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TODAY- RAIN OR SHINE- 1pm December 21st on the Sacred Solstice- at HOMEfulness#1 - 8032 BlackArthur Bl (MacArthur) Deep East Huchiun (OAKLAND) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ONLY FUNraiser!!! The 14th annual Mercado De Cambio/Po Sto- pops off today ! its POOR Magazine's only fundraiser and helps to keep Poor peoples Radio/RoofLEss Radio/Journalism classes for houseless povertyskolaz, Poor Press and our liberation school - Deecolonize Academy - please come thru and support - Yummy free food and Hot Chocolate, Pan Dulce, Indigenous Prayer Bringers from Maya to Africa - ; Danza Azteca Ifa Prayer, Po Poets/poetry, Original art and crafts for sale, music and more !!!!

A little report from Camp Compassion in Novato. In the past, we held down Lee Gerner Park for five years through a combination of public advocacy, and through litigation to block the closure – culminating in a settlement agreement where we got a self-managed camp for two years. However after the camp was burned down in an arson, we have moved to a different location. Now, we are using the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to obtain some protections for our members who were displaced in the new location.  After relocating our members immediately initiated the ADA interactive process. That process resulted in several concrete administrative accommodations by the City: The encampment was placed under a memorandum issued by the Chief of Police staying enforcement of anti-camping ordinances.  Camp members were permitted access near the roadway; and The City committed to providing at least 30 days’ advance notice before any eviction or displacement. These outcomes were not achieved through litigation, but through an administrative decision by the City’s ADA coordinator. Under the ADA, cities are required to engage in a fact-specific inquiry when a disability accommodation is requested and to provide a written response explaining whether the request is granted or denied, and why. Since moving to our new location in April 2025 our campers have not been displaced. That’s going on eight months as of this article.   Recently, I spoke with a disability rights attorney and asked whether she had seen similar administrative ADA determinations in homelessness cases, so that we could compare decisions and assess whether we were receiving fair treatment. I was surprised when she told me she had never seen an administrative accommodation decision at all - every accommodation she had secured came through litigation or through settlement.  In Marin County, where there have been dozens of lawsuits challenging homeless sweeps and seeking injunctive relief, cities have gradually learned to respond to ADA requests. But in our experience, no city responded meaningfully to ADA requests until after it had been sued (usually by self-represented litigants). Litigation has effectively educated cities about how the ADA applies to unhoused people and that the law requires an actual response. In jurisdictions that have not faced lawsuits, ADA requests are often ignored - despite the fact that doing so is unlawful. Under 28 C.F.R. § 35.130(b)(7)(i), a public entity must make reasonable modifications to policies, practices, or procedures when necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of disability, unless it can demonstrate that doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity. Further, 28 C.F.R. § 35.164 places the burden on the public entity to prove that a requested accommodation would result in a fundamental alteration or undue financial or administrative burden. That determination must be made by the head of the agency or their designee, after considering all available resources, and must be accompanied by a written explanation. Even then, the entity must take alternative steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities receive services to the maximum extent possible. These provisions make clear that the ADA requires a fact-specific inquiry. That inquiry must include engagement with the disabled individual requesting accommodation and, where appropriate, consultation with medical professionals. The ADA is fundamentally a process-based statute, and compliance requires genuine fact-finding. In homelessness litigation, ADA-based injunctions have consistently focused on this failure of process. In Boyd v. City of San Rafael  (3:23-cv-04085-EMC), the court issued a restraining order preventing enforcement of anti-camping ordinances against individuals who had requested disability accommodations. More recently, in Berkeley Homeless Union v. City of Berkeley  (3:25-cv-01414-EMC), the same judge issued a similar order barring the City from clearing an encampment until it completed the interactive process. Through this report from Camp Compassion, we aim to share with the broader community examples of administrative ADA decisions issued in Marin County. These are not judicial rulings and are not publicly available, which makes it important to document what cities are voluntarily doing absent a court order. This is not to suggest that these accommodations are ideal or fully compliant with the law. Rather, they provide insight into what cities themselves appear to believe unhoused people may be entitled to as disability accommodations—though cities may well be underestimating what the ADA actually requires. At Camp Compassion, the Town formally granted a 30-day advance notice requirement before any enforcement or displacement. That decision was issued in April, and as a result, our members have remained in place at their current location for nearly eight months. In Fairfax, the Town issued an ADA response only after being sued in Schwarz v. Town of Fairfax . Although no long-term accommodation was granted beyond a brief temporary restraining order, the City made notable concessions, including providing a moving truck and professional movers to assist residents. Importantly, advocates were permitted to remain within the abatement zone to provide support, document the process, and help residents pack—reducing stress and harm. San Rafael presents a different model. Following the Boyd  decision, it is one of the few cities where unhoused people can legally camp in designated locations, using 10-by-20-foot sites. In that case, a primary accommodation involved expanding allowable square footage. The City also informally provided portable toilets, some of which were made wheelchair accessible. In Vallejo, prior to the landmark injunction in Alfred v. Vallejo —the first injunction obtained by a self-represented litigant halting an encampment sweep after Grants Pass —the City granted a 30-day extension before abatement. That extension proved critical, providing the time needed to file the lawsuit and seek relief. Even limited notice periods can have significant legal and practical impact. Conclusion The Bay Area has a long tradition of using the law as a tool of resistance—from Fred Hampton’s self-representation in court, and using law books in the streets to challenge police conduct. Following that tradition of self-education in the law, and holding officials to strict interpretations of the law we follow a long tradition of resistance in the Bay Area. By educating ourselves about the law and applying it strategically, we strengthen our capacity to challenge oppression. One of the most important uses of the ADA in challenging encampment sweeps is the insistence on in-person interactive process meetings with city officials. Sitting across from decision-makers and pressing them on concrete alternatives matters. In Alfred v. Vallejo , during an in-person interactive process meeting, I questioned the City Attorney about every conceivable alternative location. Each proposal was rejected. I documented every refusal and presented that record to the court. The judge cited it as evidence of deliberate indifference and granted a preliminary injunction. Even when cities deny every request, the process creates a record—one that exposes the gap between rhetoric and reality, and that can be used to hold governments accountable for policies that inflict harm while masquerading as compassion.

