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  • Deecolonized Un-Tour: Chief Plentywolf

    Tiburcio Garcia Lisa Garcia Revolutionary Journalism 28 July 2021 Deecolonized Un-Tour: Chief Plentiwolf “Spirituality, ceremony is our core, our center,” said Chief Plentywolf, an indigenous elder who just finished the annual Sundance ceremony, which is a ceremony where native people gather for prayer and sacrifice of sweat and pain. We came days after to talk to Chief Plentywolf at the invitation of Cynthia, one of our solidarity family. The solidarity family are people with race and class privilege who we teach why they need to give reparations. After a hearty lunch with Chief Plentywolf, Cynthia, her husband Tom and all of us multi-generational, multi-racial poverty skolas who came on this tour, we went out to the site of the Sundance Ceremony. It felt as if the land was welcoming us. One, solitary tree stood in the middle of a grassy field, covered with flags from many indigenous nations. We were told not to take pictures of that tree, and I had no objections. There was little to no wind, and the sun beat down on us, but we were surrounded with trees that wove together like a basket, the leaves from each individual tree coming together to form one continuous growth. We walked over to a small clearing next to a dirt road that slopes up and curves around a bend. In that meadow stood a Teepee, the fabric stretched taut over the supporting posts. “We pray every time we do something, or every time we prepare and even meetings and talks like this,” Chief Plentywolf continued, his eyes focusing on each one of us at a time, making me feel as if he was looking through me, looking at everything I could ever be. He talked about the difference between a massacre and a battle, saying that when the white settlers slaughtered women, children and elder indigenous people it went down in history as a battle, yet only when the indigenous people fought back and killed many white men was it called a massacre, and when that happened, the government was able to justify in the history books the genocide that they continued to do, with or without the native people fighting back. Chief Plentywolf ended it by talking about Sundance, and how the youth was actually coming back, and how he was excited for the future of Sundance and prayer as a whole. He talked about a16 year old who was the strongest young warrior he had ever seen, and thanked us for being youth and continuing to work and pray with our elders. We thanked Cynthia once more, and before leaving we visited the sweat lodge that is used in the Sundance Ceremony. I came away from the sacred place having learned so much in a short span of time. I would love to join the Sundance Ceremony sometime in the future, and I'm looking forward to being able to speak with Chief Plentiwolf again, to learn a small part of the vast amount of knowledge he has.

  • Landless/houseless, Indigenous Black, Brown and Disabled People Lead Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources "

    Press Contacts: Muteado Silencio /Tiny (510-435-7500 Landless/houseless, Indigenous Black, Brown and Disabled People Lead an "unTour" thru wealth-hoarding neighborhoods and sacred indigenous sites in Denver aka Stolen Ute, Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne Territory When: 12pm Thursday, July 29th Where: Tour launched with Multi-Nationed Prayer & Speakers at Confluence Park (1500 16th street, Denver, Colorado) "When they take our land, our tents and our belongings, we have nowhere to go,... " said Israel M., formerly houseless, indigenous co-builder of Homefulness. "As colonial cities and towns ‘open Back Up’ we indigenous, houseless and poor folks know that means, increased sweeps of houseless bodies, increased evictions of poor families and elders, increased desecration of indigenous peoples lands and sacred sites increased poverty and poLice Terror of Black and Brown and working class people," said Tiny, formerly houseless co-founder of POOR Magazine. POOR Magazine is a poor and indigenous people-led art, culture, and liberation movement. Our multi-generational, multi-cultural houseless/indigenous people-led movement will be going on the road to connect the dots between our shared oppressions and struggles, share the urgent medicine of how to build self-determined land movements, take back land, healing, and our own knowledge systems and cultures right here in occupied Turtle Island. This leg of a summer long Un-Tour is in occupied Southern Ute, Mountain Ute, Arapahoe and Northern Cheyenne Territory, aka Denver - the site of high-speed gentrification, homelessness, poLice abuse, murder and terror as well as a silenced bloody history of colonial genocide. As we all grapple with Mama Earth burning, flooding and all of us trying to survive, these Un-Tours connect the dots between eviction, homelessness, colonization, desecration, poLice terror, Devil-oper Land grabs, mining and other extractive industries, desecration of Mama Earth, and the removal, incarceration, police terror of Black, Brown, indigenous, disabled and poor people. In so-called Denver we will launch the tour with prayer from all four corners and ancestors of this land with 1st Nations warriors like Lynn Eagle Feather whose sun Paul Castaway was murdered by Denver PoLice as well as liberators from Denver Homeless Outloud, members of Western Regional Advocacy Project, who are on the front-lines of resistance efforts for unhoused Denver residents. In each UnTour we share poor people-led solutions of Radical Redistribution, Homefulness, Land Back movements and ComeUnity Reparations informed by POOR Press books How to Not Call Po'Lice Ever and Poverty Scholarship: Poor People-Led Theory, Art, Words, and Tears Across Mama Earth, with houseless and poor communities and communities with different forms of race, class and/or education privilege with the goal of supporting local resistance movements and helping poor and indigenous people launch their own solutions like Homefulness. Smoke from fires across the Western States to the midwest blanket the skies. Sweeps and invaders concrete the land to cover up history of slaughter and murder. Gentrifuckers completely program the same blueprint from King St, SF to 16th St mall in Denver. Houseless cannot be eliminated, said Momii Palapaz , family elder from POOR Magazine's Elephant Council (one of the models we teach and live into at Homefulness and share in the How TO Not Call PoLice Ever handbook.) We are inviting all organizations to co-sponsor, walk with us, speak and/or learn more about this important new/old way to walk on Mama Earth in this time of so much pain. Links to some of our Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources Tours Stolen Land/Hoarded Resurces Tour thru Akkkadeia- May 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=489FkHJQWxs&t=91s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5NFtYpE64s&t=6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-N1FCWAdY&t=57s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0j6baUl1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxHj4zzCmWk Links to books: How to Not Call Po'Lice Ever Poverty Scholarship: Poor People-Led Theory, Art, Words, and Tears Across Mama Earth Po' People's Survival Guide thru COVID-19 and the Virus of Poverty Children's books: When Mama and Me Lived Outside The Hard Worker (Trabajador Fuerte) Krip Hop Nation Graphic Novel Decolonewz - Newspaper led by youth in poverty for everyone ( available in paper form only) Workshops: See this link Po' Peoples Radio Broadcasts: See this link More info on Homefulness: See this link and www.poormagazine.org/homefulness Articles on this from the SF Bay View and POOR Magazine: Stealing our Last Acre and One Remaining Mule Selling our Homes to Private Investors Public Housing Privatization The Privatization From Privatization to Reparations Section 8 and Public Housing at Risk

