America, the New Banana Republic

by Contributing Author

by Paul Boden/Western Regional Advocacy Project

Let’s be real about what’s happening. The U.S. Government is endeavoring to solidify its long time quest of a fascist dictatorship rule. It’s moving incredibly fast because the structures needed to pull this off have been getting implemented piecemeal and with purpose since the Reagan Revolution in 1980. So now they are ready to rock and roll.

Dictatorships always rely on a militarized police force to rain hell on a scapegoated minority that are “blamed” as the cause of whatever the authorities decide is going to put fear into their base and use that fear to stoke division and prejudice amongst people.

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A History of Homelessness: This Was Never Inevitable, and We Still Have a Chance to End It

by Contributing Author

Modern homelessness has unfolded in two chapters in the United States. The first chapter was of course the Great Depression, a period of displacement and poverty that was corrected for by a mass investment in housing and the passage of  the Housing Act of 1949that guaranteed decent housing for impoverished people. The second chapter opened in 1983, when Ronald Reagan eliminated 76% of the federal housing budget and abandoned the commitment made by that same Housing Act. 

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Freedom is Fundamental: Resisting the New Poor Farms

by Contributing Author

story and photo by Cathleen Williams

“I cannot live without my freedom, and I will not live without freedom,” says Street Sheet vendor Jessica in Sacramento. Here, she sits with Felipe.

Freedom of movement is a fundamental right of residents on American soil. The right extends to all, including people who live outside on our streets and open public spaces. 

It’s a bedrock principle, embedded in our consciousness and our culture,

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Love and Hate: My 51 Years Living in the “Fillmoe”

by Contributing Author

by Queennandi

Originally published in Poor Magazine

I was born in the Western Addition aka Fillmoe in the early 70’s, and my spirit has been residing here ever since. In the earlier years it was a beautifully diverse community with Asian, African, Filipino, Latina and Pacific Islander families, with a few sprinkles of European immigrants. The community got along well amongst those who called Fillmore home.

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Activists Seek “Liberation” of Trans Resistance Site from Private Prison Contract

by TJ Johnston

On a bright Sunday afternoon on May 18, a group of transgender activists gathered at the corner of Turk and Taylor streets in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. The group, Compton’s x Coalition, invited local media, including Street Sheet, to the rally outside the 111 Taylor St. Apartments, which stands on the site of a historic riot over a half-century before.

The rally culminated in two members of a direct action group called Traction SF climbing a fire escape to the roof and dropping two vertical banners that displayed a single message: “Liberate Compton’s.”

The building at 111 Taylor St.

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Black History Month or Thanking The Slaves for Making America Great?

by Contributing Author
https://www.facebook.com/events/525025368378190/

By Bilal Mafundi Ali

For many people, especially Black people, the month of February signifies the annual celebration of Black History Month/African-American Heritage Month.  February is designated as a time to recognize African American achievements and contributions to America. One notable consequence is the hero worship of a handful of prominent figures.  What’s more, this celebration of Black achievement particularly tends to be sanitized, and this selective representation is often at the expense of erasing a rich legacy of individuals,

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New Study Demonstrates the Enduring Legacy of U.S. Slavery

by Contributing Author

by Neil K. R. Sehgal and Ashwini Sehgal

Legislators who are descendants of slaveholders are significantly wealthier than members of Congress without slaveholder ancestry, new research has found.

The legacy of slavery in America remains a divisive issue, with sharp political divides.

Some argue that slavery still contributes to modern economic inequalities. Others believe that its effects have largely faded.

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“Oppenheimer” and the Story Behind Those Who Lost Their Land to the Lab

by Contributing Author
The town of Los Alamos, New Mexico with Fuller Lodge and the "Big House" dormitories is seen in an undated photograph. Department of Energy/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC29C2A06ME3

by Andrew Hay, Reuters/International Network of Street Papers

In the movie Oppenheimer the eponymous character played by Cillian Murphy says the proposed site for a secret atomic weapons lab in northern New Mexico has only a boys’ school and Indians performing burial rites.

But there were homesteaders living on that land.

In 1942, the US Army gave 32 Hispano families on the Pajarito Plateau 48 hours to leave their homes and land,

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Juneteenth: ‘Bout Time We Recognize

by Contributing Author

by Jazzie O. Gray

Juneteenth—also known as Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Black Independence Day, Emancipation Day and Juneteenth National Independence Day—is the annual commemoration on June 19 of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. President Biden first officially recognized the federal holiday in 2021, but Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865. So why did it take so long to acknowledge the freedom of all African Americans in this country nationally?

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Juneteenth: ‘Bout Time We Recognize

by Jazzie O. Gray

Juneteenth—also known as Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Black Independence Day, Emancipation Day and Juneteenth National Independence Day—is the annual commemoration on June 19 of the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in the United States. President Biden first officially recognized the federal holiday in 2021, but Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865. So why did it take so long to acknowledge the freedom of all African Americans in this country nationally? Let’s look at its 150-year history and illuminate its importance today.

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