****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 21 / May 23, 1994 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: jdav@igc.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ HOUSING TAKEOVERS SWEEP CALIFORNIA Force federal and local government to open up vacant housing! "People are dying in the streets while our governments cut affordable housing programs. ... Worst of all, government-owned housing sits vacant!" declared a Los Angeles leaflet announcing a march and rally on May 2. The rally, called by the California Homeless Network, supported homeless people as they took over vacant, government-owned housing across California. Two hundred people journeyed from Sacramento, Oakland and Marin County on May 2 to take over six sites at the San Francisco Presidio, an army base slated for closing which could house thousands. Thirty-two people were arrested. Groups in Long Beach took over two empty HUD homes. These takeovers prove that homelessness does have a solution. Our government now admits that there are seven million people without homes in the United States. At a time when more than six million luxury apartments lie empty, this is a complete disgrace. Even without those privately owned units, we have more than enough publicly owned housing to end homelessness. In some cities, half the public housing units are vacant; the government also controls millions of abandoned, tax-delinquent homes. All that stands in the way of solving the problem of homelessness today are the laws that bar homeless people from entering these properties. At a time when more than 3,000 people are laid off each day, such laws threaten all of us! Any law which puts property rights before human needs endangers the well-being of the majority. With these takeovers, homeless people are showing all of us the way. Through the takeovers, along with massive pressure by all people who care, we can force federal and local government to open up vacant housing units for everyone who needs a home. For more information about the housing takeovers in Long Beach, California, see story 7. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ NEW YORK -- Ivette Lopez is forced to live with her two small children in one miserable single room of a Bronx "welfare hotel." Ivette and her husband lost their jobs. He left; she lost her apartment; she became homeless. Then it got crazy! There are not enough low-income apartments in New York City. The waiting list for public housing is 35 years long! The state government would not help Ivette. The federal government is underfunding subsidized housing (Section 8.) So, the city is spending $2,250 per month to put her in a room! The government bureaucrats fear putting her in decent housing would bring millions searching for a home! So, they are willing to spend three times the cost of an apartment to keep Ivette in a crummy welfare hotel! Go figure! +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition) Vol. 21 No. 21 / May 23, 1994 Editorial 1. GACY EXECUTION SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT News 2. WATTS CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF GANG TRUCE 3. CALIFORNIANS CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST D.A. PERSECUTION OF MOTHER 4. CALL FOR A SUMMIT AGAINST THE CRIMINALIZATION OF POVERTY Focus on Housing/Housing Takeovers 5. EVICTION: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OF TENANTS 6. 'AFFORDABLE HOUSING' SHOULD NOT MEAN HIGH HEATING BILLS! 7. CALIFORNIA HUD HOMES TAKEN FOR HOMELESS Deadly Force 8. "WE'RE STILL FIGHTING": COMMUNITY DEMANDS JUSTICE AFTER POLICE MURDER SERGIO GARCIA Culture Under Fire 9. PAN~O ART SPEAKS FROM THE SOUL 10. POEM: "To a poet friend I barely know" 11. BOOK READINGS, NEW BOOK ON HIP-HOP 12. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE ****************************************************************** The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription,email: PT.dist-request@umich.edu ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: GACY EXECUTION SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT When John Wayne Gacy died May 10, strapped to a gurney in the execution room at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, Illinois, his death set a dangerous precedent. He was the first person executed without consent in Illinois since 1962. Gacy was convicted in 1980 of killing 33 young men and boys. However, that's not why state officials worked frantically to guarantee that Gacy's last appeals were denied. That's not why the execution team worked feverishly to inject poison into Gacy's arm after the state's $25,000 lethal injection machine malfunctioned. The same state government which brutally slashed welfare grants and aid to poor children in the last several years cannot turn around and claim to care about Gacy's young victims! Gacy was white and was not poor. This made him very different from most people in prison and especially on Death Row in America. The sick statements made by some supporters of the death penalty about the sick murderer named Gacy cannot change the fact