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by Boudia Content/Trigger Warning: Transphobic slur is mentioned in the beginning and there are discussions around transphobia, homophobia, demonization/dehumanization of queer and trans people, and whyte supremacy. Photograph via Google Earthview “Who brought the tranny?”, said one of the Proud Boys at the San Lorenzo Library where Drag Queen Story Hour took place. On June 11th, 2022, a group of whyte supremacists called the Proud Boys terrorized and invaded the San Lorenzo Library in the afternoon. They disrupted Drag Queen Story Hour, a space where drag performers read books to children. It is a space where queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming elders and community members create a spacetime of collective self-expression, beauty, and storytelling for the youth. The Proud Boys targeted Panda Dulce who is a drag queen of Chinese American ancestry. Source: Panda Dulce Panda Dulce is one of the founding queens of the Drag Queen Story Hour. Her work explores the stories of queer and trans people of color, chosen families, and displaced peoples of so-called San Francisco aka Yelamu Ohlone Land. She writes about race and desirability, intersectional justice and LGBTQ inclusion. Recently, she is the creator of the forthcoming all-QTPOC web series, CHOSEN FAM. Lastly, she has a background in social work. The Proud Boys were aggressive and violent with the intention of perputating transphobia, queerphobia, and whyte supremacy through slurs and demonization. The Proud Boys have used the rhetoric that suggests that all queer and trans people are inherently pedophiles, and that they’re worried about the children and that they need to “save the children”. Listen, if I had a kid and I needed a babysitter, I would feel much safer having my kid being taken care for by a drag performer rather than a member of the clergy or a whyte supremacist. In reality, people were scared and terrified of the Proud Boys, and especially Panda Dulce and the children were very afraid for their own sense of safety and comfort. Many people ask Panda Dulce if she feels safe after the incident, and she said that “No, I don’t. I don’t feel safe in my own home…they were successful in scaring us but they weren’t successful in their ultimate goal which is to make us go away because of their own discomfort with the diversity of our world. They failed in that.” Thankfully, Panda Dulce and the kids were escorted by security to the back where they would be safe and then they were able to continue with storytime. The cops were called and began their hate crime protocol. The sheriff that Panda Dulce spoke to said there were 3 possible violations for this incident. The first one would be trespassing, the second one would be disturbing the peace, and the third one would be annoying and harassing children. Panda Dulce’s message on the sheriff’s diagnosis on the violations was that “While I am glad there is a CA penal code prohibiting the annoying and harassment of minors, which they are in violation of, apparently there is discord over whether or not this categorically qualifies as a hate crime. Whether or not this behavior is admissable because of the first amendment. I think that’s bogus. There was clear transphobic and homophobic animus, and protections should be clarified and extended to better protect the LGBTQ+ and any vulnerable community.” This whole police involvement is ironic due to the legacy of cops targeting queer and trans folks for existing. But, that’s another conversation for another time. As a queer nonbinary trans young adult, it is disturbing to see people continously dehumanize and demonize other people for simply existing. Especially this close to home, that city is where I visit my own maternal grandma. Yet it is not all surprising, the whyte supremacist rhetoric that creates transphobia and queerphobia is still strong within the United Snakes of Amerikkka. Drag Queen Story Hour began in 2015, and these spaces were created for the purpose of storytelling and having the space where youth can be themselves and eventually blossom into healthy adults. Then there came the bashing from people with transphobic and whyte supremacist mindsets, online and in real life. Those that don’t understand the nature of liminality, and those that don’t understand the true liberation of the self. The echo chamber of intergenerational colonizer ideologies has caused this harassment and many more to happen on a regular basis. Therefore, the queer and trans communities are targeted with no hesistation and to be not questioned whatsoever. All Panda Dulce ever really wanted was to tell a story, not to hurt people.

by Ziair Hughes Homefulness has helped me and my family for as long as we've been here. A place like this is heaven on earth and many people dream for and about Homefulness. Eleven years ago, Homefulness and Poor Magazine had a dream to build affordable housing, a tuition free school and organic produce. All of these things were set in stone and people made it happen, but the housing was not a smooth transaction with all the permits, blockages, and fees from the City of Oakland. One BIG burden was lifted, the $40,000 fee, but we’re still fighting to build these houses for the people/US. You may ask why or what the $40k fee is for…well, it is an impact fee. An impact fee is a charge that happens when you take too long to build something. The city gives you two years to build and if you don't accomplish the process in that time, they hit you with a fee – which is again the impact fee. Another set back was parking spaces. At the time, parking was a major problem, but we in fact don't have any cars for parking spaces. They tried to make us build an unnecessary parking lot so it could be another roadblock. But in the long run, we WON. Why Homefulness needs to be Co-signed Because Homefulness is a SOLUTION to homelessness, Homefulness doesn’t do it for show or to even look good. They do it because they believe land doesn’t belong to anybody and therefore we all should be equally housed. Additionally, families are depending on Homefulness for safe shelter. Conclusion: Homefulness and Poor Magazine hold up a lot of people, including me and my family, and I can’t thank Tiny enough. Even though it may seem like I don’t acknowledge it, I do appreciate it. But not just me, many other people appreciate it…a lot. Homefulness is almost ready and now We Are Coming Worldwide because I believe all people should practice this movement – in Russia, London, Nigeria, Utah, Arkansas (kkklan part) and many other places. We did it! Appreciation to Tiny, Poor magazine, and all the people who stood out there with us on the 5th, because like Tiny said, it couldn't have happened without all of you. Everyone needed to push Homefulness through the door. “Change won’t come from a pimp, slave or a institution change will only come from a poor people led revolution!” -Tiny Gray-Garcia