  • Deecolonized Un-Tour: "O my Father"

    Tiburcio Garcia Lisa Garcia Revolutionary Journalism 27 July, 2021 Deecolonized Un-Tour: “O My Father” “O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place: When shall I regain thy presence, And again behold thy face?” -Eliza R. Snow As a young, light skinned formerly houseless poverty skola and journalist with Poor Magazine, this place was a new sight. Not this town, with it’s empty sidewalks and quiet 1950's houses that felt like they had eyes focused on your back. What was a new sight for me was the poem and plaque that made a point to honor the poem of a woman who’s class and social status was low, which led to many deeming her as useless, yet showing that she created a work of art that was immortalized as among The Most Beloved of Mormon Hymns. I believe the message behind this if any is that no matter what status or position you are in you have the potential to create something beautiful. Now here is my question. Does that apply to the Ute, Dine, Paiute, Goshute, and Shoshone people who were forcibly removed from their land in order to allow for Salt Lake City to become the home of the Salt Lake Temple, the Headquarters of the Morman Faith? It doesn’t. It never has, because the voices, stories, art and songs of native people all over Stolen Turtle Island have never mattered, and the only thing that remains in the stolen and hoarded spaces and places are these bronze plaques, honoring the colonizers who created works of at such as “O My Father”, on land that was never theirs. That is the purpose of this Western Turtle Island Un-Tour, where me along with my family from Poor Magazine and Deecolonize Academy are doing we-search (that’s poor people led re-search) on the colonization and genocide that has happened in Utah and Colorado. For 12,000 years before settlers moved into Utah, there were people living there. The Native people of Utah, which were many, as Utah is a big area, stewarded the land long before colonizers claimed it as there’s. Most of that changed, however, when the Mormons “settled” into Utah in 1847, beginning in Salt Lake Valley, and then moving up and down Utah, effectively cutting off Ute trade routes and displacing them from their land. The Black Hawk and Walker War were the Ute people raiding their own land that was stolen from them by the Mormons, for the sole purpose of avoiding starvation. Knowing this, I think back to the Capitol Hill Neighborhood we visited that featured the oxidized copper plaque of Eliza R. Snow and many other women and prominent Mormon figures. I didn’t see a plaque showing the absolute forced removal of the indigenous people of Utah by the Mormons. When I read that plaque honoring Eliza for her poem, I wondered how much art created by native people was destroyed, how many voices were permanently silenced. I can’t help but feel sick looking at the bright flowers and freshly cut grass, blue skies and calm, well paved streets, knowing that all of it was built on lies and death.