Por/By It Wasnt Me En los estados “des”unidos tienen una teoría de que ellos pueden hacer lo que quieran y cuando quieran pero no hablan de su corrupción y como son tan influyentes en la drogadicción. Legalizan las pastillas que recetan diariamente a las personas pobres solo para obtener ganancias. Es la razón de tanta gente como yo están en las calles-  esa es la estrategia para separarnos de el sistema. Pero qué pasa cuando todos nosotros, los que no tenemos casa dejamos de producir dinero para este gobierno? Adonde fue todo el dinero que los “ilegales” contribuyeron todos estos años y nunca reclame los tax? Dónde está el dinero, en las bolsas de quien quedó? El presidente quien nos discrimina también se ha beneficiado de los indocumentados.  Ahora, trabajadores latinos están haciendo adictos mientras los güeros promueven las drogas legales. Pero cuando se acabe la madre, que van hacer para sus beneficios? In the “dis”united states they have a theory that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. But they don’t talk about their corruption and how they are so influential in drug addiction. They legalize the pills they prescribe daily to poor people just to get the profits. It’s the reason so many people like me are on the streets- it’s the system’s strategy of separating us. But what happens when all of us without a house stop producing money for this government? Where is all the money that “illegals” have contributed all these years and have never claimed taxes? Where is the money; in whose bags is it kept? The president who discriminates against us also has benefited from the undocumented. Now, latino workers are getting addicted as the güeros promote legal drugs. But when their mother dies, what are they going to do for their benefits?

For Immediate release:   contact: tiny or muteado  510-435-7500, POOR Magazine/HOMEfulness Leajay Harper (510) 484-9774 Wood Street Commons  Moratorium on Sweeps in Oakland, While Ken Houston proposes more violent criminalization.  While Council member Ken Houston proposes the life-endangering anti-houseless policy of EAP Houseless/Formerly houseless youth and families present a moratorium on all sweeps in Oakland  What: Prayer ceremony for victims of sweeps and Press Conference by houseless, formerly houseless sweeps survivors, housed allies, students and advocates to propose a Moratorium on all Sweeps in Oakland When: 1:30pm, Dec 2nd Where: Oakland City Hall  (2) WHEREAS, the City Of Oakland  is experiencing unprecedented homelessness due to an increase in general fund spending on out of control policing and violent sweeps of our houseless bodies, approx. 40 cents of every dollar. Excerpt of Sweeps Moratorium   “I got out with the clothes on my back,” said Monique M, POOR Magazine RoofLess radio reporter  and sweeps survivor. Monique was describing the violent sweep she survived where she lost all of her medicine and clothes and the RV she was sleeping in. Monique, like the majority of Oakland houseless residents is a disabled Black elder who had nowhere else to go after surviving that violent sweep.  Under Council member Ken Houston’s proposed Encampment Abatement Policy (EAP),  Oakland police can arrest houseless people just for being houseless. The city’s existing policy says Oakland “will not cite or arrest any individual solely for camping, or otherwise for the status of being homeless,” but the proposal slashes that provision and as we see with Monique and so many other Oakland residents, without his punitive measure, Oakland is already perpetraing violence on houseless people everyday with these endless sweeps.  The daily violence of sweeping houseless humans like they are trash,  that longtime Oakland residents have already been facing since the Grants Pass Vs Johnson ruling by the Supreme Court in 2024  has resulted in several deaths of houseless people, who lose their shelter and their support systems and end up back on the street, losing another houseless sweeps victim just last week. Studies have shown that sweeps lead to higher rates of death, and sweeping this community without offering residents any of the accommodations provided in its grant proposal, it effectively set out to eliminate 80% of all Black residents from the project. This is according to the city's own data. This deeply violent policy by Houston will result in more deaths of houseless, Black, Disabled elders in Oakland.  The only modicum of humanity that has existed up to now is that the City had to offer houseless residents some alternative shelter to stay in (which oftentimes they didn't even do), but under Houston’s plan , Oakland can shut down encampments regardless of whether the city has other shelters to offer residents.  In addition, the policy follows the lead of San Francisco and so many other cities' anti-houseless policies spurred on by the current federal administration  and promises to cite and tow the last vestige of home many people have on the street, their cars and RVs   “These violent sweeps of elder, Black, Disabled lifelong Oakland residents by the City of Oakland are shameful. Literally thousands of dollars are spent removing, displacing, and poLicing us. To nowhere. We houseless peoples have solutions, why is this still happening?” said tiny gray-garcia, formerly houseless, co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness.   Houseless/formerly houseless /low-income youth and family residents of HOMEfulness and students at  Deecolonize Academy , a liberation school on the land in Deep East Oakland along with advocates, and allies will gather for a press conference to release this life-saving moratorium on december 2nd  preceding the hearing on the same day called by Ken Houston at Oakland City  about his murderous EAP. We see this moratorium as an emergency and and hope to pass the moratorium before more people die from being Swept like we are trash. Please follow: @poormagazine  @woodstreetcommons @oakland.revealed