On june 19th 2022 The Poor Magazine / PNN PNW (Poor News Network Pacific Northwest) Group of unhoused & formerly unhoused poverty scholars hosted a couple hours of RoofLESS Radio on Ensign Rd. in so-called olympia. Unhoused community members told our stories on video & in writing to be shared on poormagazine.org These are those stories. The prompt was about crisis. Crisis is universal, we all have it. For some of us its a matter of --which one?? People shared about a crisis they’ve been through in a story or poem or on audio or video. Organized by local Poor Magazine /PNN PNW Poverty Scholars Bobbi UNhoused Poverty Scholar & former resident of Ensign Rd Mark R UNhoused Poverty Scholar & resident of Ensign Rd. Lisa Ganser formerly UNhoused Poverty Scholar Stevi Kamphaus formerly UNhoused Workin’ Class Poverty Scholar With the support, love and guidance of Poverty Scholar Lisa aka Tiny Gray Garcia & the POOR Magazine family of occupied Huichin Ohlone territory aka oakland who “built their homes with a poem”. Duane BonVivini My biggest crisis happened when I was in Seattle about 20 years ago. I was ryding my bicycle home, it was about 7:30 at night and I was in a hurry too ‘cause my friend was gonna meet me there. Just as I came around a corner I--had a semi parked on the street blocking my view--as I got past it, BOOM! There was a car heading straight for me at a good speed. I had no time for anything except to let go of the bike and curl into a ball, jumping off the bike. The car hit my bike and it shot out from underneath me and I rolled onto the hood and rolled over the windshield like a ramp. I flew through the air for a few seconds until I hit the minivan that was following the car that hit me. I smashed into the windshield of the van and continued rolling over the top of the minivan and off the back of the van. I flew off the back of the van and was in the air again for what seemed like forever. When I hit the ground I was still curled up in a ball and started picking up speed rolling down a hill. I finally came to my senses and tried to stop rolling by flattening out with my arms and legs. This hurt the worst as my body flipped a few times. I came to a stop. When I came to I was in the arms of a girl who was crying and begging god to let her go. When the ambulance showed up it was dark out and I had totalled the van but the car ran away. I broke my scapula and was laid up for about 6 months. Josh Probably my finances because I’ve never had a job in my life, so kinda stops me from moving forward in life. My Life Story By Chris Barrett I’m a 47 year old. I became homeless back in 2013. I was in the army for 15 years. I grew up in Kentucky. I started using drugs over in the middle east. I was shooting up everything from coke to you name it. I have 4 kids, their names are Lacy, Chris, Jeff and Tina that live back in Ohio. It hit me hard out here, in the town of Olympia people are hard out here, throw things to run us off. My Name is Lynn I’ve been out here about 15+ years, been through a lot. I’ve lost and gained a lot. I have a learning disability that keeps me from working a normal job. I would love to work but it is hard for me to do so. I would love any help I can get. Pat Taylor Myself, the worst crisis was when my brother was killed. It hurt so bad I “killed” myself and started shooting up. Malix Reynolds Today I’ll tell why I’m homeless. An inguinal hernia is where it started. Then my ex-wife divorced me and took everything. Then my parents died in a car accident and my brother drove me here, robbed me and then left me here. The End. Richard Hubbard I was in a relationship and my fiance passed away from an overdose leaving me in a money crisis. Crystal Custer I had my children taken from me. My youngest was only 4. Cece B 18 years old I was abused by my father til I was 11 then got taken by foster care. Was bouncing from home to home til I was 17, I ran through all the homes they could find, so they put me back with my dad. Anonymous I have never had to feel so humble in my whole life. I have had no friends or family to turn to but the Gospel Mission has took me in to start. Capitol Recovery has got me a phone and ID and SSI card. Still a long ways to go.I’m from Medford OR. Q: What do you see as a solution? A:There could be a lot more programming in order. Nine Bender Split with my best friend… Maybe one day we’ll see the double split Layzer-ed in each others darkest corners Accidentally put us together I’m failing to mention the time it’s taken me To get in this stage of our lives. Coal is all I can think or write now. If you made it with us to this point all I see is nothing but fruit-filled baskets hand delivered by my favorite people with my favorite cocktail and favorite music Jammin next to each and every one, you... ok? Anonymous So I’ve had a pistol in my mouth as all of my things was stolen from my truck. The most recent was getting shot by a security guard from Pacific Security. Anonymous Lost my job, crashed my car, lost my home due to continuous relapse. Now I’m still continuing to miss out on time I should be spending with my son. Anonymous I recently spent a week and a half in the hospital and found out that I have late stage congestive heart failure. It almost killed me the morning I went in. I had a stroke that temporarily paralyzed my left side. Carrie M Not being able to shower on a daily basis and having to figure out where we are going to sleep for the night when we all were living in our car and how we were going to have our next meal. Zackery The worst thing is that we fight at lot more as a family being so close together. Plus my son don’t have a place to play, he has to watch where he walks. Levi age 8 Not having the room to play on a daily basis & not having the room for all my stuff & not being able to have friends over. David One of my worst crises is happening right now in my life. I lost my dad and everything went to shit… My family wrote me off because I was a foul piece of shit heroin addict. I feel like I am at the end of my rope, my dog Lobo is the only reason I am still alive. My Name is Brandi. Once after being evicted from our home at the lake, while living on Wheeler I started to feel weak and sick. I held out for a week before my boyfriend called 911. 