  • Poor, houseless, indigenous Peoples Come to So-called Colorado

    Poor/houseless/indigenous folks share models of landless peoples' self-determination, Po'Lice-free land liberation, revolutionary media, and art. When: Tour #2 July 27-August 1st Where: So-called Colorado POOR Magazine is a poor and indigenous people-led art, culture, and liberation movement. Our multi-generational, multi-cultural houseless/indigneous people-led movement will be going on the road to share the urgent medicine of how to build self-determined land movements, take back land, and our own knowledge systems and cultures right here in occupied Turtle Island. Sharing the medicine of Homefulness- a homeless peoples solution to homelessness- and offering readings and workshops from our newest books "How to Not Call Po'Lice Ever"/"Poverty Scholarship: Poor People-Led Theory, Art, Words, and Tears Across Mama Earth", as well as leading a Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources Tour through wealth-hoarding neighborhoods, museums of Anthro-Wrongology, and Academia to share the urgent medicine of Radical Redistribution and ComeUnity Reparations. And finally, we will be meeting/sharing and teaching poor and houseless people-led media production with fellow unhoused comeUnity in that territory so they can launch their own media hubs like POOR Magazine's street-based media projects. We are inviting all organizations to co-sponsor, host us for a book reading, performance, or workshop, or walk with us in the Stolen Land Tour. Below are links of Stolen Land Tours we have done before and information about our books and work. Links to some of our Stolen Land Tours which were launched on MamaEarth Day 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=489FkHJQWxs&t=91s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5NFtYpE64s&t=6s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-N1FCWAdY&t=57s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0j6baUl1g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxHj4zzCmWk Links to books: How to Not Call Po'Lice Ever Poverty Scholarship: Poor People-Led Theory, Art, Words, and Tears Across Mama Earth Po' People's Survival Guide thru COVID-19 and the Virus of Poverty Children's books: When Mama and Me Lived Outside The Hard Worker (Trabajador Fuerte) Krip Hop Nation Graphic Novel Decolonewz - Newspaper led by youth in poverty for everyone ( available in paper form only) Workshops: See this link Po' Peoples Radio Broadcasts: See this link More info on Homefulness: See this link and www.poormagazine.org/homefulness

  • Mama Cheryl's Story

    By: Meiriely Amaral Mama Cheryl Canson’s story is one of resistance. She spoke on Po' People's Revolutionary Newz Hour: Keeping the "A's" even if Poor Peoples Cant Stay on April 13, 2021 (listen here) about her experience at Canyon Rim Apartments in San Diego. “While we’re fighting a pandemic we’re fighting amongst each other, and that’s really a saddening thing and we don't realize the solution to a lot of our issues is unity” - Mama Cheryl Mama Cheryl has been living at Canyon Rim for the past 2 years. When she first moved in she got a lot of glares and stares, and there was a lot of racism and prejudice. She is Black and the neighborhood had few people who looked like her, and ever since moving in she’s been getting harassed. The goal of this has been to get her uncomfortable enough to move. Some of her neighbors have used glares and mean mugs to show their displeasure of her moving there and becoming their neighbor, but Mama Cheryl is going to stand because she is not ashamed in her Blackness. She was thinking about moving, but then she got connected with the San Diego Tenants Union. They have stood with her united, and let her know that she’s not alone, fighting side by side with her. Mama Cheryl has a history of mental illness in her family, which sometimes leads to loud moments and that’s just something she deals with. Sometimes she’s told neighbors in the past about this but it’s a catch 22 - do you let your neighbors know about your situation or do you not for fear of targeting. None of these things can change, not her race nor her mental illness, and Mama Cheryl is not going to fight against that. “I am what I am ... I’m sure you’re proud of who you are but I’m not bothering you, Ima let you be who you are and be proud of who you are, you know, but allow me to do the same” - Mama Cheryl There was an initial complaint made against Mama Cheryl, and legal aid was initially representing her, but it was the San Diego Tenants Union who was able to find mistakes in the original complaint. Shout out to the tenants union in San Diego!! People united can conquer anything. Since this complaint wasn’t answered in time, it was rendered invalid. It’s still unclear to Mama Cheryl the exact details of the process she is in, but she knows she is waiting for a court hearing. She got together with the tenants union and knocked on doors, together they were able to empower others by being united, showing her fellow neighbors that if they should experience or were experiencing any of the things she was, that they were not alone. In the pandemic, there are laws preventing landlords/scamlords from using lack of payment to evict people, so these scamlords look for other reasons to evict people. Mama Cheryl was paying her rent electronically, but they blocked her access and wouldn’t accept her rent, so they clearly wanted her to move for other reasons. When that initial complaint was filed, the poLICE came to her door to “investigate”, and it was clear that the noise and arguing that was complained about didn’t exist. The only explanation for how this has gotten so full blown is that the office has been discriminating as well. Especially because in a building of 197 tenants or so, where she was open from the start about her mental illness history, they could have placed her in a more accommodating space around more tolerating neighbors, but they chose not to listen to her. Mama Cheryl is in good hands in her resistance, and in her unity with the people through the tenants union.

