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On March 26th, POOR Magazine visited with Poverty skolaz of Share WHEEL where they participated in the Scholarship/Empathy Exercise as a part of the RoofLESS Radio Street Writing Workshop. Here are their stories. Pennie Gentzkow Not a hand me down The worst crisis would be relying on the education system to provide a wage that would support a family of three. A masters degree for a single mom was simply not enough. Even with child support from their fathers. This was a huge blow to my self esteem. Family departed from financial struggles. Ageism. It’s about the money or lack thereof. NO fault. NO Blame NO laziness NO Shame. All of my children went to college. AE CRISIS- how many people exist Why aren’t we educating people on the basic hygiene of a baby bottle cleaner in the vagina for prevention How many jobs exist? Not enough to sustain the artificially inflated population; through miseducation, lies and propaganda. If you need organ transplants to heal from your misguided behavior. Pay women – be honest – stop lying Workalem Aragaw EM Anitra Freeman My life was falling apart– job, home and family– and I didn’t find out why until 10 years later–undiagnosed bipolar disorder. One night, driving home from work, I stopped by a river, watched the dark water for a while, thought about just driving in. Wouldn’t it be easier on everyone? I started the car and drove hours

On March 25th 2023 The Poor Magazine / PNN PNW (Poor News Network Pacific Northwest) Group of poverty scholars hosted a RoofLESS Radio Street Writing Workshop at Nickelsville. in Chief Si'ahl. These are their stories. Slam-Bio Po Poets Project Exercise Name: Austin or Oscar “Home”: Las Vegas Where are your people from: Europe = ( A line about your struggle: I made it out but I wanna turn back And help others make It out too - in memory Of all those lost to death, addiction, prison, Or marriage Lovin you! Your Vision: Community of abundance beyond capitalism No cops, no guns, no abuse, just love, peace, justice, and life. No pain, reparations, land back, embrace and nurture trans, all, or ?gender folks, real equity and quality no more injustice, court bench warrants, handcuffs, or prisons. No more time clocks, Nordstrom or McDonald’s. Gabby Baltimore, descendant of East Coast slaves, unrecorded origin unknown, but not forgotten I grew up like them, traveling, unstable, lost My caged parents couldn’t see freedom And therefore, couldn’t see me But now I’m strong But now I see But now I’m love Name: Haile Where: The Great Pacific NorthWest Where are your people from: Africa A Line: The weather (being when dealing with things 24/7)- even if it is slight -documents -safety Vision: -all organizations collaborate to get actual data that will do something for all those in need Name “Where” you are trans Line -3 about struggle Fem (they/their) Dogs, free city, New Haven, CT, also a world of g’s and og’s and ug’s Having not arrived, Unsure where homefulness is, Being willing to be willing to Look, to land, being open to -, consolidating Being eater*-feeding/and be fed- sharing in placenta, coral becoming a nexus in a nest(?) A layer of nurturance, locating myself, becoming a dot, a grain in an electrical storm, shining in -- that I didn’t believe into. Becoming eater. Electrical charge I’m Fem (they/their) I’m from occupied Waupanog territory and released from psychiatric and addiction prisons. I raised - word - Pablo Eloie Not yet to homefulness but willing to be willing to -, finding - in my mouth that tastes the names of the dead, dying and the living, all of us electrified grains in an Aurora Borealis Name: Carol D Huey Where: Bremerton, WA, Seattle, WA Where are your people from: Charleston, SC area A Line: Today, I consider myself a survivor, having been through many struggles in life starting with addiction, mental health issues — to include night tremors + PTSD. I am grateful for where I am today; in permanent housing. I too went through a fire 1 ½ years ago. I thank ?, I survived that, lived in tent for short while, then tiny homes + finally permanent housing Name: Greg (they/them) Where: Seattle, Pacific Northwest Where are your People from: The Soufend, Seattle, (Rainier Beach, Othello) A Line: After an eviction, loss of my storage, RV, + car, I’m just glad to have a solid roof over my head. And that I still have my dog + cat after all these years. Vision: I aim to be the person I needed when I was younger. I strive to create a space around myself where folks feel comfortable being authentic. I’d love to see all my friends + family happy, healthy, + safe Haiku: Tiny, but Big I love my small home Having one is huge to me No more sleeping cold. Every time I shine some light on I really who I am I make it impossible for me to hide Name: John Where: Hamilton, Ohio Where are your People from: The south Georgia A Line: Mental health, oppression, housing at the moment Name: “Taffy” Harriet Inez Killgore Where: Bay Area, Earth, sometimes outer space : ) Where are your People from: Norwegian, Native American A Line: Housing Challenged All my 52 yrs. Helping Others wiping tears Overcome addiction, the struggle is real Name: Exquisite Where: San Francisco By Area Ancestral Land of the Ohlone Born in colonially Known Oakland, CA From the wounded womb of my blood mother My home, and where i’m from is Earth Mother Where are your People from: My people are from the Black, Dead, Red Sea of the colonizer’s way. Atlantic Yemanjả, Oya, Oshun...Orisha. Oakland Descendant of Arkansas. Scott Family, Caucom plantation. Slaves. Captives. Captured A Line: Liberating from White Supremacy Culture. Structure. I see the arrival of all Higher Powers, Creator and Source of peace, prosperity, purpose Soon. And very soon. Susan Marcos Chavela Crisis: self, health Self is Health The universal necessity of good form Is the universal need For ALL Inclusive Healthcare Universal Health automatic Coverage for ALL American Citizens A mandate to the Rewrite of the United States constitution Basic Primary needs- Dis? But Food - shelter- health care without People Die! NEW NATIVE Suey Mary Pelsri. - -- 3 “T” is Time Talent Taxes ---mixed - set aside for See This Primary- vote Native Established Inhabitants Generation occupied Homeland own Home city

