401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665-2289 Email:carnnews@shaw.ca
Website/Catalogue: carnegienewsletter.org
Photo credit" Sharon Kravitz
On the Side of Social Justice for 32 years!
Fundraising - a report on work-in-progress
3
It was billed as On the Side of Social Justice and ~ a concert to benefit the Carnegie Newsletter. ~ Thanks to the incredible dedication of Lis a David, . the organising of performers, volunteers, the venue, the advertising and coordination kept happening. Thanks to 2Boots & The Groove Brothers; thanks to MicheJle Richard and Mike Richter; thanks to opera tenor Lyndon Ladeur and pianist Roger Parton; thanks to Barb & Marge & Florence of the Raging Grannies; thanks to Earle Peach; thanks Dalannah Gail Bowen and pianist Steven Kendall - all for providing music and entertainment thoroughlyenjoyed. Behind all this was the technical expertise & equipment for sound & lights provided by Elwin Xie and Fanna Yee, plus the video-recording done by Lucas & Susan. And while these four took care of technology, a host of volunteers were outside encouraging people to come in, inside welcoming and handing out programs, taking care of donations, supervising the silent auction, managing the stage, hosting the Green Room, taking pictures of acts on-stage, overseeing food & drink for both volunteers & audience members, setting up and taking down with cleaning, wiping down and finally locking the door on the way out. Revenue was around $1300; expenses were much less, given the generosity ofthe Carnegie Community Centre Association and some private in-kind contributions. We learned that holding a fundraiser in the middle of the summer is beset with many people having other plans ... and it was hot. We learned that the best-organised event doesn't guarantee an overwhelming attendance. We learned that there is a lot of support for the Carnegie Newsletter. Finally, if you are one of the people who couldn't come but will make a donation, please follow through on that. Cheques can be made payable to the Carnegie Community Centre Association and put "Newsletter" on the memo line; The mailing address is 401 Main Street, Van BC V6A 2T7. PRT
[All photos by Sharon Kravitz]
Hurray for the (arnegie
In/arming. Illuminating.
Newsletter (2018)
Opening our eyes to gentrification
This voice of the Downtown Deeply committed community.
Eastside.
to the cause of the
Fearless, entertaining,
and
displacement, Opening our hearts to the conditions of the SRO's and the need for affordable
moving,
housing
Nothing like it at any other community
centre in
the city. Not City funded. Not City propaganda.
Passionate, committed. A must read! The longest survivor.
Participant driven. Anarchistic publication.
Nothing else like it in the City!
Produced with hours of volunteer work.
'A good place to tell our stories' said Sandy Suits have come up the stairwell to the Carnegie office. Paul didn't give a S-H-I-T.
Cameron. Crucially and vitally consistent, Issue after issue. Every 1rst. Every 15th• Month after month. Year after year. Decade after decade.
Our Community is not a rich community. But the newsletter brings out our richness. It brings out the beauty of our community
A gold mine of writing. For32 years now!
It sheds light on the lives ofthe
An amazing feat for Paul and his dogged
We come alive through the Carnegie Newsletter.
determination. And the commitment
Voices not heard elsewhere. Our tears. Our laughter. Our pain. Our beauty.
of the volunteer staff
Working with the Downtown Forthe Downtown
Eastside,
This chronicler of our community
Eastside,
About the Downtown
Gives us a reason to exist.
Eastside.
For decades through all kinds of change. Its still here. The voice. Our voice.
Thirty Two Years of Resistance and Art
Our phoenix. Community
Community and Prose. Events and News. Opinion and Editorials. Music and Theatre.
run.
Community owned.
letters to the Editor. Rants and Ramblings.
Its Real News. Not Fake News.
Cartoons and Poetry. Pride and Passion. Justice and Hope. Of We Never Shut Up.
Its goes like hotcakes.
Of Rise Up People Rise Up.
People actually read it!
Of We love the Downtown
community,
Eastside.
Rough and Refined. Raw and sublime. From loving old-school hands
Educates about the DTES community, Advocates for issues and concerns of our
Black and white scissor cut. Glued and Pasted.
community. Speaks our values to the larger city and beyond.
Beloved singularly unique haphazard design.