  • Support Not Sweeps and Free Homefulness

    By Tiburcio Garcia and Amir Cornish/Youth poverty Skola reporters for POOR Magazine (Editor's Note: Tiburcio and Amir are students at Deecolonize Academy- the poor and indigenous people -led liberation school on the sacred land we houseless poverty skolaz call Homefulness) The metallic crunching fills the air, the screeching sound of metal destroying metal pierces the skin harder than the whipping ocean breeze. Homes, belongings, memoires, being crushed like tin cans by the city of Marin County, the people that resided in them for generations being shuffled around while forced to watch everything they knew be destroyed. Preventing this from happening on a larger scale, preventing this from happening to thousands of other houseless and poor people was the reason behind Tuesdays #SupportNotSweeps action in front of CalTrans. “People living on their boats for hundreds of years are now in jeopardy as much as people living under freeways,” a houseless sailor yells, looking back at the corporate building that stands as a monument of terror. “The Harbormaster is smashing boats, the City Council and the Counsellors are agreeing to it and there's tons of money being made on the backs of the people. This man, along with many others who came out to speak out on their situations of being harassed by entities just like CalTrans, who don’t care if human lives are being put at risk because of their actions as long as they make profit. We youth and family poverty skolaz at POOR Magazine re-ported and sup-ported on the Support Not Sweeps action through theatre and presence. The theatre acted out the very real violence so many of us at POOR Magazine have dealt with and still deal with - people being forcibly removed in the form of a Theater of the POOR, where some of us acted out a very familiar scene, houseless people in tents being harassed by cops and DPW officers, the DPW officers chanting louder and louder over the desperate cries of the people, “WE ARE JUST DOING OUR JOBS! WE ARE JUST DOING OUR JOBS!'' I hope that no matter how many times they say that they won't be able to sleep at night. When I was younger, me and my mother were houseless, evicted over and over again in the city of San Francisco. I was never on the streets, but we always knew from our friends and family the violence of the sweeps that happened then and continue to happen nearly a decade later. Then, Homefulness was born out of a dream from my grandmother's head, from years of teaching people with race and class privilege to give reparations. Now, we are being tied up by the City of Oakland, the same that sweeps so many houseless people, unable to complete a project that will take us and our families out of houselessness. We all went to Oakland City hall to demand Free Homefulness right after the Support Not Sweeps sit in at Caltrans The struggle unhoused people are dealing with now is nothing new - what my mama Tiny calls, the Violence called Sweeps, or the Violence of exposure, swept like we as houseless people are trash.. But it is getting worse. From Liveaboard and poor boat residents to people sleeping in tents, people are constantly being “swept” and thrown away and demolished and displaced. The sweeps and destruction is increasing in the so-called “opening back up” cities all across this state are increasing evictions of houseless peoples from their tents and lands when they have nowhere to go. This #SupportNotSweeps action, near downtown Oakland, filled up nearly the entire block with houseless and poor people exclaiming their human rights and demanding justice. Boats being destroyed in front of their now houseless owners eyes, lifelong belongings being thrown in a dump truck by glass eyed workers, day and day it happens and it never stops. As long as there is money to be made this government will colonize and pillage and destroy to get it. Stand with Liveaboard Mariners as they fight an eviction of their whole encampment where they have been forced to live after their boats were crushed in front of their eyes by the wealth-hoarder poltricksters of so-called Sausalito Marin County - aka Occupied Miwok Territory on Tuesday, June 28th 7am-7pm, 300 Locust Street Sausalito, Cal

  • Killed for Being Black while Changing a Tire in Daly City - the PoLice Murder of Roger Allen

