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This story is co-written by Vivian Hain,"Tiny" (Lisa Gray-Garcia), and Tracey Faulkner with Tara Lohan.
Overt 10,000 people attended the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta, Georgia this week with the goal of forging a new country and the motto of "Another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary."
There were hundreds of workshops and events dealing with issues of poverty, injustice, environment, peace, media, art, relationships, marginalized peoples, and privilege, and much, much more.
One of the most amazing things happening at the forum was the Ida B. Wells Media Justice Center. The Center's goal was to "create media coverage of the USSF through a revolutionary journalistic model ... by providing unheard voices media access, co-authorship, on-site training, mentorship, facilitation, and support."
In essence -- true democratic media that is non-hierarchical, non- colonizing, grassroots. The driving force behind the Center was POOR Magazine, which was responsible for the Community Newsroom -- hooking up "poverty, race or disability scholars" with media folks to collaborate on getting important voices the chance to tell their stories.
Below is a small piece of a much larger story about three women and their children living in poverty in one of the richest areas of this country -- California's Bay Area.
Background information: Families on welfare in CA haven't seen a cost of living adjustment since 2004. California's Gov. Schwartzenegger is pushing to continue the freeze on cost of living adjustments for the next two years. He is also considering "full family sanctions," which were implemented in Texas. Currently in CA, after five years on welfare adults are cut off from support, but children are still given aid. Full family sanctions would leave children without any support as well. In Texas it has been disastrous.
Here's a story from Vivian Hain who is part of POOR Magazine, welfareQUEENS, Low Income Families Empowerment through Education, and hunger advocacy for Alameda County Food Bank.
Vivian Hain: I have not seen a cost of living adjustment since 2004. Before there was a freeze for two years. It was $679 for a family of four. In 2004 I fought for adjustments to go up to $723/month. Now in 2007 that is what I get to live on in Berkeley with my three kids.
I have not bought my kids news shoes or jackets or anything this year. They are four, six, and 13. I can't even walk into the kid's aisle in stores because I don't want to look at what I can't afford for them. It is demeaning to keep giving hand-me-down clothes and stale shoes -- especially to the youngest who has never had anything new. No parent should have to make that decision.
I used to shop lift when i had two in diapers ... I would fill up the diaper bag full of diapers. And I'd get that hot feeling of what if you got caught stealing and would they take your kids. You shouldn't to decide if your kid is going to have a wet diaper all night or you are going to go to jail.
I'd always try to make the used clothes I got for them look the best they could, though. I am in college. I am going to get my BA in December and might go one more year to get my Masters. I do what I can to support my family. My kids don't know how to play video games or know about newest music. But my daughter, she looks me in the eye and say she understands, she doesn't need that stuff.
It is unacceptable what he [Gov. Schwartzenegger] is doing. He is trying to balance the budge on the backs of poor children ...
It is like they say -- we have no choice but to survive -- we are women. The choices that we have to make because of the situations they put us in is unimaginable. Lower than you can conceptualize. Those in the legislature are making decisions about laws and policy affecting children and they have no idea what it is like.
These children's lives are affected because a parent is being criminizlied for trying to survive with miniscule resources. When they are cutting our money they are telling us we are not worthy of investing it. They are targeting children in CA.
****
This is a story from Tiny ((Lisa Gray-Garcia) who is involved with POOR Magazine, welfareQueens and is a writer and author of Criminal of Poverty: Growing up Homeless in America.
TINY: What they call poverty crimes, I call underground economic strategies. When the system doesn't support you from the get-go and sets you up to fail, you do what you have to do to survive. If you get picked up, the cops/Child Protective Services will take your child away and it is hard to
get them back.
We have hundreds of mothers and fathers who call every month begging for help to get their kids back from CPS. These aren't people who abuse their
children; they are poor or houseless or in wrong place at the wrong time.
I shoplifted to get food. I got welfare before I had my child. But then afterwards, my mom was sick with what she then died from. So she got in home support service which was $750. That money came to my house but went to her. That was $25 more than what the state says you can to qualify. So I couldn't qualify for any support.
If i did not shop lift that cheese we didn't eat. I had WIC but it ran out by the 18th. The scariest, saddest part was that I was caught. The woman was a grandmother, an elder, a friend. The shame that was in her eyes when she told me i couldn't come back and how that made my mom feel, who had her own issues about being colonized. It made us go against each other when mom was dying. I'm so sorry mom. I don't know how i made it through.
****
This is a story from Tracey Faulkner who is involved with POOR Magazine, and is founding mom of Family Resource Center at City College in San Francisco.
TRACEY FAULKNER: I didn't lie on my credit application. When I came here from England, I just didn't have any credit. I could tell you stories about the welfare system in England.
I used the credit card to buy diapers. I got the cloth diapers so I could wash them out. Years later I heard that they were changing bankruptcy laws -- I was $23,000 in debt. I went bankrupt before they made it impossible to do that.
A single person in society gets more than a family on welfare. You are not allowed to have an apartment above your grant. How are you suppose to get an apartment for $150/mo - if you don't get section 8 -- which you can't because it is closed. I had a friend in need and ended up having a family of three in my living room for eight months. My apartment is basically the bedroom and living room.
****
POOR Magazine and the Poor News Network is dedicated to reframing the news, issues and solutions from low and no income communities, as well as providing society with a perspective usually not heard or seen within the mainstream media.
welfareQUEENS is a groups of mother struggling with poverty, welfare, racism, and disability, who are dedicated to creating art with the goal of resisting and reclaiming the racist and classist mythologies that are used to criminalize the poor.
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