Por/By Alvaro Kepokamaztli Tellez Palabras de un Mexicano Estoy viviendo lo que nuestros compatriotas y otras etnias han pasado por este sistema de opresión o desplazamiento continuo desde (1846-1848) Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo y ponernos en lugares como campos de concentración! Viendo lo que está pasando en lugares como Chicago, California, etc. Redadas siempre las hemos tenido pero no a esta magnitud en estos tiempos y ahora la Guardia Nacional, Ice y los cazarrecompensas no están discriminando a nadie, están secuestrando familias enteras solo por el color de su piel, no importa si somos indocumentados, ciudadanos, Mexicanos, centro y sudamericanos, asiáticos o Afroamericanos, están deteniendo a cualquiera y después investigan en qué situación legal estas! Es una pesadilla!!! La gente que tiene el derecho de votar que haga la mejor decisión para hacer un cambio en esta administración, que en lo personal todas estas administraciones no nos han tratado equitativamente como seres humanos. Words from a Mexican I am living what our fellow citizens and other ethnicities have gone through this system of oppression and continuous displacement since (1846-1848) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and putting us in places like concentration camps! I am seeing what is happening in places like Chicago, California, etc. We have always had raids but not to this magnitude in these times and now the National Guard, Ice and the bounty hunters are not discriminating against anyone, they are kidnapping entire families just because of the color of their skin, no matter if we are undocumented, citizens, Mexicans, Central and South Americans, Asians or African Americans- they are detaining anyone and then investigating what legal situation you are in! It's a nightmare!!! People who have the right to vote make the best decision to make a change in this administration, who personally all these administrations have not treated us equitably as human beings.

The Federal Government's Attempt to Starve us and the Emergency Need for our Own Self-determined Solutions SNAP or no SNAP  These weren't life sustaining  plans  Only bits and pieces of a weallthhoarding trap  To make us feel like we had a life raft  An option to dying of hunger even tho we all pay their pinche tax Whats happening republiCRAPS - you don’t even need to hide behind the lies of neo-liberal crum snatch Lets go back  The new deal - brought in when we were starving on the streets cuz the wealthhoarders were starting to feel  a little scared cuz there are more of us poor than any of you billionaires  who kill and trash and endlessly steal -  And yet here we are again- not so many years later in the time of an orange tinted cartoon criminal man  And we po folks face racist, classist theft of our last crum yet again  Where do we go? They stole our tents, they created the lie of rent, they create false borders and guns to keep us on the run and now our WIC cheese our EBT crum and our homes - this evil sys is moving as fast as it can for the last trace of food stuck to the inside of my bones  They want us in terror , stripping our tiny shred of safety in their scarcity poverty   But snap or no SNAP - we have solutions, based in facts, that are real not based on more scarcity crack  Stay strong - walk closer together - grow any space into micro-farms, reach out to comeunity already lifting up solutions like charms  Poverty and krapitalism had Me and mama on the street - where we would still be - poltricks didnt save us ) we saved ourself with radical sharing and revolutionary ComeUnity….  “Mama we don’t have anymore money on the EBT card..” this sentence often spoke somewhere between the 20th and 30th of the month, depending if we spent too much on the luxury items like fresh veggies, fruit or meat, was always filled with dread cause there really was no answer or option  Everyday under the orange tinted criminal- wanna b king- there is another violent act being waged against poor people, houseless people, indigenous peoples, Black and Brown peoples and arguably just people, who don’t have access to billions of blood-stained dollars .  Now the violent republCRAPs have waged war on our most basic of crums - the tiny bit we receive from the poltricksters for food assistance aka EBT, food Stamps, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) The funny, not funny thing about this SNAP theft is the wealth-hoarders have begrudgingly “granted” those meager food crumbs off their feudal tables since the New Deal and its subsequent scarcity model was passed into law in the 1930’s. Created allegedly to support the amerikkklan people in poverty but on the real, created because there were more angry poor people than there were wealthoarding hoarders- just like there is today.  