    By Akil Carrilo and Ziair Hughes/Youth Poverty SKola Reporters for POOR Magazine (Editor's Note: Akil and Ziair are students at Deecolonize Academy- the poor and indigenous people-led liberation school on the sacred land we houseless poverty skolaz call Homefulness) “The poLice pulled my brother out of the car and left his two white friends alone,” said Talika, sister of Roger Allen at a prayer ceremony for Roger Allen and his family that POOR magazine youth and family elders re-ported and sup-ported on last week. On April 7, 2021 Roger Allen was killed by Daly City Police for being Black while changing a tire. He was on the side of the road with a flat tire, a drug task force unit of the Daly City PD pulled up. Instead of helping him with the flat they began to harass him and were trying to search his car for drugs. Roger Allen was with two white friends, the cops only asked Roger Allen’s friends to step out of the car while he was asked to remain inside. One thing led to another and the cops shot and killed Roger Allen. This happened April 7, about 3 months after I am writing his story. This is because there is absolutely no media coverage on his story. Roger Allen’s life is just one of the many Black and Brown lives lost due to police brutality, after they are killed everything is forgotten about and never learned. The only thing left are the tears of the family left behind. George Floyd and Roger Allen are no different but why was George Floyd’s death on national tv, while Roger’s was not on any mainstream media outlet. This happens on a daily basis, so many people are killed by cops that no one knows about. This is a common occurrence, it's not a surprise anymore, just a constant struggle. Living each day with the fear that it might be the last. “A human was killed for a flat tire, we know it's because of systemic white supremacy,” said Conamor Jas, one of the organizers of the beautiful ceremony at Garfield Park, close to where the family lives. The cops used a division tactic with Roger Allen, then separated him from his friend leaving him alone and vulnerable. These tactics have been used for years, this is why Racism exists, to separate us and once we are separated we slowly get picked off. “Daly City and South San Francisco are klan towns - it's dangerous to be a Black person there. Period. The Family of Shaleen Tindle were pulled out of their car in that area and seriously harassed in 2010, which is just one of many experiences we have reported and supported on of this sickkk place,” said Tiny Gray-Garcia, POOR Magazine Co-Editor. All these corporations, laws, cops are all the same people, It's all the same hate and fear. They all see us as pests that need to be squashed. We are nothing to them. This is shown to us on a daily basis when poor, houseless, Black and Brown people get murdered, when we aren't allowed to build solutions for ourselves.

  • The poLice killing of Anthony Nuñez

    by Lisa Ganser On July 4, 2016, 18-year-old Latino Loved One Anthony Nuñez was in a mental health crisis in his home in San José, CA. Anthony had shot himself, grazing his head with a bullet, was bleeding, and was in desperate need of medical attention. Two pleas for life-saving medical support to 911 were made by Anthony’s family. Even in the life-threatening heat of the moment and with language barriers of Spanish and english, at the 911 dispatcher’s request, the gun was separated from Anthony well before emergency response units arrived. Anthony was no threat to anyone but himself that day, and after shooting himself, was wounded and needed immediate medical assistance. Unfortunately, medical help never made it to Anthony. Instead it was the militarized poLice, who committed to Use of Force before even arriving to the scene, who were first to Anthony. They arrived in massive numbers and in tactical gear and placed snipers, keeping medics and Anthony’s family from him. Instead of providing care and assistance, SJPD officers Michael Santos and Anthony Vissuz violently shot and murdered Anthony Nuñez in his family’s home. Anthony Nuñez is very loved. He was a handsome Mexican teenager who often got haircuts (he loved getting good haircuts). His Momma, Sandy Sanchez, jokes about how he would constantly look in any mirror he saw. If he could see his own reflection, Anthony would look. Anthony loved to dance, to joke around, he liked to rap, he had a lot of friends. Anthony’s family members, including his cousins Natalie and Jason, say that Anthony was human, he made mistakes, like all teenage boys. They say he was an amazing young person, he was working at a new job the day he died, that he was held close by a strong family. Anthony’s death has taken a very serious toll on his family members, especially his Mom, Sandy, who has raised him since his birth Mom died when Anthony was very young. This made Anthony like a brother and sister with his cousins, they were raised together and are his siblings. Sandy is disabled and the impact of grief, trauma, the complete lack of accountability and lies of the poLice and the way it is pushing her family apart is literally killing her. Sandy says that her Son, Anthony, was never treated for any mental illness or psychiatric disability, and no one but Anthony knows what was going on for him that day he died. It is not uncommon for boys and men, especially men of color, to not address or receive care for their mental health. Anthony’s death has forever changed those who love him. Anthony’s death has caused a ripple effect within his immediate and extended family, causing disconnect and serious health problems. Depression got ahold of Anthony Nuñez on July 4, 2016, and ultimately, it is the San José poLice who violently stole his young life. Rest in Power Anthony Nuñez. Please support Justice for Anthony Nuñez by showing up with his family and friends for kourt support at the civil trial at the San Jose, CA Federal Kourt House on June 17th, 2019 at 9am, that trial is expected to run a couple weeks, Mon-Thurs. The family is also fundraising to have a headstone for Anthony at his gravesite. #JusticeforAnthonyNuñez Lisa Ganser is a white, Poor, Disabled, Queer, non binary, artist and organizer living in Olympia, WA on stolen Squaxin, Chehalis and Nisqually land. They are a sidewalk chalker, a copwatcher, a dog walker and the Daughter of a Momma named Sam. Lisa uses they/them pronouns, has survived suicide attempts and poLice terror, and sends deep love to those mourning Anthony’s death.