3 days later I woke up in the hospital and was told I might not make it. I had kidney failure, an infected heart valve Tova D Being homeless as a young single female that doesn’t have the security of a support system such as close family/friends who don’t even have an “emergency contact” to provide any legal documents can be a terrifying thing. I’ve been kidnapped with all legitimate sense of the word, 3 separate times in my life and til today I honestly have no clue how I managed to survive all 3 encounters. I really feel like I should’ve been another story on the news, another statistic. Life Story of Me by Aunti L Mother by the age of 16 have 2 Beautiful Children 10 years apart Never been married. Been separated with my last man out of 6 for 12 years. Now on Ensign Road Waiting for a tiny home or an Apartment. Trying my best to better my life and be there for my friends & family. I will be there for all of you with all my prayers and whatever you may need. Julia Bernard My entire family was in the Thurston County Jail. My youngest brother’s girlfriend stayed at my step dad’s house. She got a job. We had to fight someone because they decided that we were threat. We went to the hole. Dafaela, my youngest brother, has a job now, so does the middle child. I’m following my dreams of becoming a writer. Fran My daughters property was selling & had to move. I looked at all the places to go, campgrounds, hip camps, people renting pieces of property. Because of COVID nothing was available. I found out about Ensign Road and here I am. Campgrounds now have spaces. Katie Barajas I had went to jail! On September 28th, 2020 and got out on December 4th. Right before I had went in to jail I had a home and my family. I get out of jail and have nothing now. My son lives with my Mom and I don’t have our home anymore. I found out my fiance cheated on me and lied to me face for 3 years. I still haven’t been able to recover. Ria Capezio My worst crisis would be not having a job or being as financially stable as I would’ve liked to be by now. Or as stable with my living situation for my kids to be with me 5 days a week instead of two like they used to. Anonymous I was left in the train tunnel to die after I hot compressed my arms, from missing shots of dope. It took me down for five days, my boyfriend came and brought me food for 3 of those five days and then stopped. the fifth day, I heard a voice tell me, “come to the light my child.” So I got up and went to the mission. I had lost 20 lbs and couldn’t keep food or fluid in or down for a week. John Wattman Diagnosed with Thyroid Papillary cancer. Anonymous Found my girlfriend dead. Arie B My kids were removed by CPS a year ago. Akeeri While I was incarcerated my kids were removed by CPS. Arries Jarrett About 5 months ago I found out I had Graves Disease. It's very scary, I feel very alone and do not know what my fate has in store. I feel like each day is my last and that is hella scary……. I feel like I’m too young to die ya know, and if I had stayed following Dr.’s orders a few years ago and wouldn’t have strayed then I would be okay. Jess The camp I was sharing with a friend of mine was bulldozed. The 2 of us woke up to a bulldozer already having destroyed one of our tents. We had to jump up & scramble to collect up as much of our personal belongings as possible. Anonymous Got cancer and COPD. Anonymous Once while we stayed on Deschutes Pkwy near the lake, my girlfriend and I were victims of a scam that led to our eviction from our belongings and we were banished under threat of violence. We were falsely accused of stealing a pretend $60. Since we were outnumbered and pre-selected to be targets, we escaped with our lives in exchange for our possessions. No brainer. Anonymous We need more resources to help homeless, homeless is growin’ more and more every day, and the cost of rent these days is so high. More showers. Anonymous I was raised by my grandparents as a only child. Fell into the life of addiction and was charged with three felonies, the prosecutor offered a plea deal for 48 months and I took it. I went in front of the judge for sentencing and he gave me 84 months. Both grandparents died while I was incarcerated and life fell apart to the point that I didn’t want to live, work or care for anything and that lead to three more prison terms and 1000’s of issues. Anonymous I’m 25 years old and I lived on the street for 3 years. Before all this I used to have an apartment, a nice car and threw it all aways for drugs but now, I’m a year clean. Others shared their story on video or audio. Here from Brenda, Ace and others by going to: Poor News Network on Youtube and search: “RoofLESS Radio PNW”. To hear the Poor News Network podcast where these stories and more are featured go to Poor Magazine SoundCloud: “Po Peoples Newz Hour: Homefulness Makes HERstory: So-called Olympia to So-called Oakland” June 28, 2022

1st ThankU to Carroll Fife and Rebecca Kaplan for listening to houseless peoples solutions to homelessness. We are houseless, indigenous, DIsabled, criminalized, Black, Brown mamaz, families, youth and elders from all four corners of mama Earth- and as our indigenous ancestors have taught us - Mama Earth is Not, nor has ever been, for sale- As first Nations Land Back/Black Land Theft/Decolonizers and revolutionaries teach and walk right now - this is occupied Turtle island - and all of the settler colonial laws that guide the notion of “private property” ownership, profiting off of Mama Earth, eviction, homelessness, displacement, sweeps, and gentrification are rooted in the genocide of Colonization. Until the lies of krapitalist and private property are truly resisted homelessness will not only continue but increase until it has most of us outside, or caught in the deadly and dangerous struggle of housing insecurity. Homefulness was conceived and visioned by my houseless, indigenous, disabled mama and me, her daughter, while we were sleeping on park benches, shelter beds and the back seats of cars if they hadnt been towed by a violent system that criminalizes not having enough money for rent or a roof. A system that puts the settler lie of private property before people - that rewards hoarding of things and land over the safe shelter of children and elders. We poor and houseless peoples teach conscious folks with stolen land, hoarded and stolen resources how to radically redistribute and practice Interdependence and listen to poverty skolaz/indigenous solutions to poverty and homelessness, in a school POOR Magazine launched called PeopleSkool. From years of this teaching we raised the blood-stained into love-stained dollars to “buy” a small parcel of Mama Earth in Deep East Huchiun- (Ohlone Land) Oakland POOR Magazine- the poor and indigenous people-led movement that launched homefulness - asked permission of Talking Chief/Spokesperson at Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone Corrina Gould before we proceeded as this is not our land of origin and all peoples should be asking permission and paying Shummi Tax before they do anything with stolen and occupied land anywhere on Turtle Island. Corrina agreed to be on our All Nations Elder Family council and help steward and guide this powerful, prayerful project into being. And so we began on Interdependence Day 2011 with a Prayer ceremony asking ancestors of all four corners for blessings and guidance - From Maya to Mama Africa. From Moana Nui to Mama Earth. We launched our elephant circle (matriarchal like elephants and the way all of us houseless/indigenous peoples make decisions collectively) we built out the existing structures and housed 6 houseless elders and families (this houseless mama and my Sun included) in rent-free, mold-and pest free-love, safe and healing -filled housing, because a roof is not all us traumatized housless folks need . We launched a liberation, tuition free school and a poor peoples liberated radio station- we launched garden boxes for the whole BlackArthur ComeUnity to have access to healthy, pesticide free veggies that have been stolen from all of our communities and finally the Sliding