that, overwhelmingly, it is the poor who go to jail and receive the death penalty in America. At present, there are 152 women and four women on Death Row in Illinois. The state was obviously trying to win public support for capital punishment by executing Gacy first, but who will be next? Gacy's death could lead to a wave of executions. Today, more and more people are being executed in America because the tiny handful of wealthy people who run this country simply have no choice but to use force to maintain their political control. As electronic technology replaces human labor with computers and robots, millions of people are being turned into economic refugees. To control these victims of poverty, America's rulers have unleashed the police and the executioners. Unless public protests stop them, more executions in Illinois will inevitably mean that people who had to break the law simply to survive will die in state-sanctioned murders. We must work to prevent that at all costs. We need more protests and activity like the "Day of Culture against the Death Penalty" held in Chicago May 7. These protests are a step in the fight to abolish a system which relies on executions to keep power in the hands of a small group of exploiters. ****************************************************************** 2. WATTS CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF GANG TRUCE [Editor's note: Below we print excerpts from interviews conducted by People's Tribune correspondent Al Green during a march held April 29 to commemorate the second anniversary of the Los Angeles gang truce. The march followed the same path taken by Dewayne Keith Holmes when he laid the groundwork for the truce in April 1992. Holmes walked from the Imperial Courts housing project to the Nickerson Gardens and Jordan Downs projects and the march followed the same path.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Where do you think the truce is at today? How do you see it progressing? THERESA ALLISON: Well, now we can speak out more and we can let the world hear that it has been [two years] for the truce. I have a lot of joy in my heart. I think it's the best thing that ever happened. I see everyone else and they're happy. I also feel a little pain because my son [Dewayne Keith Holmes] is not here. He would enjoy something that he started. But the truce goes on. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: What have you seen during the years of the truce? DAUDE SHERRILL: In these past two years, a lot of different organizations have been formed. Amer-I-Can, South Central Love, Good News, Hands Across Watts, Watts United for Progress -- all these organizations have been formed as non-profit organizations, putting us into the position to get some funding and be able to do some positive work for the community. I think people are becoming more "business smart" and realizing what must be done to solve the problems. It's not just about money, but it's about changing our attitudes first to be able to utilize the money. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Is the truce still on? SHERRILL: Well, the truce is still on. What I have seen as a human being and as a member of the Jordan Downs housing development is a sense of happiness in the hearts of people that were once bitter enemies. I see true feelings for a positive change. We would like to see these truces being spread all over the state and the nation. PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD FOR THIS COMING YEAR? What kind of resources do you see you'll need to make this even stronger with these young people? SHERRILL: What we need is a plan of action that will take place in these schools where we can take on some of the problems that the administrators cannot handle. I foresee films made on the truce and perhaps a book on the history of the Bloods and the Crips. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ A VOICE FROM WATTS: 'THIS TRUCE IS BIG' [Editor's note: The following is an interview with Elementary, a community representative from the Jordan Downs housing project in the Watts section of Los Angeles. Elementary has been a key figure in developing and deepening the truce in Watts between the Imperial Courts, Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens housing projects. People's Tribune correspondent Chris Venn interviewed him on the second anniversary of the truce.