Giving voice to the low income community DTES
of the
A crazy, loving, brilliant, raging, pulsing heart of community.
,
5 The newsletter of Robyn livingstone, Stephen Lytton, Iglika Ivanova and Johnny Jaworksi. The newsletter
of Jlm Dewer, Robert McGilfivray
and Skid row John. The newsletter of Rita Wong, Wilhelmina Mary, John Allan Douglas and BB Polecat. The newsletter of Gwai Lo, Stephen Belkin, Lama Mugabu and Skippy the tye-dyed mascot. The newsletter of Marlene Wuttanee,
Ruby
Diamond, Garry Gust and Fuckhead Jones. The newsletter for Sandy Cameron to Speak Politics of the Heart. The newsletter for Tracey Morrison to Shout Crysis. The newsletter for Bud Osborn to Raise Shit. Incredible our editor Paul "
Giving voice to those not recognized and easily dismissed. Honest and accessible. The writing may be brilliant. It may be imperfect. As we are brilliant. As we are imperfect. The Carnegie newsletter uncloaks. A place to be emotionally
naked.
To reveal ourselves. Sweetness. Fearless. Surviving through laughter. It's a Voice Box: 'C It's Our Vision for Community
It's the Heart of the City It's We Can't Afford Poverty It's Our Library
It's the Right to Remain It's Chinatown Rate of Change It's Retail Gentrication Mapping Report It's Crunchy and Biting Cartoons by Jim Dewar It's Our Reality in the Downtown
Eastside
Keeps us connected. Keeps us in touch. In touch with each other. To people who move away from our community With what's going on. With what's going down. Don't buy this. It's free. How important is the Carnegie Newsletter to you? If its important support it. Terrible to think of it not being here. 'Lose our voice and we die' says Stephen Lytton. If we don't our voices will whittle away. We pay back when we provide support, When we raise it up, When we stand at its back, When we back slap it, rub its hair, Wear its orange cap and embrace it. When together we move forward in hope and struggle. Long live the Carnegie Newsletter! Three Cheers for the Carnegie Newsletter!
Health
It's lives lived DTESHeroes Past and Present It's Rafly for a Poverty free BC It's Save Crab Park It's Our Homes Can't Wait It's food for Thought
It's Black lives Matter
Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! Hip Hip Horray! Terry Hunter Based on the thoughts of Chartes Barber, Michael (Iague, Leith Harris, Priscillia May Tait, Terry Hunter. Stephen Lvtton, Kelty McKerracher, Jean Swanson, Savannah Walling. Muriel Williams.
lT1~
From the Library
•.:.•.:.• ~V2J •.:.•.:.• Carnegie Theatre Workshop - Summertime "Tweet, tweet, tweet" flit's a bird, it's a plane, it's Birds on Parade!" Create an outdoor theatre troupe for one performance!
-1 Saturday rehearsal left Aug18 1:3Opm-4pm in the Carnegie Theatre
- 1 Monday performance2pm August 20
IlBirds on Parade" Coal Harbour No experience necessary Fr~e, everyone welcome! For more mJ-0: call Teresa 604-255-9401
tJurteenojhearts@hotmtul.com L--
---l
Jenny Kwan MP Vancouver Immigration,
East NDP Refugee
and Citizenship Critic 2572 E Hastings St Vancouver,
BC V5K IZ3
T: 604-775-5800 F: 604-775-5811 Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca
To celebrate Carnegie Newsletter's 32nd anniversary, I searched the "best books of the 1980s" lists and picked a few titles with staying power - ones you can borrow from the library, and that still turn up in pop culture references. On the top of the list, we've got Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale (1985). This novel explores women's role as child-bearers in a dystopian patriarchal society after the fall of the US, how women take back their independence and individualism, and the start of the next revolution. Its imagery is used for political protests, the book still turns up on teens' reading lists for school, and it's been made into a movie and a tv show. If you like horror novels, you might remember It by Stephen King (1986). In this complex, creepy story, a shapeshifter called It lives in the sewers ofDerry, Maine, and comes out to feed on children every 27 years. It first appears as a silver-suited clown named Pennywise, but also takes on the shape of children's fears, like leeches or a werewolf A group of7 bullied eleven-year-olds takes it OD. Later, they come back to Derry as adults, intending to finish what they started. The movie came out in 2017. Toni Morrison is an author everyone should read at least once - and.Beloved (1987) is one of her bestknown, award-winning