Scale Cafe which currently shares free healthy food, diapers, produce and groceries with over 800 families and elders per week. We began working with pro-bono architects and engineers and proposed a vision of truly green housing - straw bale/ ancient building technology. After being approved by the zoning dept - the building and permit dept said it was a “fire hazard” and blocked this vision of building that would have reversed the extractive industries of lumber and steel and excess resources used for modern structures. But we are poor people with nowhere else to go. This was yet another little murder of the soul and we immediately got to work designing a concrete and wood structure - Big Shouts Out to Architect Bob Theis, Dunya Alwan, Joe Igber, and many more housed and formally educated folks who have leveraged their paper privilege to help us all along- and never flagged, as well as fellow houseless Black and Brown and poor people from BlackArthur (MacArthur) and all of the Bay Area. The wood and concrete building design was “approved” . We began building - The whole time being hit with an endless series of exorbitant permit fees, ranging from 180 to 29,000 to over 70,000 for the so-called utility companies aka what i have re-named “CorpRapeshuns like Department of Water and Power and PGE - at many times, causing us to completely cease work until we could raise the money from our radical redistributors and revolutionary ComeUnity Reparators (See Poverty Scholarship - Poor People- led theory, Art, Words and Tears Across Mama Earth published by Poor Press) But as poor and houseless people we had no choice to continue with our dream, our vision, our hope. As this dream was, like all of poor peoples visions, rooted in our lives, survival and ancestors and our next seven generations. And then in 2019, when we were at the end of all of our building requirements, the violent and insane impact fee for affordable housing was levied against us. At this point we were so unbelieving that this could even happen. And also were left feeling so betrayed. After all we were the “Impacted People” how could we possibly raise this money or even in good conscience pay it while us and fellow impacted people were still being swept, evicted and criminalized. It was at this point that we began reaching out to every council person. To our community and to ourselves, wondering what we could do. And how this could even happen. Finally three years and useless parking requirements and thousands of dollars raised and spent and endless homelessness trauma for our houseless families and mamaz and elders who were supposed to move in and have been blocked, here we are. I can only say in closing that this has been a violent process, violent because it has not only been emotionally and physically traumatic, but violent because people's lives have been forced to hang in the balance. Because families who needed housing were forced to “wait” and be houseless longer, which really means, hopeless and at -risk and in danger and terrified longer. These are unspeakable traumas which houseless people struggle with everyday. We are not different or special, but in the face of a different and powerful solution, the City of Oakland rejected, charged, harassed, disrespected and CONfused us, but never ONCE supported us. This is the violence done to countless houseless peoples suffering the violence called sweeps everyday all across this stolen land. Oakland needs to do Better Be BEtter and be a model of Decolonization and what i call degentriFUkation not continue the violence of removal, displacement and terror. To solve a Homeless emergency we as people need to reject settler colonial codes and lies about private property. We need to listen and follow 1st nations LandBAck Black Land and Houseless people's visions. To solve Homelessness you all need to pass an ordinance so no more houseless and poor builders will face these impact fees, or any of these exorbitant fees, ridiculous parking demands, and settler-colonialist deed requirements So we can all be Homeful - Not Homeless And lastly, we will NOT take a much too late $40,000 line item from the City of Oakland, but rather ask that you use it to pay for a permanent person who focuses on guiding poor and houseless peoples-led building projects get through the settler colonial zoning and building codes until you change them to SUPPORT us and not do more violence to us who just want to live. #FreeHomefulness #UnSellMamaEarth In struggle and prayer for ancestors, Mama Earth and all of us… (lisa) tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, incarcerated povertySkola, daughter of Dee, mama of Tiburcio, co-founder of POOR Magazine/PrensaPOBRE, visionary of Homefulness poet and author of Criminal of Poverty Growing Up Homeless in America and many more

A Letter from Mama Dee to the Poverty, Race, and Media Justice Interns at POOR Magazine Dee Garcia We have read all of your résumés. Many of you have had access and privilege beyond anything we, and many of the people we work with, have ever known. Many of you have had exciting extracurricular and postgraduate volunteer work. Exciting is the operative word here. Some of you have had well-paying and interesting jobs as well. When I see that kind of race and class privilege experienced by people, some still in their twenties, and contrast it with some of the people with myself and many of our POOR Magazine povertyskolaz and other community of poor and houseless peoples with whom we work, in their thirties, forties, fifties, and more, who have never had the opportunities most of you have had, I am almost at a loss for words and thoughts. You owe so much and yet I do not want to see people helping others out of guilt because it often becomes nothing more than positivism, something you can forget when you go back to the next interesting job or advanced education program. We, the originators of POOR, have come from poverty, and only because of our intelligence and ability to organize our thoughts — itself a form of privilege — have we been able to take these experiences from poverty, racism, and suffering and be at one with them, to create this grassroots organization that hopefully gives opportunity to others who have experienced similar backgrounds. Do you have the ability, I wonder, to understand the nuances of your access and privilege? Your health, your optimism, your dental care, and on and on and on. We need people who have the ability to understand the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between yourselves and the people with whom we work. I wasn’t impressed by your insights on your applications. I didn’t get the feeling that you were in touch with what I’m talking about. It is possible for you to learn. However, places like Global Exchange that provide exciting volunteer work for people with privilege, to keep them stimulated and excited, is not what we are about here at POOR. There is a lot, a lot, a lot of drudgery in poverty—very little intellectual or creative stimulation. Much sadness and much, much frustration and isolation. What can you do about this? Beyond