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE: Elementary, what is the next step in developing the truce? Elementary: Reverend Washington from the AME church in Los Angeles came here and said he contributed $10,000 (we didn't see any of it) to the cause of the truce. He visited PJ [Imperial Courts] once, and he stopped here [Jordan Downs] for a while, but he should have been camping here to get an understanding and then to teach us about what's going on, about what's the next move. You can't just come into the community with some money. It is bigger than money. Give us some ideas, tell us what we can do to help five brothers or 10 sisters develop an ideology to keep this cause going. PT: What is the condition of Jordan Downs now? ELEMENTARY: We've been predicting the present situation in Jordan Downs for years. I can remember in '76, '77, having a conversation with some of my older homeboys. At that time, there was "sherman" in the community, cigarettes with PCP in them. We were saying, "Man, what are they going to come up with next?" Then they came up with this rock cocaine, then AIDS. Now, I think we really better buckle up. The way I see it, they're going to hit all the sympathetic white folks, then all the minorities that are inside the Army, the National Guard and the police. This is according to something called the King Alfred plan. PT: With the "three strikes and you're out" legislation, there were only a few politicians who would stand up against it. ELEMENTARY: There are all these forces lined up against us -- "three strikes you're out," and then there are all the Klansmen in the sheriff's department. They are going to be the people who are going to be capturing us, and they hate us. They will be the ones who will be arresting us, lying in court and locking us up. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 3. CALIFORNIANS CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST D.A. PERSECUTION OF MOTHER BERKELEY, California -- On April 28, Dorothea Lawyer appeared at Berkeley Municipal Court on misdemeanor charges in the case of the accidental death of her infant son who drowned last year while in the care of his older brother. Less than three months ago, charges of child endangerment against Ms. Lawyer were dismissed by Judge Jennie Rhine with the comment: "If leaving children in the care of older siblings were a crime, there would be a lot of criminals walking around America." Ms. Lawyer's attorney, Anna De Leon, argued that the case should be dismissed because the district attorney had failed to show in her complaint against Ms. Lawyer what the charges were against her and how her actions had caused endangerment. In their disgraceful attempt to charge Ms. Lawyer, the district attorney. even cited a section of the Penal Code that didn't exist! "It is a travesty against all our rights and freedoms that the district attorney can charge someone with two misdemeanors and deny a person the right to know what the charges are," said Renee Pecot of the Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP). Dorothea Lawyer's case has touched all working parents without decent, affordable child care. The National Women's Law Center of Washington D.C. recently gave California an "F" for failing to provide a personal income tax break for families that pay for child care. The Center said that child care is the third-biggest expense for most families after housing and food, and typically eats up from six percent to 23 percent of a working parent's weekly income. Dorothea Lawyer's defense committee and the many members of WEAP have organized speak-outs and teach-ins at every one of Ms. Lawyer's court appearances. On April 28, over 40 seniors, youths and union members showed up in her support. "The fundamental issue here," said Ethel Long-Scott, executive director of WEAP, "is the continued abdication of responsibility by the federal, state and county governments to provide decent, affordable child care for all parents. Poor women are told every day that there is no money to invest in our children, yet this case shows that there's always money to prosecute and persecute poor families." Ms. Lawyer's case was put over to May 19, Malcolm X's birthday. In the tradition of Malcolm's teachings, the Defense Committee and WEAP plan to organize people to come out in force to protest this travesty of injustice against this young mother. Send letters in support of Ms. Lawyer to: The Women's Economic Agenda Project, 518 17th Street, #200, Oakland, California 94612 or call 510-451-7379 for more information. ****************************************************************** 4. CALL FOR A SUMMIT AGAINST THE CRIMINALIZATION OF POVERTY Dear Friend, The crime bill now flying through Congress is a final step in the criminalization of system-induced poverty. The increase of the crimes for which there are death penalties is discriminatory, unconstitutional and immoral. The "three convictions equal life imprisonment" provision and the fingerprinting of aid recipients are acts of war upon the poor. The rise in crime is because of unemployment and drugs. The street corner dealer is the target along with the addicted. Also the unemployed person who is hungry is the target. The gutless politicians in Washington, D.C. refuse to go after the rich and powerful. We need to create our own crime bill pointed in the direction of the real criminals, the powerful white-collar network. The director of the CIA should be tried under the drug-king law, as should the bankers who launder the money, the chemical companies who supply drug-making chemicals and the senators or representatives who have knowledge of the CIA or FBI or DEA drug dealing and drug smuggling. Recent news accounts show the CIA purchased one ton of cocaine in 1991. Later reports note that 13 tons were shipped through Arkansas