A Three-Strikes Sojourn

“Dey, wake up. You have court today.”Oh man. Here we go. Judgment and sentencing. I was about to feel the entire weight of the drug war era justice system… More

Shame

Mama always took me with her to pick up her paycheck at the café on Wednesday afternoons. Sitting on a stool at the counter, sipping a chocolate shake, I… More

Pictures Don’t Lie

So, I’m looking at this car, right. It’s a mess. Yeah, it’s not going anywhere. It looks like a spaghetti strainer. Holes everywhere. Big holes.I’m thinking, “What’s up with… More

Why I Care

Doing outreach work in the Bayview-Hunters Point area of San Francisco can be fun, also dangerous, as the district has seen countless shootings of youth. I was working as… More

Poetrical Muralism

Growing up in the aftermath of the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 70s, my generation and I were the beneficiaries of an abundance of free Chicano health clinics,… More

Origami Heart

When I pick one up at mail call I feel it slide back and forth in the flimsy blue and red striped airmail envelope, a core of your words and so much emptiness enclosed. More

Green Pants

I washed my pants today.I washed my green pants today.I washed them clean by hand.They’re a type of green that’s dark and thickA royal green, deep like bright leaves… More

After a Bomb Threat

After a Bomb ThreatI am waved to a nichewithin a crowd of bodies,half of them stripping down,The remainder uniformed in blue.Here, I will bare myselfin the pallor of shame,have… More

Arrests in America (Fuzzy Math)

Arrest by race, 2000 in AmericaTotal Arrests: 9,068,977Total Violent Crime Arrests: 414,420In the all arrest category:Whites were arrested in 6,324,006 cases, at 69.7%Blacks were arrested in 2,528,368 cases, at… More