all else, you need to see those tiny differences that occur between yourself and those that exist in poverty. That is the beginning. We at POOR need people like yourselves that can do the frustrating tedious chores like grant writing and other types of fundraising, as well as other administrative work. You need to pay your dues with work that is not very exciting. Working with the political events and assisting impoverished and disenfranchised people in writing from their voice and their experience is the exciting part. Even copyediting for these folks is more interesting than some of the day-to-day frustrations of maintaining our vision. If you are interested in being here at POOR, you will be required to help with both, whether or not you are bored, annoyed, or frustrated. It is part of running a grassroots organization and it is what we do. You can benefit by using your strength and optimism and abilities that have come to you from privilege and access to help us, and I hope that, at least in part, you experience some of the boredom and frustration that we have experienced. That, in fact, you do not feel intellectually stimulated. That you are annoyed and have a pervasive sense of hopelessness from feeling overwhelmed, like us and the people with whom we work. From these feelings, you will learn about poverty. Be thankful if this happens to you. Include that in your résumé. Those feelings are more meaningful than any travels in India, Africa, or other faraway places with strange-sounding names, Ivy League college degrees, or honors from the dean’s list, Phi Beta Kappa or Magna Cum Laude, stimulating and informative college classes, books with new and edgy thinking, or any of the cumulative warm and happy holidays that you’ve experienced with family and friends. I did not see any mention of this kind of experience on your résumés. I did see a lot of near clichés about wanting to “help” people. I suppose you have gotten in the habit of writing this kind of résumé because it is what graduate schools and good jobs require, but if you work here at POOR, I would want you to rewrite your résumé including these feelings based on your experience here — and then convince future employers that this is, in fact, the way a résumé should be written. If you want to work at POOR you can let us know in writing how you understand what we expect of you. Do tell us what you think you can learn here as well.

i'm not a banger, im just a kid getting out at night. paper chasing education as my daily, infringes on my human rights. I see destruction all around me, it mirrors the way i feel inside. george was killed, blood was spilled, this time we don't let it slide. i'm walking dark, bangs and sparks, world war three is in full effect, more like a civil war, revolution of the poor, our current "leader" is an object. a car pulls by, chills in my spine, the black and blue i know all too well. they choked eric and george, they shot oscar, andy and more they look at me with the blank stare that kept george on the floor. they tell me how to move, puppet masters of the devils hand. I comply, fearing for my life please god save me from this land. where young men like sean get murdered everyday. red white and blue humans with legal executions, scary nation, state backed hatred for those with no silver spoon. why should i NOT be scared, of the men in blue, after all, im 18 years old and sean was 22 this is a poem dedicated to sean monterrosa and all of the men and women who were killed by police for existing in this systematically racist nation. with this poem I include a prayer for justice for all of the families who have lost love ones to the worst gang in the world, the United States police officers.

Liberate Parker Elementary School in East Oakland! Parker Elementary students & East Oakland youth share with POOR Magazine what motivates them to fight for Parker Elementary. By East Oakland Youth Skolaz, Jassiona & Samira Youth Skola Story #1: “My name is Jassiona and I’ve been at Parker, the liberation, for 23 days. Some people ask me how I got involved in it. Well I used to hear their marches every day and how they were taking over my community school. The first day I got here, I didn't actually believe that people were sleeping in the school. My little sister was the first person to be across the street every day. “My sister transferred to Parker Elementary, because earlier this year, at Elmhurst Middle School, another student and her mom had an altercation. This mom jumped out her car and started fighting my sister. My mom called OUSD, she called the principal, but nobody ever called her back. And this was why she moved her to Parker. She started coming home every day with a smile on her face. And I went over here and it felt like home. "Here at the liberation, in our class, I got to learn how to roller skate and I got to see different people and interact with them. There have been some events, like barbecues, a skate day, the Warriors party, and many more. Occupying the school is a good idea for kids because they need it. Where are you going to go if we don't occupy this school? I know a lot of kids around here who aren’t gonna go to school next year, because they don't have anyone to take them. We got to do the liberation, because a lot of other schools in Oakland, not just Parker, are getting closed and we have to fight back. There won't be any public schools in Oakland left, and if they close this one, what will we do? There will only be charter schools. I've been going to a charter school for three years. I do love it, but there's some things I don't like. Even as a black student, I feel like I don't get heard at all. All students should have the right to feel comfortable at school, and that's why I'm here doing this today. "At some point, I started to give up because I thought they were just going to get our school taken away. But on June 9th, I went to my first board meeting, and I got to see the ugliest person ever inside. They didn't have no sense of humor. They were rude and just didn't care about children. All they care about is taking money away from kids. And the most racist of them all is Josh Daniels. He comes to Parker every week. He takes pictures of little kids, and he locks up our kitchen so we can't eat. He takes all of our funding. He sends 14 people to put chains on our gates. And when I went to the board meeting, it made me not want to give up anymore. I gotta be heard. And all the youth said everything they had to say and everyone got to hear and I liked it.” Youth Skola Interview #1: What is your name? Jassiona Where are you from? East Oakland. Why are you here? Because this is my community school. And I want to keep it open. What made you want to do this when you don't go to this school? Because my sister goes here and I want her to have a good opportunity being here. Youth Skola Interview #2: What is your name? Samira And where are you from? Oakland Why are you here today? I'm here to help support Parker and try to keep it open. What made you want to be here for days? Because Parker's a community school that everyone should have.