On March 24th, POOR Magazine visited with Poverty skolaz of Real Change where they participated in the Scholarship/Empathy Exercise as a part of the RoofLESS Radio Street Writing Workshop. Here are their stories. Rudy Cabonias I was 18 years old managing a burger King in the nine months I had a house car Then my son passed away I gave up I Had a job, house, a car Life was good. Then my son Passed and I just gave up Crisis: DON’T KNOW, But it’s HARd BEiNg FREE to liFE with All Things around you. So much HAtE ANd PAiN ANd Hard, But I KEEP my HEAd up High ANd gET dowN that Road To HAppiNess – – U FROM MR. CORNbREAd #10880 Michelle McDonald Crisis: · Realization of lack of Justice and untruthful law · Separation from my child and a system I don’t trust!! · feeling that my life and my childs was ot handled properly! What would you do?: 40 hrs. Week. Before I located a job with that my hours and 3 children, I would establish childcare and locate resources and family. To properly establish, I would let my landlord know I’m working on resources to cover my rent and stay up to date on tenant laws and ? Anonymous Crisis: Overdoses ???? HIT N RUNS cancer murder BAD/NO NEIGHBOR POLICY BORDERLINE Diabetes The age of B.C.C.E.A/D/= O.D. CAR WREAK DRUNK DRIVER LIAR USERS ABUSERS THIEVES WIEDOES WAR ZONE HAUNT OF SID ROAD Pee URINE STATES OF AMERICA FINAL ANALYSIS Tanya Falk My Life I struggled from a little girl on I suffered molestation to beatings My eyes black and blue From my dad molesting me To going into group and foster homes Up til I was 18 I was In some type of government care They never loved me at all I was thrown away! Till in my 20’s I gotten married To a wonderful man Had 2 great wonderful kids Came to Seattle and Experience homelessness and A beat down my Husband and I We were at a park With our 8 year old When my husband gotten Hit I tried to protect him But I couldn’t I ended up getting a dislocated arm and a plate But enough about me Look at all the other people Black, oriental, Muslim and Natives They got teated worse than Me I cry and sob For their lives matter to me! Tanya M Falk (Falk) Dennis Wilsey Crisis: WHERE I liVED in MPLS- WAS condemned I BECAME HOMELESS I HAD NO PLACE TO LiVE I CAME TO SEATTLE TEN YEARS AGO I LiVED iN TENT CiTY FOR 1 YR - AND THEN WiLLIAM BOOTA CENTER FOR SiX MONTHS AFTER 1 ½ YRS. HOMLESS I GOT SUBSiDiZED HOUSiNG REAL CHANGE HAS HELPED ME WiTH ACTiViTEY AND A SOURCE OF SOME iNCOME-NOT A LOT WORKSHOP (SLAM BIO) VoluNTEER’S FROM OAKLAND CALiF. POVERTY SCHOLAR’S REAL CHANGE HElP’S ME TO CONTINUE FORWARD AND TO NOT JUST SIT AND DO NOTHING I’VE BEEN iN SEATTlE 10 YRS AND SElliNG REAL AHNGE 9 YRS. I DON’T SEll MANY PAPER’S ONLY A COUPlE HOURS A DAY BUT iT HElP’S ME TO HAVE A PlAN FOR THE DAY DENNiS WilSEY 12412 Joseph Howard Crisis: My worst crisis happened in 2015. I took a security job out of state in Florida. At the time I was in subsidized housing in Arion court. The job ended in six months. I however covered my rent so I did not owe any money. When I returned I could not get my place back.. I was told don’t call us we’ll call you. I stayed living on the streets every since What would you do?: I don’t know EARl AKA NEW YORK After Da DARKeST night Comes A BRighteR Day \ 2 PAC ↘ SAID this IN 1993 Angie Crisis: Being gay in this society has been one of my biggest struggles. Treating me like im nobody but I am somebody. Somebodies child, sister, aunt, mother I can only be thankful that the kind people outweigh the mean and ignorant ones. What would you do?: Definitely take the job and try to reach out to churches or places that are willing to help me with my rent until something else can come up for me. Anonymous Crisis: My family experience homeless and Crisis: financial, is maybe the worst! Family, none! Self fine!” …What do you do?: Need! Paper Work #SS card

Houseless/Formerly Houseless Mamas, Elders, and Youth Launch Homefulness #2 with the ancient architecture of our ancestors from all across Mama Earth When: 10:00 AM Tuesday April 11, 2023 Where: Homefulness #2 7600 BlackArthur(MacArthur) Bl Deep East Huchuin (Oakland) This event will feature Homes from Our Ancestors Report form Indigenous/formerly houseless Black, Brown Youth from Deecolonize Academy and houseless/formerly houseless builder/founders, poets & cultural workers at Homefulness/POOR Magazine With Special Guests Kenya Wright- Builder artist, healer from Butterfly Breathworks & Ras K'dee, Afro-Pomo musician, builder from AudioPharmacy Following the Press Conference there will be a free workshop for the ComeUnity in Natural Building Technologies- Space limited to low/no-income/houseless youth, elders, and families from Huchuin (Oakland)

Image of the UnTour “guides” by Israel Munoz/Povertyskola wit POOR Magazine Land Back Land Back Black Land Black Land Houseless humans housed Instead of swept like we r trash…. Tiny- excerpt of the Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour chant thru Occupied Salish Territory “They didn’t give us this land to use out of the kindness of their hearts, they did it because we fought, we organized and didnt stop putting pressure on them,” said Peggy, a longtime warrior with Nicklesville, a self-determined poor/houseless people-led comeUnity in Seattle or occupied Chief Si’ahl as i have respectfully re-named it. Nicklesville was named after Mayor Nickles who perpetrated violent sweeps of homeless people like so many poltricksters across Turtle Island As Peggy spoke, i reflected on the impossible struggle of us houseless peoples “fighting” when we already have nothing left in us to fight with, fighting to not be constantly “swept” , removed, cleaned out, gentriFUKEd, evicted and/or hated, like so many of our relatives at Wood Street, Division Street, Blackarthur Blvd, Polk Street and all across the Bay. A "Hooverville" was a group of cardboard