The New Deal and its “support” programs were also raced and classed and set up in a scarcity model. Originally only designated for “white, widows of war veterans,” falling in line with the hetero patriarchal, racist, classist hate of anyone else not in these categories, enhancing the criminalization, and pathologizing of peoples of color, indigenous peoples, unmarried women, single parents, disabled peoples, etc.  The scarcity model comes from the place of how little can we give people to keep them silent and alive, rather than how much do people need to thrive? This means we poor folks are constantly making unhealthy choices with our grocery shopping, like not buying too much , if any, organic fruit or vegetables, never considering grass-fed meat, much-less meat or chicken at all, hormone free milk or cheese and rarely if ever, dreaming of healthy cereals or less fat-filled foods. But these haters are also taking our food crumbs and our emergency food crumbs, aka Women, Infant and Childrens food program ( WIC). Cause with the orange criminal and his Good Ole Boys (GOP) it actually seems like they want us to die. But SNAP OR NO SNAP….   Bottom line is the scarcity model crumbs have never been enough to feed , clothe, house and truly support poor people. It was a deep struggle for my mama to survive on those crumbs and raise me right when she relied on the state for support and it was equally hard for me and my sun.  This scarcity also led and still leads to so many of us poor families being forced into underground economic strategies, which then often leads to our increased criminalization and incarceration. But hey the wealthhoarders make money on their private prisons and sick detention centers so that has always been a win win for them. THe pandemic called Poverty  Long before the so-called pandemic and the dire lack of food , medicine or support when it first hit all of our low-no income communities, POOR Magazine - a poor /houseless people led movement of art, media, education and solutions by us for us and everyone else, had instituted free healthy food giveaways, organic produce, that privileged, housed people donated to us, free diaper programs, hot meals and more that we poor folks constantly were distributing to our fellow impoverished bay area comeumity  In 2011 when conscious, housed wealth-hoarders who had attended  Peopleskool and formed the solidarity family at POOR Magazine, raised the money to purchase a small part of Mama Earth in occupied Huchiun so us poor and houseless peoples could build our own solution to homelessness we call HOMEFulness. It was ON!  We officially launched the sliding scale cafe/mercadito de cambio (little market of change ) the Po Mamas Panale (diaper) program and more - all aimed at redistributing everything we received from housed relatives and other revolutionary orgs, away to fellow poor folks.  In 2020 when COVID hit, we just gave more. We increased from just diapers to medicine, from just hot food to organic fruit, and veggies, from some groceries to entire bags of groceries, clothes, shoes, bugie, organic baked goods and more. And have kept this consistent every week thru today where we radically share all of  this with over 500 babies, youth, adults and elders every week at Homefulness Sliding Scale Cafe .  Yes, I’m Scared So yes as a formerly houseless, no-income, single parent EBT recipient myself, I’m scared for this coming Saturday, when they take these crucial crumbs away from me and my family and comeUnity, but SNAP or no SNAP, I have come to realize that politricks is nothing but a trick and is always pulling some Sheeeit.     And in this time of so much hate, lies and wealth-hoarding evil from Turtle Island to Palestine, we have to walk even closer together. We have to all practice these visions of radical redistribution and Comeunity reparations.  We are all connected and our shared humanity is all we have as humans. No politrickster or wealth-hoarder will “Save us”  And people who have , as my mama would put it, “Never missed a meal” need to participate in this moment with love not scarcity, radically sharing with those of us facing missed meals, empty refrigerators and scarcity fear, now more than ever. And they are already doing it.  Look at all the restaurants standing up with offers of free food and love - WahPepahs Kitchen, Monster Pho and Understory in Oakland to Tony Albas Pizza in San Jose to name a few. Look at the already here grassroots movements already doing this radical redistribution like The Self-Help Hunger Program, Wood Street Commons, Love and Justice in the Streets, the SLiding Scale Cafe/Market of Change/ Homies Empowerment, Deep Medicine Circle and so many more We can’t rely on a government that is already targeting us as the “The enemy inside” and hunting down 1st grade children, mamas and papas and elders to arrest and anyone that doesnt look like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.  Self-determination is liberation. Liberation is the medicine of love we need now. Not more reliance on government structures that sweep, incarcerate, murder, kidnap, profile and destroy every poor person they can.