books. In 1873, ex-slave Sethe lives in Cincinnati with her 18-year old daughter. Their house is haunted by a revenant, believed to be the ghost of another daughter. The revenant settles down when Paul D, a man from the same plantation as Sethe, moves in with them ... but when a young woman named Beloved enters their lives, the past won't stay hidden. The movie came out in 1998 and starred Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. The Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan blends the stories offour Chinese immigrant women and their American-born daughters, and addresses themes of cultural identity, immigration, women's roles, and mother/daughter relationships. In the 1980s, there wasn't much representation of Asian-American women in fiction, and this book is one of the first to bring those stories forward. The Joy Luck Club was made into a movie in 1993. One quick note about programs - check out the documentary Our People Will Be Healed by Alanis Obomsawin on Aug 27 at 6:30. Happy anniversary to the Carnegie Newsletter! -Ariel
ONE STEP AT A TIME
The other night i heard a Crash, Bang & Squabble down by the dumpster - on the main floor here causing quite a stir in the midnight hour Then i heard the clank of footsteps coming 3 flights up thirty steps to the rooftops here so i looked down to see who it was but no one was around! I looked again - as the sound came closer Twas the old girl- the Neighbourhood Seagull
Our- Whales are Protestlnq- ! cause there ain't no krill, plankton nor salmon only chemical and oil spills The Whales are now carrying their young dead above water For 'A L L' to SEE Who says - Whales don't know how to think when they know that' they' are Not the Cause
7
she must have had a fight with a rat for food scraps and when she reached to the top she flopped ... over My God, i thought. ..for then she got up looking for a place to hide - so she could get a bit of shut eye - in peace. After this enormous feat - of climbing these stairs painfully - one step at a time did she show any despair? ....not that i could see for she fought on - to stay here She looked like she had an injured wing so she couldn't fly ...but still. ..she didn't want to die for she loved mother nature - i noted
of the ocean's polluted brink. Do we, the people Not have a Voice? Are We 'Powerless' too? To say Stop Now - to this poisonous stew in our rivers and oceans. What does it take to stop this when not only Sea Life, but Animals & Humans too rely on clean, fresh water. Who~ making a profit at polluting our waters? Can we eat and drink Paper Dollars? And what is money really meant for but to enhance life? We have to research - What? and Who? is at the core of this insanity.
while watching her look longingly up at the summer's eve sky. At the break of dawn - she was gone spotted the very next day
11 BlueWhale W:FinWhale
searching the garbage for food again
Ill!!!
Bowhead
Whale
@RlghtWMiIe
what more is there to say? Except that we could learn a lot from this Seagull who fights daily to survive - for she thinks it's worth i no matter what the ebb & flow dish out.. Justine Rit (Note: 50% percent of the world's Seagulls have died from starvation in the past few years- for fish is scarce)
H\lmpbackWhale
Brydc'sWhiM
CRUNCH
At!
dies
160th Anniversary of Black Citizens in BC (1858-2018): A look at the past, present and future By
lama Mugabo
Last Sunday, 1 shared the booth with a community artist who was invited to table at the Powell St Festival at Oppenheimer Park. When 1 introduced myself as a representative of Hogan 's Alley, she was excited. "1 have always wondered why there are so few Black people in BC. When 1 first arrived here from Toronto, 1 asked if there was a Black community. No one knew.
The short answer to her question is that Canada was never designed to be a multi cultural society. It was designed to be a country for White people only. That's why they imposed the head tax to Chinese who wanted to bring their wives. The same penalty was imposed to Black Americans who wanted to settle in Canada. They were charged five hundred dollars when their white compatriots were only paying twenty-five dollars.
Here's a short chronology of the past, present and the future of Hogan 's Alley in BC.
"In 1858,600 families from San Francisco were invited to settle in British Columbia by Governor James Douglas, who was bi-racial - father from Scotland and a mother from British Guyana.