White as can be Settler blood Living on Lummi, Nooksack, Coast Salish Seas territory I’ve been in such small, no-so-private spaces I had to learn how to silent cry so my feelings would have less of an impact on my 2 babies Rage through the whisper sound the back of my throat makes when I silent cry It’s 3am and I’m crunched in the corner space of a trundle bed in the doorless laundry room of a trailer Not so sure how long we’ll get to stay Flashbacks to sleepless nights on the cold ground shivering But at least the babies are warm Still houseless, still jobless A throwaway, and a failure My pain is too tall to measure

The role of Academia in increased and violent homelessness, gentrification and land theft From Berkeley to NYC Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour thru Columbia University - photo by Israel Munoz/PNN “Columbia University built the Manhattenville campus and caused the eviction and displacement of hundreds of low-income tenants and will be bringing in more students which will cause more housing shortages and more displacement,” said Rosie to PoorNewsNetwork a Columbia University student and member of Columbia Housing Equity Club. Her and this formerly houseless povertyskola stood together as we began our Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour in occupied Lenape Territory outside the Greco-Roman pillars that marked the front of the infamous Columbia University campus. “UC Berkeley is building an 11 story student housing building- which is taller than all the student housing they currently have. None of the current houseless residents of Peoples Park have been offered homes in the so-called affordable housing part of the project and probably never will. The little bit of affordable housing they are including won't even be accessible to the current houseless residents of Peoples Park because of the income requirement, said June Nelson, a land liberator with Defend Peoples Park to PNN-KEXU Po Peoples Radio Podcast of June 14th “The maintenance crew dispatched to Peoples Park just today was taking peoples belongings and throwing them away, including a grandmother who i had just bought adult diapers for,” added Aidan Hill, another powerFULL land liberator and formerly houseless UC Berkeley student who has stood up for and stayed in Peoples Park for years and also spoke with us on Po Peoples Radio Podcast focused on akkkademik colonization From Berkeley to NYC and beyond the settler violence of private property and the *krapitalist” system ( as i call it) un-houses youth, families, grandmothers, aunty’s, uncles and countless disabled Black, Brown, poor wite and indigenous people. Eviction, gentriFUKation (rent increases, housing shortages) job loss, underemployment, poLice profiling, poverty, incarceration, mental and physical illness, substance use, domestic violence and more are also triggers. POOR Magazine has done countless WeSearch projects (poor people led research for us by us) like the #JailstoStreets Project, connecting the dots of incarceration and profiling of Black and Brown communities to houselessness, #EvictionisElderandChildAbuse, and more and the “findings” were always the same, if you make “one wrong move”, slip-up or any of these krapitalist forces ensnare you, its almost impossible to get re-housed, housing secure or as i call it homeful. Not to mention RAD and NoHopeVI - two government sponsored gentriFUkation projects that destroyed public housing as we know it and flipped almost all project housing into the benignly titled “mixed income housing” i.e, no longer available to the poorest people in the US. And most recently the terror we all are still collectively surviving known as the pandemic, the tiny respite of the eviction moratorium which didnt cover most very poor tenants and was summarily ended leaving over 50,000 people across the US in eviction proceedings. All of these terrifying realities, in addition to the over-arching violence of krapitalism, isolation, forced migration and generations of colonial terror, Indigenous Black land theft and wite supremacy, its a wonder anyone is housed, and overstandibly why so many of us are now members of the ever growing UnHoused Nation. “I barely survived the violence of the encampment sweeps in New York under the new mayor and I am now truly afraid as he has declared war on our homeless bodies,” said Rickie, one of many RoofLess Radio reporters we met with on our Stolen Land UnTour of occupied Lenape last week. Because like Rickie said, once we are in fact outside, our bodies are now equated with trash and poltricksters like Eric Adams of New York sweep our us in massive and dangerous sweeps. Akkkademik Colonization and the Dorm Industrial complex But one driver of increased removal and displacement is rarely, if ever, discussed, mentioned or named, Academia, or what i affectionately call, Akkkademia and the ever hungry Dorm Industrial Complex. "This cult of angst and subsequent separating of children from their families and communities enables the other crucial lesson of akkkademia: the lesson of individualism, individuation, selfishness, self-centered actions. This produces the perfect capitalist consumer with all the elements of a future gentrifier and Ikea shopper. It produces people who become complicit in age-separatism, ghettoizing their own elders in homes and children in age-separated schools and board and care “homes”..." excerpt of page 172 of chapter 6 Poor People Led WeSearch and Education versus Akkkademik destruction in Poverty Scholarship- Poor People-led Theory, Art, Words and Tears Across Mama Earth I call it the “Dorm Industrial Complex” which is rooted in the “cult of Angst” because these academic institutions from Berkeley to Philly, from Temple University to San Francisco and LA continue the land theft of the original colonizers, which, incidentally many of the buildings on their “campuses” are named after, expansion, land theft, removal and violent gentriFUKation under the guise of “student housing” which is really a cover for a giant pyramid scheme inherent in krapitalism, I outline these concepts in Chapter 6 of the