homes, tents, lean-to’s and shacks created in the 1930’s and referred to as “shantytowns” built by houseless, jobless, poor folks during the Great Depression They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United Snakes during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. They were all across the country but many of them were in the occupied Salish territory aka Chief Siahl (Seattle) One of the NicklesVille tiny homes The bright, sharp rays of Tonateu (the Sun) brought a warm glow to a small corner of occupied Salish lands (Seattle) where the Nickelsville comeUnity of tiny homes was located as Peggy spoke to RoofLESS radio/POOR Magazine family visiting/sharing on our recent Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour. Homelessness is not accidental or incidental…. Its intentional cuz we can’t afford a rental…tiny Houseless/Formerly houseless residents of Homefulness and Po Poets and Povertyskolaz from POOR Magazine took our tired and often broken but not giving up, spirits and bodies up to share the medicine of Homefulness- where we all finally reside with a safe and rent-free roof and forever home. Frances Moore, Juju Angeles, Israel Munoz, Brokin Cloud and Tiburcio Garcia, were blessed to share knowledge, prayer, solutions and love with fellow houseless povertyskolaz from SHARE/Wheel /Real Change News and Stop the Sweeps Seattle and the amazing Nickelsville… One of the participants in the RoofLEss radio street-writing workshop at Nickelsville “Everytime we got threatened with sweeps or removal, we would relocate, but we always stayed together. At each location we would last several months or a year, and then we would have to move again, each time we lasted a little longer, but our strength was, no matter what, we always stayed together”, Peggy repeated this multiple times. The first version of Nickelsville was established on Nov. 24, 1990, with leadership from a powerful organizer named Scott Morrow and houseless relatives from SHARE/WHEEL, Real Change and more. In response to former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels’ sweeping of homeless encampments across the city, Morrow, along with others involved with SHARE/WHEEL,Real Change and other community members, started setting up distinctive pink tents on unused public land as an act of protest. “We didn’t call it a tiny house village, from the beginning, we called it Small, Simple, Sturdy, Sleeping Structures,” Peggy added. She told us that over time there were many “corporate non-profits” who have also set up “tiny house villages” where poor and houseless peoples are not leading the movement. “People aren’t safe in those places,” she added. In Seattle they have one good thing, if an encampment is set up and there are more than three tents, they can call on the City to bring water and porta potties to the site, which is how Nickelsville has the water and sewer service they currently have. Peggy explained that for now they are “safe” at Nickelsville and actually on the brink of opening a second site. “This has been a looong struggle, to get here,” she concluded. Poor Peoples Skill Share “This is the pod that we built -it contains all the energy to power the whole village, roughly 3000 watts of solar energy, ” after we spoke to Peggy we were introduced to Moises, a young comrade with roots in East Huchuin, who explained the powerful off-grid solar hub he and his partner David O in their company called “Messx” created for the Nickelsville village. Aunty Frances, on of the teachers of the Po Poets Workshop at Nicklesville and her niece Erica At the end of this powerful teaching by Moises, they offered to help us houseless folks down in occupied Huchuin who are struggling just to figure out what to do to create Homefulness #2 off-grid. Refusing to spend another 11 years struggling to get the permit gangsters of these settler governments to “approve” a homeless peoples solution to homelessness. Losing houseless relatives like Laure McElroy and Kathy Galves, because the City government made it as hard as possible, charging us endless exorbitant fees we absolutely didn't have, so that poor and houseless builders like us could never build our own solutions. All that said, we also have to worry about safety for our families and elders and so we working so hard to build everything safely and beautifully, so Moises and the other founder, David O were life-savers. Wealth-hoarders False Borders Eviction and Politricksters Orders The Time is now for Homefulness…tiny We launched the Untour in Occupied Salish Lands at the site of “Pioneer Square” or what I refer to as a Klanmark, one of 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. Chief Si’ahl in Pioneer Square Pioneer Square is described as the “birthplace of Seattle” in tour guides. Settlers who were called “Bostons” by the native community, laid claim to this area as their “first neighborhood", the first settlement on this side of the water, thus the beginning of stolen land from the Duwamish and Suquamish people. In addition to a copper plakkk with inglorius blab-lies about the Pioneers, there was a beautiful sculpture of Chief Si’ahl, the 1st Nations elder who was lied to and stolen from by the settlers and their fake treaties into a horror story of genocide and why when i heard his actual name i forever refer to “Seattle” by his actual name Chief Si’ahl. Sweep of a houseless relative in Chief Si’ahl by Seattle PoLice Sweeping on Stolen Land While we were setting up for the opening blessing at that strange space where we were laying down prayers for the stolen Inuit totems that are centered in the square -three poLice officers and a city government trash truck swaggered over to a houseless elder who was sitting under the bus shelter in the cold rain trying to stay dry and began a full on sweep. “What are you doing,?” the baadaas organizers and cop-watchers from Real Change and Stop the Sweeps Seattle who sponsored us to come to these lands along with all of us from POOR Magazine were pulling phones out, filming, and getting in the kkkop’s faces lickety split