  • The Hunger Striking for True Freedom Tour

    By Min King X aka Pyeface California Prison Focus and KAGE Universal presents The Hunger Striking for True Freedom Tour August 1 - August 21, 2021 Shining light on California’s Prison Industrial Complex while inspiring meaningful discourse nation-wide. ☠ 163 jails ☠ 86 juvenile facilities ☠ 46 federal and state prisons ☠ 5 ICE detention centers ☠ ♡ Multiple rallies & events ♡ daily pop ups ♡ featured artivists ♡ and a quest for true freedom ♡ “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” Fyodor Dostoevsky “State repression is centralized within the prison system.” Angela Davis The Hunger Striking for True Freedom Tour, a project of California Prison Focus/KAGE Universal (CPF/KAGE) will consist of a caravan of mostly formerly incarcerated activists, including two featured artists and a prison cell on wheels with a piano in it. The caravan of formerly incarcerated artivists will cover over two thousand miles and last for 21 days, passing by many of California’s more than 300 federal, state, county and ICE detention facilities, with multiple organized rallies and interactive art exhibit/tabling/pop-ups along the way. We will use our art, voices, and literature, amplified by our social media presence, to bring awareness to the omnipresence of the California carceral system, the brutality of this system, and its wide-ranging social and economic impacts. Through both organized and impromptu community dialogues, we will present and explore solutions and concrete steps towards ending mass incarceration.. The tour is being organized in solidarity with and in honor of the California Prison Hunger Strikes of 2011, 2012 and 2013 - who starved themselves for 60 days to liberate themselves from decades of torture in Pelican Bay State Prison’s long term solitary confinement units (PBSP SHU). This tour will shine light on their plight, as well the plight of thousands of other incarcerated elders, men, women, children and families who are surviving life in a concrete box, under the guise of “public safety” and under the color of law. We will illuminate the malignant consequences of structural racism and spark meaningful discourse about viable pathways to uncaging California, and the nation as a whole. We will present solutions developed by still imprisoned scholars and activists, including the Prisoner Human Rights Movement Blueprint, Strategic Release and the “Autonomous Infrastructure” of the Abolish Legal Slavery in Amerika Movement (A13-AIM). Featured artivists include CPF/KAGE Co-Director and spoken-flowz artivist, Min King X aka Pyeface, author/artivist Jose’ Villarreal who survived 9 years in Pelican Bay SHU, and world-renowned jazz pianist, Eric Vaughn. In addition there will be skits and two theatrical productions of Solitary Man: A Visit to Pelican Bay State Prison, a two person play with Fred Johnson based on interactions with prisoners in Pelican Bay SHU/solitary confinement. Other artivists and speakers will be joining our caravan and/or rallies and pop ups along the way. We will also be sharing the artwork, poetry and writings and pre-recorded messages of our still imprisoned artivist allies. ** Other people are welcome to join our caravan, however, California Prison Focus is not responsible for travel or lodging arrangements. If you join us, please come prepared! Dates and locations will be posted, at a later date, at www.prisons.org. * This tour was organized in memory and honor of Christian Gomez and Billy Sells who lost their lives during the California Prison Hunger Strikes, and of political prisoner, Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, and for his children and family who spent decades waiting and looking forward to the day their family would be whole again. Chip, a member of the Black Panther Party, passed away on April 12, 2021, after serving three times the average sentence for the offense he was imprisoned for. * Political Prisoners and a Legacy of Resistance in California The California Prison Hunger Strikes of 2011, 2012 and 2013 The California Prison Hunger Strikes were organized by the same politically active individuals at Pelican Bay State Prison who were instrumental in the development of California Prison Focus back in 1989, subsequent to the opening of Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP). These men who became our close allies, were tortured for decades with “sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, thought deprivation, social deprivation and cultural deprivation” - as stated by incarcerated writer and activist, Louis Powell, who spent over three decades tortured in PBSP SHU, and is still seeking his freedom today. Five hundred of the California Prison Hunger Strikers at PBSP had been tortured in the SHU for more than ten years and 78 for more than twenty years. Hugo Pinell endured 43 years of solitary confinement torture. While the strikes were successful in that over 30,000 people participated in the 2013 strike, including prisoners and activists from all over the world, who joined in solidarity with the California prison hunger strikers, and the CDCR was forced to release the men from solitary confinement, many of the tortured individuals continue to suffer from the long term effects of SHU PTSD. (See “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Solitary Confinement” by Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa and Baridi J. Williamson, Prison Focus, Spring 2018, Issue 55 or “Pathology of the SHU” by Ifoma Modibo Kambon, Prison Focus, Summer 2017, Issue 52) Most of the organizers of the strike are unable to begin the healing process because so many of them remain imprisoned today, as the result of retaliation by prison guards for their organizing activities and act of resistance. These freedom fighters did not starve themselves only to be moved from one unit to another within the prisons. They did so to gain TRUE FREEDOM for themselves, for their peers, their children, their families and communities, and for all of us! California Prison Focus and the California Prisoner Hunger Strikes In 2015 California Prison Focus sponsored and became a founding member of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition. Through our work with the coalition, our investigative legal visits and subsequent quarterly California Prison Reports, as well as our advocacy, direct actions and our publication, Prison Focus, we played an instrumental role in the success of the California Prisoner Hunger Strikes and the Ashker v. Governor of California class action lawsuit, which ended indeterminate solitary confinement in California and led to the release of more than 1,500 people from California SHU,.... via California Prison Focus’ Liberate the Caged Voices and Agreement 2 Come Home campaigns, CPF/KAGE Universal will continue to advocate for the TRUE FREEDOM of our allied and aging artivists who are still locked up today, and all aging prisoners, nationwide. California Political Prisoners Political movements have historically developed and evolved inside U.S. prisons paralleling those which exist outside the prison walls. While some people in prison today are there as a direct result of their political activities before their imprisonment, many others became politicized after arriving in prison. Angela Davis, in a 2007 interview with Prison Focus, explains that imprisoned scholars in California, “were analyzing the conditions of their lives in prison, and came up with new ideas of how to engage in struggle around prison issues and relate these issues to the larger construct of racism and economic exploitation.” Some of the imprisoned individuals who remained active in agitating for social change - educating themselves and those around them - as those described above - have, as Davis went on to explain, “been subjected to another layer of repression precisely because of their politics” Caravan, Rally and event details will be posted at www.prisons.org Featured Artivists