Poverty Scholarship Textbook and i refer to it as akkkademik colonization, and one of the important lessons we un-pack in PeopleSkool’s DegentriFUKation/Decolonization Workshop A recent aspect of the ever increasing Akkkademic Colonization is what i am calling akkkademik apartheid. These institutions arent building student housing for All students, they are building ‘luxury student housing” which means the only students who will be housed in this 21st century model is the children of wealth-hoarders. Which means that this violent gentriFUKation is focused on housing students with resources and often times leaves poor students houseless. Luxury housing for college and university students across the US has become a multibillion-dollar industry for Universities, with apartment buildings featuring pools, clubhouses and spin studios. “I was homeless for many of my years at Berkeley, I could not afford the so-called “student housing” and there is a severe housing shortage in berkeley so there was never anywhere else i could afford to live, being homeless while in school is so stressful and I almost didnt graduate,” said Max C, a graduate of UC Berkeley, who is now a resident of Hayward. Some students get a housing stipend as part of their financial aid, but it typically covers only the cost of dorms or less expensive off-campus options. And the only way that students can live in these places is by agreeing to work in them in exchange for discounted or even free rent. There is at least one class-action lawsuit alleging that this has essentially made them the equivalent of indentured servants to their wealthier classmates Kkkolumbia Universities’ Black Removal Columbia University has an extensive history of evicting Black and poor tenants to make way for their ever expanding “campus”. The fight and resistance of tenants spanned decades and one of their warriors was a revolutionary wite woman known as Marie Runyon, who was a resident of the Morningside Heights neighborhood and was evicted by Columbia and along with other tenants refused to move and held out for years in their homes in Morningside Heights. “My mom and many of the tenants being evicted by Columbia refused to leave and the court battle with them spanned several years,” said Brian Barth, Mrs Runyon’s sun who joined us on the UnTour as we stood in front of the Columbia Universities’ Presidents Mansion, another terrifyingly blatant example of the colonial aspect of all these wealth-hoarding , land stealing institutions. “They hired a private security firm to literally “sweep” everyone out of the Tenderloin district who are houseless in front of the block UC Hastings has proposed for their luxury student housing,” said POOR Magazine family member and revolutionary member of KopWatch SF in the Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour of UC Hastings Law School in November of 2020. Peoples Park has always been a space of decolonization “In the 1950’s UC Berkeley acquired Peoples Park through imminent domain. Michael Delacort and other anti-war activists co-founded it to do a free speech rally. Peoples Park was a sanctuary garden for the Black Panther Party. The purpose of the park at its core is about Survival under capitalism”, continued Aidan to PoPeoplesRadio Newz Hour. Aidan continued, “ The new Chancelor decided to build on Peoples Park- and in 2019 they cut down 40 trees-many people resisted but UC continued with its plan-until Andrea Henson fought a court case blocking the further displacment of people without offering them accommodations as this is cruel and unusual punishment. This povertyskola, who grew up in homelessness with my mama and was arrested by UC Berkeley police for being houseless in that settler town, and eventually did three months in Santa Rita County jail for the act of being houseless in this stolen land, have been triggered into extreme depression by the HypoKritical ways so-called progressive Berkeley has operated. “They have my relatives in their basement,” said Corrina Gould, Ohlone /Lisjan leader, prayer warrior and co-founder of Sogorea Te Land Trust, in POOR Magazine’s Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTour held in May of 2021. We launched the UnTour of that akkkademik site following the UnTour of UC Hastings where in both cases we proposed a “#LandBAck proposal -because UC Berkeley is not only stealing land, trees, housing and tents at Peoples Park and buildings of rent controlled housing such as Walnut street,in collaboration with Police agencies, they are also, like so many of these institutions, warehousing Indigenous ancestors, which is all connected. In the end Akkkademik colonization can and should be met, liike all forms of colonial terror, with active decolonization and degentriFUKation. Not more studies and research and talking, removing and sweeping by the very institutions profiting off of our erasure. “Peoples Park is on Ohlone land and i believe it was created for all the children in the future- the next seven generations- Peoples Park was based in notions of radical activism that included the Womens Movement, the Gay Liberation, Free speech and so many more, always anti-fascist, always pro-poor, concluded Aidan., Aidan and all of us are standing on the shoulders of so many warriors like Michael Delacourt, David Nadel and Osha Neuman and Rosebud Abigail Denovo who broke into the campus home of Chang-Lin Tien, Chancellor of the University of California for liberation of Peoples Park. The collective work of Defend Peoples Park and Columbia University Housing Equity Project is essential and all the so-called woke and conscious professors and students need to join to support and resist along with all the community members and houseless relatives who have stood up and spoken up for generations. Mama Earth and all of us poor and houseless mamas and families need to be listened to with our own solutions like Homefulness , the Poor Peoples Army resisting the academic colonization of Temple University and the DegentriFUKation Zones we launched in East Huchuin (Oakland) so we don’t all end up in the very real violence of the UnHoused Nation.