For Immediate release: contact tiny 510-435-7500, Mute  Mama Earth is NOT for Sale!  Houseless/Poor, Black, Brown, Disabled ComeUnity in collaboration with 1st Nations Peoples of this land create a HERstoric document to decommodify a small part of Mama Earth in Huchiun (Oakland) and Record it  What: Legally UnSelling Mama Earth Ceremony Part 2   When: 1:30pm Thursday, Oct 23rd  Where: Recorders Office 1106 Madison St  I overstand and agree that We are stewards of the land- we, the landless, houseless, indigenous, poor peoples who launched Homefulness & our children & childrens children and generations beyond-  who thanks to Homefulness are now Homeful-  DO NOT OWN MAMA EARTH. None of us who live here own the land, and never will .  Excerpt from the Liberation Easement and Peoples Agreement of Homefulness On October 23rd  with legal support from Sustainable Economies Law Center, POOR Magazine/Homefulness and Sogorea Te Land Trust will hold an all nations prayer ceremony to celebrate the creation of a new legal document within the settler colonial government of the US that solidifies the decommodification and holds the land of Homefulness in permanent protection from real estate speculation, eviction and gentrification. “Me and my disabled mama were evicted 22 times, most of these evictions were for non-payment of rent. As a no-income, disabled, woman of color my mama had no money for rent. We ended up on the street for the rest of my youth.  279 people (on record ) became houseless after the end of the eviction moratorium in Oakland and thousands more across the country. People talk about “the homeless problem” all the time, but they never talk about the krapitalist problem of buying and selling mama earth. If Mama Earth was taken off the commodities market tomorrow, we could end homelessness.This is the articulation of that dream,” said tiny gray-garcia, co-founder of POOR Magazine and Homefulness.   Houseless/landless Black/Brown, indigenous, disabled peoples who have faced chronic homelessness, poverty, evctions, displacement,racism, criminalization border terrorism, gentrification and violent sweeps have built a solution to homelessness they call Homefulness. Before they began the creation of this solution, they asked for permission, protocol, spiritual guidance  from 1st Nations peoples of this stolen land. In the case of Oakland that is the Ohlone/Lisjan Nation.  “200 years ago, before colonization there wasn’t even a concept of homelessness,” said Talking chief/spokesperson of the confederated villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of the Sogorea Te Land Trust and Family Elders Council member of Homefulness. As poor and houseless people on stolen land they clearly understand the settler lie of ownership of Mama Earth and the ongoing speculative markets’ impact on their lives, families and communities, as first Nations/indigenous peoples from all four corners have lived, taught  and practiced since the beginning of their creation stories.  “This is the most creative, unusual, and moving legal document I have seen,” said Sustainable Economies Law Center attorney Janelle Orsi. “The words of the Homefulness residents brought members of our legal team to tears.”  POOR Magazine, which holds title to the Homefulness land, will be granting a “Liberation Easement” to the Sogorea Te' Land Trust. This is a form of conservation easement under California law. The easement preserves the land as a hub of poor people-led organizing, a site of Indigenous cultural revitalization, and permanent collective stewardship of the land, protecting it from returning to the speculative market.  “For years, the leaders at POOR Magazine have been asking us how to legally ‘unsell’ land, to ensure that it is never again treated as a commodity for sale. Our legal system makes it hard to liberate land from the speculative market. The Liberation Easement is our effort to use the legal system’s tools to permanently ‘unsell’ the land,” said Janelle Orsi. Veryl Pow, staff attorney at the Law Center adds, “The liberation easement extends the abolitionist practice of ‘non-reformist reforms’ from the carceral context to the liberation of land. We can strategically and selectively use so-called ‘property law’ mechanisms to construct a world where Pachamama is unowned in practice, and people can live together and begin to heal from the unending violence of colonialism and capitalism.” Testimonies from houseless, now Homeful residents of Homefulness  To watch the ceremony Live, follow @poormagazine on IG

Por/By Teo Vamos a comunicar todos los residentes en general. Humedos, secos, no papeles. Con papeles, Capitalistas. Pobres. Democatras. No democratas. Nos estamos enfrentando al mustro de ice que lo alimenta el racismo por que se estan brincando lo balioso que  toda persona en USA tiene sus derechos, pero el mustro del ICE lo apoya. El capitalista #47 tiene los polisias express de ICE por muchas grandes ciudades de nuestro pais. El policia interno de los estados unidos esta contra todas nuestra comunidades. Arresta a todo tipo de personas. No respetan los derechos que todo ciudadano de las comunidades que es libertad de expresion de su libertad. Su objetivo es causar teror. Todos los dias algunos noticieros comunican las injusticias de ICE.   We're going to communicate with all residents in general. Wet, dry, undocumented. With documents, Capitalists. Poor. Democrats. Not Democrats. We are facing the ICE monster that is fueled by racism because they are ignoring the important thing that every person in the US has their rights, but the ICE monster supports them. Capitalist #47 has ICE express police in many large cities across our country. The United States' internal police are against all our communities. They arrest all kinds of people. They don't respect the rights of every citizen in these communities, which is freedom of expression and freedom of expression. Their goal is to cause terror. Every day, some news programs report on the injustices of ICE.