*They settled in Victoria, Salt Spring Island and Vancouver. At the time, Canadian Pacific Railway employed black men as railcar-porters. Although being subjected to discrimination and openly demeaning treatment was common at the time, it provided a reliable employment during a time when Black citizens' employment options were severely limited. '
*The area of Strathcona where people of African descent settled came to be known as Hogan's Alley. Black citizens settled in this multi-cultural area partly due to the proximity to the railway station, partly for the inexpensive housing, but primarily because they were not welcome in other areas ofthe City due to overt housing discrimination.
*The historical Black community of Hog an's Alley included the area bounded by Main to Clark street and Prior to the waterfront. The "high street" of Hogan's Alley was the block bordered by Main, Union, Gore and Prior.
*From the late 1800s when Black settlers arrived to 1972, Hogan's Alley was a close-knit community with both renters and home-owners, shopkeepers and entrepreneurs, with the cornerstone of the community being the AME Fountain Chapel church located on Jackson (now a private residence).
*Through a series of federal, provincial, and municipal decisions that target the community for removal, by 1972 Hogan's Alley was displaced, the cultural, economic, social, and political assets destroyed.
9
*After the displacement of Hogan 's Alley, residents dispersed, and the Black community lost its heart.
*In 20 I5, the City of Vancouver voted in favour of removing the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts and redeveloping the street network in the Northeast False Creek area. The Black community seized the opportunity to reclaim area and develop opportunities for Black Canadians.
*The Hogan's Alley Working Group was formed in the Fall of2016 and has worked with the City since that time to envision a new community shaped by the principles of equity, inclusion, and justice through a land trust model. The group includes descendants and former residents ofthe Hogan's Alley neighbourhood.
*Broader engagement was conducted by the Hogan's Alley Working group with the Black community in the Lower Mainland to develop the key priorities for the land's development. These priorities include rental housing for a range of incomes and household compositions, as well as small scale retail, cultural amenities, and non-profit organizational space.
*Due to a lack of local expertise and competency in the area of cultural redress, the City of Vancouver hired architect Zena Howard whose area of practice focuses on revitalizing Black communities that were also razed by discriminatory policies and racism. She is most notable for her work on the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
*In February 2018, the North East False Creek Area Plan, which included the Hogan's Alley Block, was approved by City Council.
*The policy states that the City is committed to exploring - with the involvement of the Black Communityland trusts, long term leases, and the establishment of a cultural centre.
*At this time the City and BC Housing are exploring opportunities with the Hogau's Alley Society (HAS) Board for ne temporary modular homes to be situated on the Hogan's Alley Block as a means to reflect and advance the long-term vision of this site developed by the Black community in the NEFC plan. The proposed temporary modular housing project will not delay or impede the delivery of the Northeast False Creek Plan, including the removal of the viaducts, nor the development of permanent social housing.
*The future of Hogan's Alley will be to realize the vision developed by the Black community to redress the past displacement and to develop opportunities for people of African descent in an inclusive community.
For more information please visit us at www.hogansalleysociety.org or follow us on social media Facebook: Hogan's Alley Society
Twitter: @hogans_alley
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DTES RESIDENTS PROTEST ON THE ANNIVERSARY MAYOR ROBERTSON'S BROKEN PROMISE
OF
Two years ago on August 2nd, 2016, the Downtown Eastside (DTES) community won 100% welfare and pension-rate housing at 58 West Hastings.After coming together to construct a community vision for 58 West Hastings, the community successfully organized Mayor Gregor Robertson to sign a commitment to build 100%welfare and pension rate, community-controlled social housing at 58 W Hastings. Since then, the city has reneged on its promise. Instead of a project that would provide over 300 units to low-income people, the city is moving along with a project that could provide as few as 70 units at a time with record high homelessness. This year, on the second anniversary of Mayor Gregor Robertson's unfulfilled promise, the DTES community gathered together for a rally and march to continue the fight for the housing we need. The rally and march was organized by the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition with coalition members from DTES Power of Women, Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society,Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, DTES SRO Collaborative, Carnegie Community Action Project, and more in attendance. The Poor People's Walk, a group of low-income and homeless folks from all over BC, walked from Surrey to the DTES in order to raise awareness about the crisis of poverty, inequality and homeless.They ended their walk by joining DTES community members in marching from the Carnegie Community Centre to 58 West Hastings. After speeches outside of the Carnegie Community Centre, c'ommunity members and allies marched to 58 West Hastings to hold a barbecue only to find the site barricaded by City of Vancouver security and police officers. But no amount of police force or intimidation tactics will stop the community from fighting. Together, we have the power to pressure all levels of government to build the housing we need. The anniversary event marked the next step in our campaign for 58 West Hastings. Beginning on August 23, the Coalition will wage a "58 day of rage" campaign leading up to the October 20 municipal election to demand Vancouver City Council keeps its promise to deliver 100%welfareand pension-rate housing at 58 West Hastings.We invite all those in solidarity with the poor and working people of the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown to join us in our fight. Each day homelessness and the (loss of affordable housing due to gentrification) evictions crisis continue to worsen in our communities, now is the time to stand up and say enough! Read more about the Our Homes Can't Wait Coalition and our community vision for housing on 58 W Hastings at: www.carnegieaction.org/ourhomescantwait! See photos from the anniversary event on the following page.