Liberate Parker Elementary School in East Oakland! Parker Elementary students & East Oakland youth share with POOR Magazine the story of Parker Elementary and why they are occupying the school & trying to keep it open. By East Oakland Youth Skolaz @ Parker Elementary Zarian, age 12, from East Oakland (originally from Fresno): “Well I’m here at Parker because nobody gave OUSD aka the school board the right to close down this school or really any schools at all.” Samira, age 11, from East Oakland: “I’m here because I want to help support Parker Elementary (my school) – because the district is trying to take it away like they did to other great schools.” AJ, age 13, from North Fresno: “I don’t know. In my opinion about school closures, I think that there’s more schools we can go to. But I guess I think they should not close the school.” Elmer, age 7, from East Oakland: Drawing by Elmer Olive, age 8, from East Oakland: Why are you here? “Because they closed our school but they don’t know we’re here.” Drawing by Olive Eder, age 15, from 7900 East Oakland: Why are you here? “Because uhhh I was bored.” Mele, age 6, from East Oakland: Drawing by Mele Erik, age 13, whose family is from Mexico: “In February, they closed down Parker and tried to make it into a charter school. It is bad because people that live around here don’t have a school.” David, age 14, from East Oakland: “I am here to keep the school open because they are taking learning away from us, the kids.” Zoraya, age 12, who was born in Fresno but now lives in East Oakland: “I’m here to save my school from closing down. I love being at this school with my friends and I love the teachers.” Javien from East Oakland: “I’m here because it’s disrespectful how these people think they can take away learning from kids that need it the most. Me and other parents and students will not let them put hands on our school. All we hear is the same ‘sorry’ but it goes deeper than that – they’re taking away history.” Nasira, age 7, from East Oakland: Drawing by Nasira

Walking down a winding path paved with eggshells. Freedom is a low hanging fruit just out of reach. The sky eats up light and the fog tries to suffocate me, blanketing the path and settling on the tree. My feet move forward at a grinding pace. My body is young and my mind Is old, saturated with experiences I have yet to process. The fog is gravity now, pulling me to the earth, whispering sweet nothings in my ear, promises of love and protection, safety that compromises freedom, comfort that throws away exploration. The only opening I see through the fog is that same path paved with eggshells, that tree with low hanging fruit getting further and further away.

Almost kicked out of my great aunt’s house for taking hormones at 18. Having to lie through my teeth with caution. In order to be housed until I graduated out of high school. All I wanted was to have autonomy for my body. I want to honor what my body wants at the moment. Now as I think of the trauma, it fades in and out like a fog on a sunny morning. Even what hurt me the most was how my father blamed me and told me that it was my fault that I got myself into that situation in the first place, that I made my great aunt mad and disappointed in me. I wanted her to see me for who I am, and I was saddened by her decisions and her reactions to my own autonomy. I still love and appreciate her now with all of my heart. Even when she did what she did. I still want her in my life. The experience that my vessel went through was terrifying and traumatizing. I had to walk around in high school with a backpack and suitcase all day, and even explain to teachers that I was on the verge of being kicked out of my great aunt’s house. I had to make a decision with my great aunt, either I stop the hormones and still live with her, or I honor the hormones and be somewhere else. I found a way, but it wasn’t an easy way. I had to lie in order to stay housed and feel alive. I had to create an illusion with my body. The illusion of the Pre-T self, lowering the dosage to slow the process of my transformation. Hiding my soon-to-be robust voice with high-pitched melodies. Create a smooth surface of my skin that no hair has inhabited. It broke my heart to lie with my tongue to my own great aunt. Who housed me when my own parents weren't able to house me. I did not want to do it but I fear the realities and possibilities. If I was in the streets, my vessel would have been taken advantage of, my vessel would have been raped, molested, and violated by strange men in the streets and in the city shelters. I would have been denied housing because of my own transfaggot existence. I’ve heard stories of trans and nonbinary people having their bodies destroyed and broken by the patriarchal offenders in the community and of the state. Hell, trans and nonbinary people like me are less likely to get housed and be in stable and safe environments. In Alameda County, if we see the data from the End Homelessness website in 2019. Trans people tend to experience unsheltered homelessness at a higher percentage than cis people. In Alameda County, 81 percent of the cis people was unsheltered while 19 percent were sheltered from 2017 to 2019. In contrast, 93 percent of the trans people were unsheltered while 7 percent were sheltered in 2019 in Alameda County. Since 2017, trans and nonbinary people have gradually became more vulnerable to housing instability and the violence of poverty and capitalism. There is hope as the trans housing liberation movement has been growing for decades from New York with the STAR mother ancestors Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, to the South with My Sistah’s House in Memphis, Tennessee. Along with other beautiful housing and sheltering medicines. In the Vogue article on the trans housing liberation movement in the South, Kayla Gore, the co-founder of My Sistah’s House, explained, “Trans-led initiatives have always been in existence in some form. It’s just that now with the global pandemic and the uprising, there’s more attention on vulnerable communities, especially within the Black community, prioritizing trans folks.” In the same article above, Mariah Moore, one of the founders of House of Tulip in New Orleans, Louisiana mentions that “as a Black trans woman, I never knew the racism that existed in zoning laws. There are all these hurdles put in place that prevent folks from being able to provide the support that marginalized folks need and deserve,” she says. “We’re still trying to build out a road to homeownership through an infrastructure that helps our community members become self-sustainable.” The Covid pandemic also has been the capitalistic factor of housing instability within the trans and nonbinary community, especially within trans communities of color across the States. In the USA Today article on the trans housing liberation movement in the South, it is said that, “For the transgender community, especially those of color, preexisting barriers and ongoing discrimination have compounded challenges in the middle of a raging pandemic and economic crisis. Approximately 19% of transgender people and 26% of transgender people of color became unemployed because of COVID-19, compared to 12% of the general U.S. population.” It all comes to the reality that transphobia is one of the many spawn that is birthed from the legacy and the cult of whyte supremacy and colonization. In the eyes of colonizers and perpetrators of violence, transness is non-existent. For us, it is our existence. The legacy of creating a home for us, by us. It brings me back to the moment where I was almost kicked out for honoring my body, even if there were risks. I was willing to take the risk to honor my vessel. This hurt my potential love and trust for my Aunt Vickie. But, once I was able to start the healing process of my family lineage. She is family in my eyes again. I still want her in my life, she now understands more gradually about how I exist. It is a process, it is a journey. I now think of a home where the liminal vessel can be housed once more.