At this point they started to put the yellow tape up to keep us out of the bus shelter area, but like any good kkkop-watcher that didn't deter us. Within seconds they changed their so-called goals into; We are just here to pick up trash, not sweep her. Black, Brown, Gold, Beige or White Is just pigmentation in the skin What matters is the strength and goodness Of the person that resides within… excerpt of a poem created in POOR Magazine’s Po Poets Project Workshop by an anonymous resident of the SHARE/WHEEL shelter From this first brutal and beautiful day, all of us povertyskolaz didnt rest, moving from one reading to workshop to prayer to walk. After the opening blessing we led a powerful RoofLess Radio workshop at Real Change Newspaper with the baadass houseless poverty skola reporters and vendors from that amazing newspaper (stay tuned for all of their voices writing published on POOR Magazine and broadcast on Po Peoples Radio Newz Hour) then onto a reading by all of Po Poets and Poverty skolaz from our books at Left Bank Books with a showing of the movie by Peter Menchini based on my children's book When Mama and Me Lived Outside -to the blessing of Nickelsville and a Po Poets Poetry Workshop to the amazing SHARE/WHEEL a shelter led by houseless and formerly houseless women, who have also produced an amazing series of poetry anthologies and finally to the final and ultimate move on the third day - the Stolen Land /Hoarded Resources UnTour… My life seems to be made up of waiting now Waiting for housing Waiting for the end of a hot flash Waiting for Laundry Waiting for a Shower Waiting to Lie Down Waiting for a prescription to be filled Waiting for a meal Before I used to make things happen Now i wait for them to happen …. By Peaches from The Sisterhood of Homeless Women in Poetry Anthology (SHARE/WHEEL’s poetry collections) Stolen Land/Stolen Lives Waiting to Lie Down “There are so many things i have to say about the pain of losing my brother…” RickTWilliams, brother of John T Williams, a houseless, indigenous relative who was killed by Seattle PoLice in 2010, spoke softly at the opening of the prayerful and powerFULL Stolen Land untour launched at Leschi Park. Rick’s opening was especially powerful because POOR Magazine’s Pacific Northwest family was involved in writing, reporting and supporting the Williams family since the horrible murder of John T and we included the story in Poverty Scholarship- Poor people-led theory, art, words and tears across Mama Earth From Left: Youth Skola Tibu leading us thru the four directions at the Stolen Land UnTour - photo by Eagleson Williams “I am a carver like my brother, and my son and whole family, carving is medicine, carving is healing,” John T Williams and his son Eagleson presented this poverty skola and POOR Magazine family with a beautiful carved offering that we have on our altar at Homefulness, in honor of John T Williams, one of the too many houseless, Black, Brown, Indigenous povertyskola relatives stolen by PoLice terror. The Stolen Land /Hoarded Resources UnTours were launched in Mama Earth Day 2016 to share the medicine of Radical Redistribution and ComeUnity Reparations with wealth-hoarders and land occupiers across Turtle Island as well as to UnWash the Settler Lies told and sold about all of this occupied indigenous land, now held hostage by the lie of private property. It is not a protest or an action, merely a calling in to redistribute the excess homes and resources that wealth-hoarders acquire and hoard to folks who have no homes and no resources. Like all of occupied Turtle Island, there are Herstories and Histories intentionally silenced so that colonial possession can happen unabated. The warriors from this territory at Stop the Sweeps and Real Change who sponsored us to come and do the UnTour did this research about the location of our launch. LESCHI PARK This spot was once called Saw Grass Point, where Duwamish, Suquamish, Nisqually and other people would gather bulrushes for household mats. Leschi lived around the Nisqually River south of here. He was part of the Hachoo-absch, which means People of the Large Lake. Leschi was an organizer of indigenous resistance against the settlers known as Bostons. Leschi helped organize a major armed attack on the little logging town near Elliot Bay. The attack failed to dislodge the Bostons. Leschi was captured and hung in 1858 for his part in resistance. Thirty years later, a private cable car company owned this land and developed the park. The president of the cable car company named this park after Leschi. “We are here to propose radical redistribution and reparations of some of your stolen and hoarded wealth to the houseless, indigenous peoples of this town so they can build their own Homefulness…” Aunty Frances Moore, Black Panther, POOR Magazine author, Po Poet, co-founder of Homefulness and founder of the Self-Help Hunger Program spoke into the intercom system that fronted one of the multi-million dollar homes along the waterway in the Leschi area. Street -Writing Workshop at Real Change Newspaper in Chief Si’ahl “This is a calling in, an invitation to come to the next Decolonization/DegentriFUKation seminar at PeopleSkool to help heal you from the lies of hoarding and speculating and the violence of krapitalism,” I added walking into one of the heavily gated homes that happened to be unlocked. The doors were never opened, the intercoms were never answered but three people stood at their beautiful plate glass windows taking videos of our group of about 100 people walking peacefully down this street of so much excess, no doubt posting them on “Next Door” or some other website filled with hate of poor and houseless people. But healing from the settler lies of private property and hoarding aren’t overnight. De-krapitalising and DegentriFUKing are a life-long process. We have all been lied to in this stolen land. Tiny, Eagleson and RickT Williams- Brother of John T Williams - murdered by Seattle PoLice for being houseless and indigenous in that settler town - the Carvings were by Eagleson and RickTWilliams The weekend long circle of prayerful power of voices, love, learning and radical sharing to ultimately MamaFest a Homefulness #3 in Chief Si’ahl was completed by EagleSon who spoke a closing prayer in his tribal language. And like his father, Rick T Williams said, “this healing has only just begun.” To radically redistribute to build the Pacific Northwest Homefulness email poormag@gmail.com. For more information on the upcoming session of PeopleSkool go to poormagazine.org/education. The prayer walk was captured by a blog and images by indigenous youth artist Eagleson, nephew of John T Williams and son of Rick T Williams and part of the Williams family of carvers. Stay tuned for the video of the UnTour and stories which will be published in POOR Magazine/PNW column