over a three-year period. If you cut 13 tons three times that makes 39 tons of street drugs. Someone is getting rich and getting away with the murder of our youth. We would like your participation in a Crime Summit to write a Crime Bill about the Criminal Class Which Murders and Robs with a Pen. Please come and submit your model law or section of a crime bill which you or your organization thinks should be included. This is a non-sectarian action. You can print your own announcements, send a speaker, bring and display your literature and present your point of view. It's time we move to expose the hypocrisy of the crime bill. This letter is going to local and national welfare, civil rights, environmental, health and peace groups. All points of view are needed and will be included. If you cannot attend, please mail your law and it will be read and added to the bill approved by the general body of the summit. You will receive complete and full credit for the law and viewpoints you present. We must act now. We must develop our bill and present it to the federal, state and local representatives and media. Yours truly, Truxon Sykes Reply by July 1 to: BHU/NOC, 1516 Pentridge Rd., #168, Baltimore, Maryland 21239. ****************************************************************** 5. EVICTION: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OF TENANTS Thousands of tenants sit on the 'Death Row' of eviction By Stephanie Anthony BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- In a tenant's mind there is nothing worse than eviction. They cannot afford to move. They feel at least they have a roof over their heads. Many poor tenants accept less than decent living conditions for fear that they will have nowhere to stay, rather than asserting their rights. Gulf Coast Tenant Organization executive director Pat Bryant describes eviction as the capital punishment of tenants. Thousands of poor, black tenants sit on the "Death Row" of eviction, waiting for either a pardon or to be executed. The Meadowbrook Apartment Complex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana shows this. It has about 240 units. Around 95 percent of the residents are black. Almost 99 percent of the employees are white. A one- bedroom apartment with utilities currently costs $380 a month. The complex has one water main. The water in all 240 units is turned off to repair a plumbing problem. Tenants are without water at least once a month. Air conditioning units go out frequently; repairs are made slowly. Tenants sign a six-month lease and the rent goes up about $10 with each renewal. If a tenant breaks the lease, the security deposit is forfeited. If management wants to evict or punish a tenant, they turn off the utilities. There are no grievance procedures. Tenants are not allowed to stand outside their doors and talk to each other. They are not allowed access to the community room to meet without management staff present and usually running the meeting. When the tenants called a meeting, the complex manager got six off-duty sheriffs and turned residents away at the door. Most recently, when tenants called an outdoor meeting, management called security guards to break it up. When this did not work, they called the city police. The city police ruled the tenants had a right to meet. Tenants have basic rights afforded them by law. If they let fear rule, there will always be landlords around to take advantage of them and mistreat them, while the tenant pays monthly for the abuse. ****************************************************************** 6. 'AFFORDABLE HOUSING' SHOULD NOT MEAN HIGH HEATING BILLS! By Jan Lightfoot HINCKLEY, Maine -- A mother and unemployed nurse's aide typifies the problem with some of this land's newer "affordable housing." Many contractors install heating systems which are the least expensive to place in new buildings: electric heat. However, electric heat is the most costly form of heat to use. Nevertheless, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is giving tax credits and financial incentives to builders who set aside a certain number of apartment units for low-income people. These benefits are given to builders without regard for the use of the most expensive type of heating. This happens nationwide. In Maine, "Spectrum" is the builder/operator of about 40 apartment complexes, ranging from 20 to 75 units. Most of its apartments are heated by electric heat. Many have what could be an illegal clause in their contract stating that if tenants have their electricity shut off, they will be evicted. Both low-income and elderly people must pay anywhere from $400 to $700 per month for heat in the winter months. A woman who calls the Homeless Crisis Hotline -- we'll call her "Sue Thomas" -- remarks that even the lowest summer heating bills are $238 a month. With the shut-off clause, she and her infant are constantly in danger of becoming homeless because she is behind in her electric bill. She is near tears as she admits the hopeless feeling of being unable to provide adequately for her 10-month-old baby girl. Depression is her incurable companion. There