  • The Classist Lies of Climate Change

    Im getting weak tiny,” said Ronnie, “ Really not sure how long I will last in this heat. Ronnie X, a long time RoofLESSradio reporter called me from his torn tent pitched on the streets of East Oakland in September of 2020 when the Bay Area was experiencing severe heat wave. The hardest part for me is he refused to tell me where he was, “ I don’t want help, im done. ” and then he hung up. I went to all the places he normally slept and couldn’t find him. I know his privacy was important, he never wanted to tell his story publicly but was always there for anyone else who needed help. He had lived through a long life of trauma and struggle, like all of us on the streets, was part of our JailsToStreets WeSearch as he had a home until he was profiled for being Black and disabled in amerikkklan. When he got out of the plantation kkkage he couldn’t jump the hoops to get back inside. Like so many of us you see on the street. And then living outside itself killed him. So many privileged people and non-profiteers make a job and business and lifes work out of the so-called Climate change movement and they NEVER talk about poverty and homelessness - but the reality is as a houseless person I have been learning and humbly living on Mama Earth for years trying to be a good care-taker of her. As the daughter of Taino indigenous, disabled woman I have learned how to walk softly on Mama Earth- Attaabey as Mama Earth is called in Taino and as instructed by my mama have learned and listened to 1st Nations and indigenous elders who have been taking care of Mama Earth for years before wite colonizers stole, desecrated and destroyed so much of it for their own profit and greed. But like is always the case poor people from the Congo to California we are already and will be continue to be the ones suffering, dying, sickened and destroyed by the destruction of our Mama Earth. In deference to his need for privacy i didnt speak on Ronnies tragic death until now, inspired by POOR Magazine family and povertyskola Lisa Ganser who told me yesterday about another poverty skola who just died in the heat wave of their stolen territorial home so-called Olympia, Washington - which just experienced a deadly heat wave. Since 2006 us poverty skolaz have been writing, screaming and telling people about the impact of Mama Earth destruction on our poor and houseless bodies. But really no-one cares about us anyway so why should they care if we die outside from heat or cold exposure, smoke filled air, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. The violent scarcity models already in place causes us to get barely enough food, resources and support to stay alive - and in fact, work to take everything from us. The violence called sweeps continue on our exposed bodies and did all the way through a pandemic and are ramping up to get worse across California . Once we are in these plantation cages, they let us die there too. We are building our own solutions with natural, recycled trash and materials and no-one is listening. Cob on Wood, Liveaboard Mariners, Camp Commorant, Poor Peoples Army, Homeless Unions. We are growing our own gardens, building our own housing and deconstructing the lie of ownership - Sogorea Te Land Trust and Planting Justice, Self-Help Hunger Program and Homefulness. Sweeps continue, bulldozers keep bulldozing and permits (For Homefulness) are exorbitant and unaffordable, "They just came by and literally power-washed us off of Division street- where are we supposed to go, " said Miguel another RoofLEss Radio reporter. This power-washing of humans is nothing new, it used to happen to me and my mama when we were on the street houseless in San Francisco. But with the backdrop of so-called Climate Change, and trying to be "green" its disgusting that these violent sweeps of our houseless bodies use these dangerous chemicals to literally wash us off the street From West Oakland to the Mission, our poor bodies keep getting moved and evicted. And yet when beautiful solutions like Cob on Wood are created in the middle of recycling lot in West Oakland, the land-stealers and CalTrans and the Mayor endlessly threaten them with removal. When homeless peoples self-determined movements like Homefulness are created in Oakland, the permit gangsters descend to make it so costly to build houses for fellow houseless folks that we have to stop. The settler colonial goals are to get rid of us, kill us and/or incarcerate us, so really why would they care if poor, disabled and indigenous people die from the impact of their endless extraction and destruction. IF anything we are just an obstacle, standing in the way of krapitalism, profiting off of mama earth This is why the indigenous resistance movements of Mauna Kea, West Berkeley Shellmound, MamaTreeSits by Pomo Nation, Line 3 pipeline, and Standing Rock are so important. “We are asking to meet with the Mayor (Of Sausalito) said one of the many houseless disabled elders who faced off bulldozers at “Camp Commorant” , a small encampment of houseless mariners whose boats were crushed before their eyes because the wealth-hoarders and land-stealers of Sausalito didnt like their old boats, and tagged them with the same blight notices they tag old homes in poor and black and brown neighborhoods and RV’s and cars we poor people sleep in when we have been evicted. In the end as i try to teach to as many wealth-hoarders and land stealers and descendents of that theft and hoarding who want to walk differently in the world, that impacted peoples, disabled, houseless and poor, indigenous and 1st Nations have always been innovators and liberators and should be leading this work on so-called Climate Change, I also must say again to everyone, even the land-stealers, that Mama Earth is not an infinite resource to be endlessly traded, destroyed and desecrated and if anyone want to learn back the humility that colonial policies and profit margins stole from us - hit this povertyskola up. Come to the next session of PeopleSkool. There is no more space, time or air to continue to hoard and steal and destroy.