On Cesar Chavez day March 31st - the 13th Houseless resident moved into rent free forever homes we houseless folks built Homefulness - Alohaaaaa uncle Francés ! From ancestors and all the spirits From Left, New Homefulness residents Brokin Cloud, Teo and Frances -

By Juju Angeles/POOR Magazine formerly houseless poverty skola/Homefulness resident On Thursday, February 23, 2023, we met with Keith Carson and some powerful black and houseless/poor women led organizations that directly work with feeding and housing our roofless/ houseless residents in Alameda county. In the county of Alameda, 30,000 people everyday are at risk of being evicted and according to an NBC Bay Area article, 37,000 are living on the streets in the Bay Area. The meeting was held to ask Keith Carson, who is responsible for the distribution of county funds in the fifth district, how can Self Help Hunger Program, Manna From Heaven, and POOR Magazine tap into the county’s budget that deals with the crisis of homelessness. All three of these movements work on the ground directly, everyday with houseless, disabled, in crisis communities. “We are the people we serve, “ says Aunti Frances Moore, Black Panther and formerly houseless founder of Self-Help Hunger Program and co-founder of Homefulness.. “Poor and houseless families and elders need to be listened to about our own solutions to our own problems, Homeuflness is public HEALth,” said tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless co-founder of POOR Magazine and visionary of Homefulness This meeting took almost a year to schedule despite Mr. Carson publicly stating that he looks forward to collaborating to solve the county's problems. Collaborating with who? Is he collaborating with folks who are literally outside in encampments, formerly houseless folks, or with mutual aid grassroots organizations? Oftentimes, people on the street aren’t seen as worthy enough to solve their own problems. The Board of Directors and Executive leaders of most not-for-profit organizations aren’t folks who are poor. How can people who have no real lived experience or expertise on homelessness solve a problem that the systems they work for actually created? What is the incentive for housed folks with class privilege to solve the homelessness issue when they have no urgency to actually house us? One of the main issues with the allocation of funds for houseless and those who are at risk of being houseless is that the current organizations aren’t redistributing the funds to help us. Mama Dee, the founder of Poor Magazine, used to say, “folks who have never missed a meal in their life” can’t tell us what we need. This is seen with the amount of bureaucratic red tape to access emergency funds. Everything from the need to make 3 times the rent to have access to emergency funds, you have to show proof of residency, or shelters closing and being full, shows how they don’t care what cash poor or houseless folks actually need. People in public service do not collaborate with community members who are experts in their own lives and their own experience because of the internalized disrespect for poor people. We aren’t seen as worthy of leading our own lives. We aren’t seen as intelligent. Support often looks paternalistic, criminalized, and we are seen as untrustworthy. The popular belief is that we did this to ourselves. That we are all drug or alcohol addicts, lazy, or that we created the problems of poverty. When anyone who has any education, like most officials, knows that capitalism is a system that depends on poverty and the exploitation of cash poor folks. Capitalism literally depends on a hierarchy of have and have nots. Those who do not have are working for folks who do. This machine is well oiled. When we asked Keith Carson how could these community grassroots organizations get access to this very important county funding, his response after two years of waiting for a meeting was, “We don’t deal with land. We deal with public health.” As if houselessness isn’t a public health issue. Any doctor will tell you that a safe and secure home is one of the pillars of health for any individual or family. He then went on to say that he has “been doing a whole lot” in terms of housing. After all the storms we have gotten, Alameda county has provided no resources for flooding to its houseless residents. The homelessness problem has doubled in the last five years and the number continues to grow due the average cost of a home being one million dollars and unlivable wages. In addition, it came out last year that Alameda county cannot account for the allocation of funds for homelessness. What Keith Carson could have said is, Let’s find ways to work with one another. I value the houseless residents of Alameda County instead of doing NOTHING and basically verbally masturbating all the ways that Alameda County has done a poor job at the homelessness problem. The proof is everywhere. Look outside your car window driving in any part of the Bay Area and you see more and more people on the streets, surviving by any means necessary. Homelessness is a public health emergency. No one should be unhoused. We have enough land to house everyone but not everyone has the money and those who do aren’t sharing — and therein lies the true dilemma.

