Soy reportero de erudito de la pobreza juvenil con la revista POOR - y graduado de la Academia Deecolonize - Luis Temaj era un hombre guatamalteco sin hogar de 40 años quien solo estaba viviendo en las calles de San Francisco el 25 y Van Ness cuando fue quemado vivo con su propio saco de dormir. Estaba contabilizando mientras perdió su trabajo y vino a Estados Unidos para encontrar otro trabajo, pero en su lugar perdió su trabajo debido a la pandemia de que se quedó sin hogar en las calles siendo expuesto debido al peligro en el mundo. Luis era una persona humilde y amorosa que la gente le amaba pero al escuchar esta terrible cosa no deberíamos estar matando a personas sin hogar porque no tienen a dónde ir y quien incendiara a Luis, no tenía remordimientos. Luis Temaj también tenía una familia, era alguien. La persona que prendió fuego a ese hombre debía convertirse en la policía, lo que le hizo a Luis no estaba bien, al fin y al cabo, era un ser humano.