"ALWAYS FILM THE POLICE"   AFTP                                                                                                "No", yelled Poverty scholar Gera in this episode of Kop watch Aztlan when being told to, "back up", by the Po-lice in the middle of them violating rights, questioning passengers for identification during a basic traffic stop. Chicano gang task force is holding authorities accountable by not only recording them live on the spot but also by making them show transparency asking them for name and badge numbers. Kop watch Aztlan is calling these officers out for violating rights while holding his ground as we all should when documenting Tyranny by this corrupt Government. "RESISTANCE THEN DISTANCE"

Por Alvaro Kepokamaztli Tellez/ By Alvaro Kepokamaztli Tellez       San Francisco, Oakland y alrededores. Trabajadores asistieron al Nuevo Sol Day labor and Domestic Worker Center en el distrito de la Mission, para participar en la reunión semanal donde se reúnen usualmente 40 trabajadores. La baja asistencia  es un reflejo del miedo que se ha apoderado de la comunidad desde que el ICE ha intensificado los arrestos bajo la actual administración. La realidad no estamos asustados, estamos aterrorizados y es que la realidad de todo este infierno no solo en la Bahía sino en todo el país nos mantiene más alerta. Antes nos teníamos que cuidar de las camionetas verdes o azules de ICE pero hoy no sabemos de quien cuidarnos? Ya que ahora andan en carros, SUV, vidrios obscuros, algunos con placas de otro estado o sin placas, también el mayor problema son los llamados CAZARRECOMPENSAS que andan con las caras cubiertas y literalmente andan secuestrando a nuestra gente incluyendo niños y adultos. Esto del sueño americano se ha convertido en una pesadilla: Por ahora estamos en resistencia, hay que caminar con precaución, estar vigilantes cuando andamos en la calle, ver a nuestros alrededores, tratar de reconocer carros sospechosos y por desgracia evitar lugares donde hay actividades de ICE donde nuestra gente compra sus alimentos o herramientas de trabajo y tambien lo mas importante saber nuestros derechos si llegamos a tener contacto con ICE, como mantenerse callado, tener numeros de telefono de abogados de imigracion o agencias comunitarias y sobre todo tener un plan con la familia! TLAZOKAMATI EL KEPOKAMAZTLI San Francisco, Oakland and surrounding areas. Workers attended the Nuevo Sol Day Labor and Domestic Worker Center in the Mission District to participate in the weekly meeting where 40 workers usually gather.  Low attendance is a reflection of the fear that has gripped the community since ICE has intensified arrests under the current administration. The reality is that we are not scared, we are terrified and that is that the reality of all this hell not only in the Bay but throughout the country keeps us more alert.  Before we had to be cautious of the ICE green or blue pickups but today we do not know who to be cautious of? Since now they are in cars, SUVs, dark glasses, some with plates of another state or without plates, also the biggest problem are the so-called BOUNTY HUNTERS that walk with their faces covered and literally kidnap our people including children and adults. This American dream thing has become a nightmare: For now we are in resistance, we have to walk with caution, be vigilant when we walk in the street, see our surroundings, try to recognize suspicious cars and unfortunately avoid places where there are ICE activities where our people buy their food or work tools and it is also important to know our rights if we come into contact with ICE, such as keeping quiet, having phone numbers of immigration lawyers or community agencies and especially having a plan with the family!  TLAZOKAMATI EL KEPOKAMAZTLI

A new movie created and lived by houseless poets and cultural workers, with an all houseless cast, about homelessness, is released in the Bay Area  “ The only people who see me are people who hope i disappear.. ” tiny aka povertyskola… “He was just trying to sleep,” Shawn O’ Malley, one of the houseless leaders from the Vallejo Homeless Union spoke to POOR Magazine’s RoofLessRadio after the tragic death at a sweep of James Edward Oakley.  James is just one of the ancestors of the violent war ON the poor I wrote the new movie Crushing Wheelchairs  in honor of. “At 65 years old they evicted me from my home, my community,  where i provided a home and cooked for hundreds of houseless neighbors, where i, who was houseless myself for many years finally had a safe place to be…. To face eviction as an elder resulted in me wanting to take my own life. This was Reggies story who I “play” in the movie, this is my story…As tiny says, We aren’t Acting, we are living..”  said Auntie Frances Moore, one of the all houseless and formerly houseless cast members of Crushing Wheelchairs at a series of benefit screenings of the trailer at outdoor sites of violent sweeps and gentrification like East 12th St in East Oakland, the Tenderloin district of San Francisco and the Self-Help Hunger Program in North Oakland, locations where many houseless Black elders and families used to be housed before they were houseless. I wrote Crushing Wheelchairs  originally as a play that was staged in 2023 and presented across the Bay to acclaim and standing room only crowds, dedicated  to my houseless mama and me who survived many devastating sweeps of our belongings and comeUnities and hundreds of other houseless Black, Brown, indigenous, poor white and Disabled ancestors who have lost their lives to the violence of anti-poor people hate and sweeps.  