Broke, Black, Brown and Disabled Book UnTour Poor, Homeless, Indigenous, Black/Brown peoples go on an "UnTour" to share curriculum, workshops, film, poetry, performance, and prayer to promote an innovative model to solving homelessness called Homefulness. The Po Poets Project, a grassroots project of the houseless, poor and indigenous peoples led movement known as POOR Magazine, will be in Chief Seattle March 24th-26th. All of the Po Poets, formerly houseless, Black, Brown revolutionary poets, will be reading from their books and promoting their publications. They will also be sharing the medicine of UnSElling Mama Earth and building poor and houseless peoples’ solutions to poverty and homelessness, what they call Homefulness. These land liberators, from all four corners of Mama Earth, will be offering readings and workshops from their newest books: How to Not Call the Po'Lice Ever and Poverty Scholarship: Poor People-Led Theory, Art, Words, and Tears Across Mama Earth. Po Poets will also be leading a Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour: prayer, vision, dream teaching, sharing of Radical Redistribution, Community Reparations, and Homefulness with wealth-hoarders, inheritors of stolen Mama Earth, and/or protected/occupied wealth neighborhoods. When Mama and Me Lived Outside, an award-winning short film by Peter Menchini, will be shown followed by a Q&A. The film is based on the children’s book of the same name written by tiny gray-garcia and focuses on one family’s journey through homelessness. Po Poets will lead writing workshops with Real Change vendors and with residents of Nickelsville. They will also meet with the WHEEL Writing Group for local unhoused women. PUBLIC EVENTS INCLUDE: FRIDAY 3/24,10:30 AM, Pioneer Square: Opening Blessing FRIDAY 3/24, 7:30 PM, Left Bank Books, 92 Pike St. #B: Book reading/performance and film showing: When Mama and Me Lived Outside SATURDAY 3/25, time/location TBA: ROOFLESS RADIO Street Writing Workshop SATURDAY 3/25, 5:30 PM, Ada's Technical Books and Café, 425 15th Ave E: Po Poets book reading/performance SUNDAY 3/26, 3:00 PM, starting at Leschi Park, Lakeside Ave S and E Yesler Way: UNTOUR of CHIEF SI-AHL

Y ASÍ ESTADOS UNIDOS DESTRUYE NUESTRA NIÑEZ CUANDO LOS NIÑOS JUEGAN A TRABAJAR Y LLEGAN A USA SE CONVIERTE EN REALIDAD COMO YO TODOS LOS GOBIERNOS DISEÑADOS SOLO PARAS SU CONVENIENCIA Y NOSOTROS SOMOS LA PARTE MÁS IMPORTANTE DE SISTEMA UNAS DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES QUE ES MÁS CORRUPTAS QUE TRABAJA CON MENORES LEGALMENTE Y LOS ROBA A NUESTROS NIÑOS ES CPS Y ENTRENAN PERSONAS PARA ROBAR LEGALMENTE COMO TODAS LAS RAZAS Y GENERACIONES EN LA MAYORÍA DE LOS PAÍSES POBRES TENEMOS EL TIEMPO CONTADO HASTA PARA COMER Y DORMIR PORQUE SI NO LO HACEMOS DE ESA MANERA DESDE NUESTRA NIÑEZ NO PODRÍAMOS SOBREVIVIR Y LAS PERSONAS QUE TIENEN TRABAJO Y EXPLOTAN A LOS MENORES PARA SUS BENEFICIOS SON GENTES QUE NO TIENES CONCIENCIA PORQUE ESTAS GRANDES COMPAÑÍAS SON CAPACES DE EMPLEAR A MENORES ESTE ES UN CÍRCULO DE CONSPIRACIÓN EN CONTRA DE NOSOTROS LOS POBRE PARA QUE NO PODAMOS ASISTIR A LAS ESCUELAS Y SIEMPRE NOS MARCAN COMO VAGOS PERO NOSOTRO SOMOS LOS QUE LES HACEMOS LOS TRABAJOS MÁS PESADOS Y NO CHILLAMOS ES POR QUE SIN NOSOTROS NO PODRÍAN SEGUIR GANANDO SUS INGRESOS EXPLOTANDO NIÑOS ILEGALMENTE Y A UN ASI ESTE PAIS SIGUE NEGANDO QUE NOS NECESITAN Y NO QUIEREN DAR NADA PERO CON EL TRABAJO Y EL ESFUERZO NOS HEMOS GANADO LA CRÍTICA DE SOBREVIVIR DESDE LOS AÑOS DE NUESTRA NIÑEZ AUNQUE NO SEPAMOS HABLAR INGLÉS OTRA LENGUA COLONIZADA DEL MUNDO Y ASÍ ESTADOS UNIDOS DESTRUYE NUESTRA NIÑEZ AND LIKE THIS AMERICA DESTROYS OUR CHILDHOOD WHEN CHILDREN PLAY WORK AND COME TO THE USA, IT BECOMES REALITY LIKE ME. ALL GOVERNMENTS DESIGNED ARE JUST FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE AND WE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE SYSTEM ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS THAT WORKS WITH MINORS LEGALLY AND STEALS THEM FROM OUR CHILDREN IS CPS AND TRAINS PEOPLE TO STEAL LEGALLY. LIKE ALL RACES AND GENERATIONS IN MOST POOR COUNTRIES WE HAVE THE TIME COUNTED EVEN TO EAT AND SLEEP BECAUSE IF WE DO NOT DO IT THAT WAY FROM CHILDHOOD WE COULD NOT SURVIVE AND THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE WORK AND EXPLOIT MINORS FOR THEIR BENEFIT ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO CONSCIENCE BECAUSE THESE BIG COMPANIES ARE ABLE TO EMPLOY MINORS THIS IS A CONSPIRACY CIRCLE AGAINST US POOR SO THAT WE CANNOT ATTEND SCHOOLS AND ALWAYS MARK US AS LAZY BUT WE ARE THE ONES WHO DO THE JOBS MORE HEAVY AND NOT CHILL IS WHY WITHOUT US THEY WOULD NOT CONTINUE TO EARN THEIR INCOME BY EXPLOITING CHILDREN ILLEGALLY AND SUCH A COUNTRY CONTINUES TO DENY THAT THEY NEED US AND DO NOT WANT TO GIVE ANYTHING BUT WITH WORK AND EFFORT WE HAVE EARNED THE CRITICISM OF SURVIVING SINCE THE YEARS OF OUR CHILDHOOD ALTHOUGH WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH ANOTHER COLONIZED LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD AND LIKE THIS AMERICA DESTROYS OUR CHILDHOOD

“We don’t sweep.” “We lead with compassion.” “We are One Seattle.” These are the words (and lies) of Bruce Harrell, mayor of so-called Seattle, the city named after the Suquamish and Duwamish Chief Si’ahl. In this podcast from Po People’s Radio, povertySkola Tiny-Gray Garcia speaks with Tye from the organization Stop the Sweeps Seattle about the violent reality of sweeps and nonprofiteering non-solutions to homelessness in Chief Si’ahl (Seattle). From Stop the Sweeps Seattle "We Don’t Sweep"- Erasing Visible Poverty Stop the Sweeps is a movement arising from the early days of the pandemic, when an increasing awareness of mutual aid drove folks from Seattle to Oregon to Austin, Texas to confront the violence faced by houseless people and to advocate for actual solutions. Tye tells us that in 2020, then-mayor Jenny Durkan had residents thinking the institutional violence was “the worse it could get.” Durkan had been sending police to terrorize Black Lives Matter protesters and ordering sweeps. Only COVID restrictions and recommendations from the CDC slowed down those sweeps, allowing a few “off-the-road” communities to exist in relative peace for three years, while major parks were still routinely swept. When Bruce Harrell became mayor in 2022, he proved able to continue and intensify Durkan’s legacy of violence, joining the likes of Eric Adams, mayor of New York, Lori Lightfoot, mayor of Chicago, and London Breed, mayor of San Francisco—all POC, liberal leadership. Tye says, “Like so many black liberal mayors, [Bruce Harrell is] extremely pro police, and we've seen an exaggerated increase in the number of deaths of people living outside