Street Spirit

Gimme Some Truth

Opinion
“I’ve always resented the smug statements of politicians, media commentators, corporate executives who talked of how, in America, if you worked hard you would become rich. The meaning of that was if you were poor it was because you hadn’t worked hard enough. I knew this was a lie…”

You’re Stronger Than You Know

Opinion
If you’re homeless, blind with fear and sick down to your soles, broken down and so alone you want to crawl out of your skin and be someone else, somewhere else, look my way and know: I’m that voice that flows from your heart that says you’re stronger and more than you know.

Reflections on Homelessness in Oakland

Opinion
Martin Luther King said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” If people know their history, King’s Poor People’s March, completed after his death, has not resulted in a society where all citizens matter, especially black men, the majority of men seen on Oakland streets.

Day of Reckoning for Right to Sleep in Santa Cruz

Opinion
This is a call to conscience for the entire community to support the progressive decriminalization of homelessness in Santa Cruz. Our proposed amendment in support of the Right to Sleep removes references to the act of sleeping and the use of blankets in the camping section of the Municipal Code.

The Struggle for Renter Protections in Richmond

Features   Uncategorized
“Richmond’s rents, like rents all across the Bay Area, are rising sky high, causing much hardship and displacement. It’s very important to slow down this tide of rising rents. We don’t want outrageously high rent increases to continue, such that more and more struggling renters are forced out of our city.”

The Media War on Homeless People in S.F.

Features   Uncategorized
The Chronicle has temporarily won its media war on homeless people by portraying the mayor and the city government as the underdog, while poor people suffering the effects of the housing crisis are portrayed as stubbornly unwilling to be part of the one percent’s good fortune.

Intentional Homeless Community in Berkeley

Features
Business owners grow uneasy when homeless people organize and use the creative tactics of the labor and civil rights movements. Homeless people in Berkeley did just that by organizing occupations.

Tiny Houses: A New Vision of Home

Features   Uncategorized
Many are interested in tiny houses for the homeless community. “I hope it’s the beginning of an upswell of community support to get this tiny homes program under way in Berkeley. It seems that there is a possibility we can do that.”

Berkeley Fails to Control Police Misconduct

Features   Uncategorized
During the Black Lives Matter protests in Berkeley, people trying to nonviolently protest police misconduct were obstructed and injured. Press officers were injured. Religious leaders were injured. People trying to help the injured were injured. Yet the Police Review Commission report about police tactics has glaring omissions.

Homeless Youth: A Bright and Shining Light

Opinion
All you have to do is walk down Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley to discover we have a serious challenge called homelessness. It is unacceptable that simple cost-effective solutions which are in place to confront this conundrum have to struggle for funding. It is especially disturbing that the obvious is overlooked.

Mandatory Euthanasia

Fiction
A uniformed man behind thick glass projected impatience. I immediately spotted a number of disintegrator guns built into the walls. I then realized I stood atop a steel grating that would allow for easy, vacuum-powered disposal of my gaseous and liquid remains, should it go that way.

Hidden in the Shadows, Corporations Control Our Economy

Opinion
Corporations are treated legally as though they were individuals. They receive many of the rights of individuals but don’t have the same responsibilities. Officials in high positions use their corporate status as a firewall behind which they can hide from the repercussions of their actions.