After the Grants Pass versus Johnson ruling in 2024, which deemed our houseless bodies as no longer deserving of protection under the 8th Amendment of the US CONstitution, I knew this powerful medicine had to be turned into a movie that could travel as far and wide as possible. So with encouragement from a teacher/mentor Darrah Cloud at a residency I was in at Goddard College, i wrote my first screenplay, an adaptation of the play of the same name.. As soon as I finished the screenplay all of us houseless povertyskolaz at POOR Magazine launched a collaboration with Green Diamond Films, a  grassroots film production company, led by a sun of African-Portugese povertyskolaz Adrian Diamond and began shooting the movie. Filmed entirely on the streets of Deep East and North Oakland, the Tenderloin and Mission Districts of San Francisco, we began production on this no budget film that took a series of three insane weekends of non-stop dedicated work by all of us. “Noooooooo, don’t take my wheelchair, “ Reggie (played by Aunti Frances Moore) wails up into the sky facing the jaws of the looming bulldozer as it crashes down on her only mode of mobility and the tent she was sleeping in. Reggie’s character is based on a compilation of three ancestors of eviction, gentrification and homelessness, Iris Canada, who was evicted at 100 years old from her life-llong home in the Fillmore district of San Francisco  Papa Bear, a Black war veteran and panhandler who died on the streets of the Tenderloin after receiving 280 tickets for the sole act of sleeping outside and Kenneth X, a janitor who was illegally evicted from his North Oakland home of 11 years and made houseless, as well as Aunti Frances herself. We also deal with themes of domestic violence, gentrifUKation of our towns and barrios, racism, trauma, job loss, mental illness, institutionalization, criminalization, poLice Terror, ableism and classism, all aspects of this Krapitalist system that lead to our ending up on the street. And dying on the street. The title of the movie alone tells a huge aspect of the multiple acts of state terror called Sweeps, casually and commonly used against disabled, houseless people when we live on the street or in our vehicles without a physical address.Nothing and no-one is spared and we have no recourse to stop the State or retrieve our prescious belongings, cars or RV’s… or in many cases, our bodies.  “James had already moved from three other locations and had nowhere else to go when they ran over him with a backhoe,”  Shawn continued describing the violent death on Christmas eve of 2024 of James Edward Oakley,  Hundreds of disabled elders who make up the majority of houseless people  lose their lives to the violence of homelessness, from being run over by bulldozers like James Edward Oakley, Cornelius Taylor and Shannon Marie Bigley whose stories run through this movie as well as young people profiled and murdered for survival crimes like Banko Brown, who was murdered in a Walgreens store in San Francisco, and Steven Taylor murdered in a Walmart in San Leandro. In addition, disabled elders like Anjileen “Green Eyes” Swan from so-called  Los Angeles  who are already medically fragile and then get “swept” and lose their medicine and meager shelters often die from the physical and mental trauma. Elders like JT who died after losing everything in the East 12th St Sweep in Oakland a few months back. And then straight up anti-poor people hate, like another ancestors we honor, Luis Temaj, burned alive for sleeping outside in San Francisco’s Mission District. “Luis was my friend,he helped me all the time because i was pregnant when i was homeless, he was a very sweet man, he did nothing wrong, his only crime was being homeless..” Stephanie Grant, a single parent of five children was houseless and pregnant in 2016 when she witnessed the murder by police of her friend and fellow houseless neighbor, Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, one of the many ancestors of homelessness we tell the story of and honor in Crushing Wheelchairs. From our baby pictures to our ancestors ashes, from our wheelchairs and walkers to our insullin, Nothing is sacred when you are outside. Our bodies and belongings struggle with what i call the violence of exposure. We are not protected, like housed people, by the privilege of privacy.  “They came into our community (the Compound)  with guns and flash grenades!... we were just trying to sleep,” Gelly, one of the currently houseless leaders of Aetna Street Solidarity in Occupied Tovaangar (LA) spoke on a panel we held after a series of benefit screenings of the trailer of Crushing Wheelchairs at Tia Chuchas Bookstore , MidnightBooks and All Power Books .  In the state of California, the Governor has claimed that our bodies are equivalent to trash and is proposing yet another anti-houseless people bill.  In the city and county of so-called San Francisco (Yelamu), the mayor has deemed our presence a blight; and passed a ban of all houseless peoples living in their RV’s and in so-called Los Angeles (Tovaangar and Tatavian lands)  where, on average, six unhoused people die everyday, our outside comeUnities (encampments) are being destroyed, evicted, and disappeared. and in Huchiun (Oakland) like all of these cities there are multiple anti-poor people laws on the books that make living without a home a crime, but then on top of all of those, in September city council member Ken Houston proposed yet another anti-poor people law called the Encampment Abatement Policy which among other things deems houseless peoples bodies criminal just for being outside in so-called Oakland and if passed would lead to the death of more of us houseless residents. After a mass show of support from housed allies, his measure was tabled. For now.  “We were a home to over 75 people, they split us up because we were a threat to what they( the city)  was trying to do,” Paisley, another currently houseless leader of Aetna Street solidarity spoke about the violent sweep of the Compund Comeunity in so-called LA This movie lifts up the stories of what we were before we were transformed into an objectified, criminalized “thing” aka The homeless people… and were, just like many of you reading this story, housed and in struggle to stay housed. We are no different. We just can’t hide our trauma behind a roof and a door. This movie also highlights solutions. Because we have them. ComeUnity Reparations, radical redistribution by housed people working in tandem with houseless people, Homefulness and Wood Street Commons. Solutions created by us for us that work because they are based on our own lived experience. Our Poverty Scholarship as we call it at POOR Magazine. Paisely and Gelly, along with Carla, Adrian, Will and many more are just some of the houseless povertyskolaz we have the blessing of working with in the Aetna Street/ POOR Magazine LA family working to build HomefulnessTovaangar. We are also currently working on trying to bring Homefulness to Yelamu, (San Francisco)  “Myself and my daughters were houseless for over a year and it was really bad for our mental and physical health, so along with an organization called Reclaiming Our Homes we took abandoned homes because we learned that we can’t rely on the legal system, it has never worked for us, it was never meant to,” , said Martha Escudero at the Benefit Trailer Screening at All Power Books in Tovaangar (LA).  This movie is also art and and spirit and includes poetry from powerful Poverty skola poets like Luis Rodriguez, Ayodele Nzinga, Tongo Eisen-martin, Devorah Major and me, PovertySkola and Dee Allen, Muteado Silencio and Frances Moore to name a few from the houseless poets of the Po Poets Project of POOR Magazine. As well as prayer from 1st Nations and indigenous prayer-bringers and land stewards Corrina Gould, Lyn Eagle Feather, Tony Gonzalez and Jose Cuellar and Street Preachers Harry Louis Williams and Brother Mink.  This movie is an emergency. This movie is medicine. For all of us, houseless and housed residents of occupied Turtle Island, because sweeping humans to nowhere is not an “answer” to homelessness, it's a death sentence.    Our Bay Area premeires of the movie are coming up - please join us.. November 9th at 12:30pm at the Roxie and December 6th at 6pm at the New Parkway in Oakland with an LA date at Vidiots coming soon.. Tickets are sliding scale starting at free for houseless povertyskolaz  and will be available at the Roxie or by emailing us poormag@gmail.com  - or going to www.poormagazine.org  -We got NO Hollywood love on this movie so please help us spread this urgent medicine far and wide and contact us for a screening in your town or comeUnity.

By Queennandi Shabazz Vietnam War before and after As far as man can remember, to do battle has been a destructive staple in the defined and redefined books of history.  Whether it was to uphold the hoarding of wealth, land and cultural power mankind has always made sure that the shedding of blood was on the agenda no matter how many lives were lost. The Vietnam war, the Nigerian civil war and the French wars of religion alone claimed the lives of up to at least 15-20 million people and those who survived were only subjected to a form of oppression that still to this day live in impoverished conditions under the razor blade-like boot heels of wicked dictators who would prefer to boast with a toast drinking the finest wines while feasting on Mama Nature’s (“exotic” forbidden foods) from billion dollar homes and boats…. While the rest of us are living in subhuman conditions slitting each other’s throats over a grain of Jasmine rice, salty potted meats and parasite infested water.  And rest assured if we have a president who is beastly greedy enough to take away any crumbs of hellthcare, moldy housing, deserved benefits and the food given to us thanks to the generosity of food pantries, WAR has been declared upon the people!  Cambodia is one of the most beautiful, morally and culturally humble countries I have ever been blessed to experience. If I was hungry, there was always a kind soul that looked upon it as being a sincere honor to sit and break bread with the family. Now our “Sistuh-neighbors” Thailand and Cambodia are at war and according to a correspondent from the non-profit organization “The Queen’s Consortium of Humanity” in Cambodia “Thailand is attacking the boarders of Cambodia for not just land but for precious and sacred artifacts. Kinda like how the white people did the original Black Egyptians!” The correspondent went on to say “Also the plague of drug trafficking has upgraded to horrific levels. It is starting to look like a worldwide agenda to break  our spirits with famine and supply us with the devil’s candy to self-medicate us into another “ zombieland” that even sister (Queennandi Shabazz) experienced in her neighborhood back in the states.” War is only good if man continues to be hell bent on destroying man- and Mama Earth. So a word to the people- stand strong in faith, as the devilish people of the world continue to declare war against us, the wicked has forgotten that GODD and MAMA NATURE has declared WAR also. And the devil is not going to win.