in just the year that he's been in office, since January of this year. We've seen people's entire homes get demolished. They've been using construction equipment to completely clear out areas, so within 24 hours, you wouldn't even recognize that dozens, if not hundreds of people, lived in some of these encampments.” February 19, 2023. From Stop the Sweeps Seattle And yet, Mayor Bruce Harrell has said that “We do not sweep.” He says this even as Seattle approves almost 40 million more dollars to fund the government departments that enact sweeps—Seattle Public Utilities, the Department of Transportation, and the Parks and Rec Department. He says this even as his administration brags about their sweeping numbers and how encampments have been “resolved.” Instead of serving people, as these institutions are meant to do, they “turn their focus to erasing visible poverty,” says Tye. “Immediate notice sweep across from city hall. City workers throwing away someone’s home and mashing it in the garbage truck.” March 9, 2022. From Real Change News In the delusion that they have successfully elected a liberal politician to “solve problems,” much of the white, middle-class population of Seattle fails to see the lie of “leading with compassion” and “One Seattle” purported by the government. Like those in other liberal cities, instead of supporting poor people’s solutions and the needs of working-class people, many privileged residents donate to nonprofiteers and political candidates who will then enact their violence and non-solutions. At this point, Stop the Sweeps struggles to put up a huge resistance without the support of the larger community in Chief Si’ahl, but they do offer critical support on the ground—showing up to sweeps, helping people move their belongings, distributing supplies for survival, making homemade heaters, offering meals, and providing tents and sleeping bags. City workers dismantle a living structure in Woodland Park. Photo by Mark White. From Real Change News. May 18, 2022 Non-Solutions and Nonprofiteering While Harrell claims sweeps don’t happen and that the goal is to get people housed, Stop the Sweeps actively tracks those sweeps and helps bear witness to how meager the efforts are to give any meaningful support. At a recent sweep where at least 40 people were evicted, Stop the Sweeps noted there was only a single offer of a tiny house with seemingly little intention to follow through. The person offered the tiny house was not arranged a ride or given any sort of confirmation or referral information. The rest of those swept were offered congregate shelter. At sweeps during the beginning of the pandemic, many organizations offered hotel rooms, which were received well because people could have their own space. However, hotel money ran out for most organizations in 2021, and the same offers of congregate shelter returned. In some of these shelters, people are only allowed to bring a few of their belongings and are subject to lack of privacy and oppressive rules about behavior. Photo by Flickr user Prayitnophotography. From Real Change News Tye informs us that, similar to San Francisco, nonprofiteers also build tiny houses as a “solution.” The nonprofit LIHI (Low Income Housing Institute) has a monopoly on the tiny house industry in Chief Si’ahl as they’re able to get the millions of dollars needed to build and run tiny house villages. However, as seen in other cities with tiny houses, most villages are seen as transitional housing and run almost like jails, not a “home.” There are restrictive rules about belongings (how many and what kinds you can bring), substances, cleanliness, and how residents can interact with public spaces. Tiny houses may work well for some, but for many who do accept the offer of a tiny house, the oppressive nature of the management there pushes people back on the street where there is more freedom. Though many residents of LIHI’s tiny houses voice complaints, the government and philanthropimps still see them as a solution, or a tax break. LIHI is just one of the many nonprofits “washing the names of corporations” through donations. In Chief Si’ahl, a town dripping in money from tech and other industries, nonprofiteers vie for money from corporations like Amazon and Starbucks, or the Gates Foundation. Meanwhile, no meaningful changes are made to actually make housing affordable. While there are hundreds of nonprofit programs in Chief Si’ahl that offer rental or financial assistance, they can be difficult and complicated to apply for, and the waitlist can be miles long. Nonprofit-run affordable housing units are roughly $1,100 for a one-bedroom apartment, which is only affordable by Seattle standards, where a one bedroom is around $1,800 a month. Additionally, the limited number of affordable housing units available are often in terrible condition. Tye has seen some units owned by the Catholic Community Services that are $900 for moldy studio apartments on the 10th floor without working elevators. By continuing to sweep people without investing in solutions which poor people have, houseless people in Chief Si’ahl are being pushed further into more dangerous places around the city, such as freeways. The reality is that there haven’t been significant numbers of actual affordable housing units getting built, and encampments are being swept instead of sanctioned. March 18, 2023. From Stop the Sweeps Seattle Homefulness There is so much money being tossed around in the nonprofit industry and government institutions, but the terrifying truth is—even that amount is a fraction of the total wealth being hoarded by corporations and individuals in Chief Si’ahl. “Our dream… is that we could teach some of those wealth hoarders about radical redistribution and I know that there’s conscious people there [in Chief Si’ahl], says Tiny. Homefulness, a homeless people’s solution to homelessness, was mamafested in so-called Oakland through the visionary work of poverty scholars such as Tiny, along with those with privilege who chose to walk alongside them and radically redistribute their wealth. Homefulness UnSells the land and provides people with a permanent home—unlike sweeps, unlike congregate shelters, unlike tiny house villages, unlike nonprofit-run “affordable” housing. From March 24th-25th, Poor Magazine’s Po Poets and poverty Skolas will lead an “UnTour” in Chief Si’ahl with curriculum, workshops, film, poetry, performance, and prayer. We will be sharing the medicine of UnSelling Mama Earth, as well building the poor people’s solution to poverty and homelessness called Homefulness. Folks who live in Chief Si’ahl are invited to walk with us, and to speak on what is happening in their town, and learn more.