  • Deecolonized Un-Tour: Kolorado Sweeps

    Tiburcio Garcia Lisa Garcia Revolutionary Journalism 29 June 2021 Deecolonized Un-Tour: Kolorado Sweeps “Things are a lot different on the streets since I’ve been out there,” said Benjamin, looking around at everyone in the circle. On this day, after doing our Revolutionary Journalist Workshop where we give a stipend to houseless people for writing their stories, we met with Therese and Benjamin from Denver Homeless Outloud, and interviewed them about the situation with houselessness and sweeps that were going on out here. Listening to him, I realized that our situation out in the Bay Area isn’t so different from theirs. In the Bay Area, we at Poor Magazine protest and fight against constant sweeps that happen in San Francisco and Oakland. These sweeps are unrelenting, happening so often that most of the time houseless folks being sweeps don’t even have a day's break before they are forcibly moved to another area. Denver Homeless Outloud is currently pursuing a lawsuit that they opened six years ago in an act to prevent the constant sweeps that happen out here. It seems houseless people are treated similarly no matter what part of colonized Turtle Island we are on. The lawsuit began after Denver Homeless Outloud built Tiny Houses on private property that was abandoned for ten years, with a response from the mayor that was a bit overzealous. Seventy police officers showed up to stop the construction of the Tiny Houses, along with a SWAT team, and thus began a redoubled effort by the mayor to sweep the Denver Houseless population. “So we filed the lawsuit, and rather than being about people’s right to exist in space the way the lawsuit is set up is about people’s property. Apparently your property has more rights than you do,” (insert name) said, sighing and looking down. After three years, the lawsuit was settled out of court, with the settlement being signed by the Denver houseless community and the City of Denver, which the City of Denver promptly broke. The settlement included warning from the city about when and where they were going to seize property to try to give the houseless community some warning before a sweep, yet the city went ahead and continued to sweep without warning regardless. “There was a very high level of camping ban enforcement from 2016 to around 2019, when our lawsuit settlement went in place” said Therese, member of Denver Homeless Outloud, and a formerly houseless mother. She continued by talking about the things that have happened in the last couple of years to prevent houseless people from being on the streets. Public Rideaway Strips, the line of dirt or grass that goes between the sidewalk and the street are places that houseless people set up their tents because rideaway strips are not private property. After being swept and kicked out of every other place in Denver, the only place houseless people can camp are the public rideaway strips, and the city had put up orange and green fences on the strips to prevent that from happening. Just like in the Bay Area, it is clear Denver puts in no effort to assist getting people off of the streets, and instead puts all their effort into making life even worse for houseless people, treating them like animals that need to be herded. It sickens me because this is the norm. Houseless and poor people have always been seen as less than human, because most houseless and poor people are people of color who have been oppressed by a system that is designed to keep them down.

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