are many Sues out there. "Affordable housing" should be exactly that. Low rents should not be coupled with disgracefully exorbitant utility bills. HUD should require buildings to install a heating system resulting in the lowest utility bills to the renters. For more information, call Hospitality House, Inc. at 1-800-438- 3890. ****************************************************************** 7. HUD HOMES TAKEN FOR HOMELESS Across California May 2, the people rose up against the crime of human beings living in the street while thousands of government houses sit empty. From San Francisco to Los Angeles to Long Beach, people without housing and their supporters moved into vacant HUD houses and began turning these houses into homes. The California Homeless Network organized the planning of the takeovers earlier in the year in Sacramento. "That's where everybody from the north and south met, from San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach. While we were in Sacramento, we did a takeover led by Don Sims," said David Lowe of the Long Beach Homeless Organizing Committee. "I did the training in Sacramento on what to actually do during a takeover. I learned it through the Annie Smart Leadership Development Institute in Philadelphia. They give political empowerment training on how to do takeovers and on welfare rights. People from the National Union of the Homeless are the instructors there." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ SPEAKING OUT DURING THE LONG BEACH HOUSING TAKEOVERS Don Sims, Homeless Organizing Committee: "You know what Charles Ming, the L.A. manager for HUD told me after we did the takeover? He said, 'Don, you just opened the door for every homeless person in America to get a home.' I said, 'Yeah, that's right!' " David Lowe, Homeless Organizing Committee: "We're taking over these homes because we have families without homes sitting in shelters right now, and homes without families. HUD won't give them Section 8 housing or put them in HUD housing. But HUD is selling these vacant houses to real estate speculators at the highest bid. We're saying stop the auctions and put the families from shelters in these homes. "We think it's wrong for HUD to keep these houses vacant where there's economic earthquakes causing so many people to be laid off and there's lots of families without homes. This house has been vacant for two years. "Citizens from Long Beach are coming out who agree with our action and volunteering their expertise with plumbing, electricity. People are giving us food, bringing us clothing and furniture. Councilman Alan Lowenthal is supporting us. We want to bring these homes up to code and put families without homes into them. "We are demonstrating our American right not only to protest, but to take control. We are the government. HUD is just the agent. Sometimes they get big-headed and want to dictate to us. We're saying 'No, we're going to dictate to you!' This is what America is about. "God bless you all. And pray for us." Rev. James M. Shaw, Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ, Long Beach: "I have been on the property every day. If the people staying there are in violation, then I'm in violation. I'm prepared. All persons need to be prepared to the same level of involvement. "These people are saying to America, let's resolve this homeless problem. And we are saying to the citizens of Long Beach, let's begin here and now." Chelsea, a participant in the takeovers: "If the government doesn't want to deal in justice and human rights, then it's up to the people." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ RECLAIMING GOVERNMENT HOMES By Mary Jacqueline Gage and Dianne Flowers LONG BEACH, California -- As part of a statewide movement, Food Not Bombs and the Homeless Organizing Committee of Long Beach, affiliated with the National Union of the Homeless, entered two vacant HUD-owned homes on May 2. They set up a 24-hour vigil to insure a successful reclamation of government surplus property. In Long Beach, a handful of people decided they would do whatever it took, including going to jail if necessary, to draw public attention to government resources that can get homeless people off the streets. By allowing them to refurbish and own government surplus housing, the homeless can get back a sense of dignity and security . Flyers were passed out to all the neighbors explaining the process they were going through. Free brunch and dinner were served by Food Not Bombs, which has been serving lovingly cooked, free meals to hungry people in Long Beach's civic center park for four years. Will Ross, who lives up the street from these HUD houses, said, "I feel like it's great, because no one should live on the street. I got evicted from my apartment. ... I slept in my car for a month before someone said I could stay with them. And I'm working. In this area, it costs $1,000 to move into an apartment. A lot of people don't have jobs. If owners can't rent it, they just close it up." The takeover demands include HUD handing over at least 50 percent of the 34 vacant HUD units in Long Beach to the Homeless Organizing Committee, as part of HUD's program to lease units like these to homeless groups for $1 per year, and for HUD to double the number of Section 8 certificates for Long Beach and give them to the Homeless Organizing Committee to place homeless families in vacant housing. ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you, the front line fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486- 3551. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 8. "WE'RE STILL FIGHTING": COMMUNITY DEMANDS JUSTICE AFTER POLICE MURDER SERGIO GARCIA By Dianne Flowers SAN PEDRO, California -- The family and community of Sergio Garcia will honor his memory when they rally and march from Rancho Park to the Los Angeles Police Department's Harbor Division station on Saturday, May 21. They honor his memory by keeping up the fight for justice. On May 24, 1993, Mark Griego of the Harbor Division shot and killed unarmed Sergio, claiming that Sergio threatened his life with a flashlight. Griego has been rewarded with desk duty ever since. The police didn't stop with killing Sergio. After the community marched and protested the shooting, the police harassed and threatened the grieving family and members of the community. The following excerpts are comments by Sergio Garcia's sister, Marisol Garcia. A couple of months after my brother's death, the police just ran into my mother's home with their guns drawn. They didn't have no search warrant or anything. My little brother, Sam, was scared because they were charging right at him with their guns drawn. He ran. They said Sam had a gun, which was a lie. They pushed my mom down in the living room. She didn't even know what was going on. They said she was trying to stop them. She just kept asking them, "What's happening?" They kept ignoring us and running through the house with their guns drawn. My mom kept saying, "Don't shoot my son. Don't shoot my son." We filed a complaint against the police the next day. The following week they filed charges against us, saying we interfered with their duties. They were retaliating against us because we filed a complaint and we protested my brother Sergio's death. We had to go to court but they dropped the charges. After we had the rallies, the police were harassing us in the street, laughing at us in the community. They kept harassing my little brother. They would keep telling him, "You're next." We're still fighting. We're going to file a lawsuit against the police for my brother's death. We're not giving up. We're selling T-shirts to remember all the victims of police brutality. All the people who are against police brutality can come and march with us so that we can stop it and have justice. [Editor's note: The rally is at noon, Saturday, May 21, at Rancho Park (Second and Center Streets) in San Pedro. There will be a special Mass for Sergio Garcia on Sunday, May 22 at 6 p.m. at St. Peter's Catholic Church in San Pedro.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "One of the greatest lessons to be learned is that the police protect the property of the ruling class. In doing so they protect that ruling class. All legislation against economic and political crime and all actions against the so-called criminals flow from this proposition. The conclusion is inescapable. The people cannot control the police unless they become the ruling class. Therefore, the struggle against police brutality is a class and revolutionary question." -- Nelson Peery, author of _Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary_ and member of the National Organizing Committee. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ CULTURE UNDER FIRE Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti, painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture can link together and expand the growing battles for food, housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire'' column to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ 9. PAN~O ART SPEAKS FROM THE SOUL By Andy Willis Thanks to Rudy Padilla of the Hourglass Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we are able to bring the beauty of pan~o art to our readers. "Pan~o" means handkerchief. The art is done by prisoners, principally in the Southwest. Although most of the artists are Latino men, many other artists are working in this indigenous art form. The artists use the limited material available to them, such as ballpoint pens and homemade dyes. Images, icons, colors and symbols come together to speak an eloquent language from the prisoners' souls. Pan~o art is part of a larger, visual arts tradition in rural and urban Latino communities. The most common media for these visual arts are tattoos, murals, graffiti, car painting and paper. Pan~os express love, anger, pain, hope and loss. In fact, a tremendous range of feeling can exist in a single pan~o. They are sent to loved ones at home where they are treasured and displayed. Rudy Padilla has collected the largest representation of pan~o art in the United States. He believes that through the arts, you can address the social issues of poverty, oppression, crime, drug addiction, gangs and prisons. Recently, the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution acquired 14 pan~os for its permanent collection. The Smithsonian is currently preparing a nationwide traveling exhibit of Pan~o Arte to begin in 1995. For more information, contact Hourglass Gallery, c/o Youth Redevelopment, Inc., 1710 Centro Familiar SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105 or call 505-873-1604 or 505-881-8542. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ "Art is power. Like faith, it can change your life in a positive manner. When I take up my pen and put down my thoughts, feelings, hope and dreams, I have freedom. I only wish I could paint love in the hearts of humanity so we can overcome problems and live in peace." --Melvin Sedillo +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 10. POEM To a poet friend I barely know Dedicated to Arleen Carter, Baltimore, winter '93 We met once a handshake and a few phrases spoken at a gathering of homeless fighters you, build smaller than me and younger but a mother who saw her grown child die You accustomed to struggle for every day of work a warm meal a good night's sleep trained to the pain that reaches out from the lines of your poems holds me with the grip of a small child's fist haunts with the echo of almost discarded dreams you, with a pain that sometimes can only be quenched with a bag of snow sold at the corner You slept for summer weeks at the abandoned house downtown the man who raped you left his poison in your blood, you learned it will stay hidden for some years perhaps Yet, you must write grip souls with children's fists hitch your own to the hearts of many ride on their strong legs and arms whisper dreams into their ears live for tomorrow and another tomorrow one poem at a time -- C.H. ****************************************************************** 11. BOOK READINGS, ETC. NELSON PEERY BOOK TOUR Nelson Peery has been a revolutionary since the days of the Scottsboro Boys case. Now, he has written a memoir called Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary. It describes growing up during the Depression in the only black family in a town in rural Minnesota and life in the all-black 93rd Infantry Division during World War II. Peery will be appearing at these locations in May: ATLANTA On May 21, at 2:00 p.m., Peery will be reading and signing books at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, 946 Abernathy SW. Call 404- 752-6125 for more information. On May 21, at 7:30 p.m., Peery will be reading and there will be discussion at Five Points Community Center, 1083 Austin Avenue NE. Call 404-522-2926. SEATTLE On May 24, at 7:30 p.m., Peery will be reading and signing books at Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S. Main St. Call 206-624-6600. SAN FRANCISCO On May 26, at 7:30 p.m., Peery will be reading at Modern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia. Call 415-282-9246. LOS ANGELES On May 27, at 6 p.m., Peery will be reading at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Call 310-659-3110. On May 29, at 4:30 p.m., Peery will be signing books at Midnight Special Bookstore, 1318 Third St. Promenade, Santa Monica. Call 310-393-2923. Order a copy of Black Fire! Proceeds will go to the People's Tribune as a fundraiser. Send this coupon and $25 (which includes postage) to: BREAK- THROUGH IMAGES, P.O. Box 3233, Chicago, Illinois 60654-3233. All orders must be prepaid. Make checks payable to "Break-Through Images." Autographed copies are available. Name____________________________________________________________ Address_________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip__________________________________________________ +----------------------------------------------------------------+ AUTHOR JULIAN L.D. SHABAZZ DEFENDS HIP-HOP By Andy Willis Julian L.D. Shabazz, national chairman of Awesome Records, contributed the excellent and thought-provoking "Public challenge on the issue of rap music" to our February 7 issue. We want all our readers to know that Awesome Records has published the book The United States vs. Hip-Hop which offers a penetrating look at the music and why it is under political attack. Highly recommended for hip-hop fanatics or those who want to know! For your copy, contact Awesome Records, 3834 Rosewood Drive #2, Columbia, South Carolina 29205. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 12. ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 For free electronic subscription, email: PT.dist-request@umich.edu Respond via e-mail to jdav@igc.org Reach us by phone: Chicago: (312) 486-3551 Atlanta: (404) 242-2380 Baltimore: (410) 467-4769 Detroit: (313) 839-7600 Los Angeles: (310) 428-2618 Washington, D.C.: (202) 529-6250 Oakland, CA: (510) 464-4554 GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $25 ($35 institutions), bulk orders of 5 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654, tel. (312) 486-3551. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. ******************************************************************