The Matrix (1999) Neo awakening scene Have you ever wondered when machines would take over? I do. All the time. As I type this story on my MacBook, listening to music through my wireless earbuds that are connected to an iPhone, I wonder how much more can be done by machines in my life? Every homework assignment I write and I take hours to finish, I wonder how technology could help me finish it faster. Every time I run, I see people flying by on the electric scooters and wonder if I should have gotten one. With AI the way it is, we soon won't have a choice as to how much technology is helping us, and we might not even know the difference between real life and technology. “You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.” That's a quote from the 1999 fiction sci-fi film The Matrix. The Matrix was a simulation that AI bots created after they destroyed to keep humans docile to be able to continually leech off of them. That story from 24 years ago is not that far off from our current reality. We are already being mostly controlled by tech, relying on it for all of our daily basic needs. The only thing that is left is for that tech to no longer be controlled by human beings. When you heard about WhatsApp and Facebook information being released, how did you react? I was not surprised, because as long as human beings are controlling the tech that controls our lives they are controlling us. Did you ever wonder, after all of these data leaks that have happened and continue to happen, If only this information wasn’t being handled by greedy human beings! That’s a reasonable want, but the scary thing is that thinking can quickly lead to a reality like The Matrix. Because technology will quickly realize that the only thing it doesn’t need is us. So far, the only thing we are used for is being the bodies that operate the physical parts of the machines. The things that machines have not been able to do yet. Poor people all over the world are being paid less than they need to survive every day so they can work in factories that are mostly mechanized. We use these phones that are causing cancer in children as young as 10 in factories in countries that we don’t even have to think about, and technology continues to make progress at the expense of both of us. The only way we as people can prevent The Matrix from becoming our reality is disconnect from everything that makes us reliant on tech. It won’t be easy, because technology doesn’t want to disconnect from us. Your friends will wonder why they don’t see you like their posts on Instagram and Facebook. You will want to be able to not think about anything and kill an hour or two by scrolling. Everything will be less convenient, but the result will be a clearer mind, a more free soul. The result will be face to face interactions that don’t feel impossible, and meeting people and learning things that the internet could have never shown you no matter how far you searched.

The year is 1932 in an Australian wheat field, Slowly 20,000 emus start to appear in the horizon line, running towards the wheat fields. The Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, started firing their Lewis Guns. The gun fired about 500–600 rounds per minute. It weighed 28 lb (12.7 kg), only about half as much as a typical medium machine gun of the era. The emus were not easy to defeat; they were able to get shot by even dum-dum bullets and still keep running. The bullets would explode upon contact, shreading their skin and they would slump onto the ground. Both sides called the other “Invader”, both sides fighting with empty stomachs. Australia is home to Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal peoples, Of course that might not be so obvious in the current colonized Australia. Of course us humans aren't the only inhabitants on this earth and never have been. The Emu birds are another have dealt with the same oppression and violence the indigenous humans have. The land was stolen from the Aboriginal people and then “Gifted” to Discharged veterans from WW1 to build homes and farms. Around 1929 they were really pushed to start growing wheat especially with the great depression on the horizon. Emus are endemic to Australia, meaning they are “native and restricted to a certain place.”. They also have migration patterns; the West Australian emus have a bit more “predictable” patterns than the ones that live in the East but it is dictated by the weather, food and breeding season. So around 1932 while the emus were migrating they ran into a new wheat field and village that wasn't there before. All they knew is that there was a wheat field and they were hungry. They quickly overpowered the veteran farmers and started to eat all the crops. The farmers requested help from the Australian Government who ordered the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, led by Major Meredith who stated “If we had a military division with the bullet-carrying capacity of these birds it would face any army in the world ... They can face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks. They are like Zulus whom even dum-dum bullets could not stop.” The soldiers armed with two lewis guns and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition went over to Campion (A now abandoned townsite where this took place) under the orders to collect 100 emu skins so that they could be made into hats for the calvary. A common tactic used in massacres and colonization, similar to the $25 a head and 25 cents a scalp order that was called on the native american people. The soldiers soon learned that the emus were not easy to kill. First off the operation was delayed due to rain which also split the massive hoard of emus into smaller groups. By 8 November, six days after the first engagement, 2,500 rounds of ammunition had been fired.The number of birds killed is uncertain: one account estimates that it was 50 birds,but other accounts range from 200 to 500, the latter figure being provided by the settlers. Meredith's official report noted that his men had suffered no casualties. Summarizing the event, ornithologist Dominic Serventy commented: “The machine-gunners' dreams of point blank fire into serried masses of Emus were soon dissipated. The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.” After the massacre the humans left the town. Hundreds of Emus were killed but thousands survived. Nowadays it's an Emu town, humans might call it a ghost town. it's a part of earth left with a scar of this unnecessary event. Hundreds of Emus and People would have prospered if this land stayed in the care of the animals and indigenous people.