WE'RE HIRING!
COORDINATOR
& ADMINISTRATOR
The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is looking for an administrator/coordinator to work with their other staff and volunteers to help low-income Downtown Eastside residents implement their Community Vision for Change. This includes working for more and better housing, higher welfare rates and to stop gentrification. This is a full-time position for at least one year with the possibility of longer if funding permits. CCAP has 3 part-time staff (one working with Chinatown Concern Group) and many volunteers engaged in several projects. CCAP is accountable to the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. Administration
Update, with Carnegie Centre's bookkeeper, monthly financial reports Prepare annual budgets Ensure that political and charitable activities are kept track of Write grant applications and reports Seek donations Make monthly reports, with help from other staff, to board and funders Attend monthly meetings of the Community Relations Committee (last Thursday of every month, 4:00p at the Carnegie Centre) Keep track of petty cash and make monthly reports on how much is used and for what Maintain CCAP bulletin board Ensure voicemail messages are taken from the office phone and are followed up. Coordination
Ensure that minutes of meetings CCAP organizes are kept and t~at staff and volunteers take on the agreed upon actions. ,. Keep track of CCAP projects and campaigns (mental health project, CCAP volunteers, hotel and housing report, Our Homes Can't Wait Campaign, other campaigns and projects) Community
organizing
Organize low-income residents to attend rezoning and development application hearings and to speak out through other venues like news conferences. Develop stronger multi-racial alliances and solidarity with other grassroots groups in the community, especially between Chinatown Concern Group and CCAP members/volunteers (including developing a capacity for multi-lingual events/messaging.) Organize and plan campaigns and actions arising from CCAP and community meetings Volunteer
coordination:
Support CCAPVolunteers to participate in meetings and actions and support volunteers to act and speak out for their community Provide training and educational opportunities for CCAP members (i.e. gentrification tours, educational workshops, presentations, discussion) and provide support for them to step into leadership roles in the community Recognize and nurture the skills and talents of CCAP volunteers
•
Attend and organize weekly CCAP volunteer meetings Supervise and support apprentices and practicum students Publishing & speaking
Speak and support others to speak at meetings, events, classes, city hall, news events, tours Write bulletins and newsletter articles Research
Track actions of city hall, province and federal governments related to poverty, housing, gentrification and homelessness. Help with producing CCAP's annual hotel and housing report and other reports that CCAP undertakes Many of the tasks will be done in collaboration with other CCAP staff members and experienced volunteers. Desired experience: Excellent verbal and written communication skills Grant writing and reporting Analyzing and developing budgets Facilitating workshops Developing campaigns for social justice with community groups Ability to work in a team and on own, and with a community board Research on housing, income, and/or planning issues Knowledge of city planning processes Experience working in the Downtown Eastside Ability to use a computer for research, ernails, formatting flyers, posters, Facebook, ete. Web or blog design skills This is a full-time position, 40hr/week. Pay is $24/hour. Please submit your application by Wednesday, September 5 and include: Resume Cover Letter (as part of your cover letter, please include a half-page response to the question: "Whai<is your vision for the future of the Downtown Eastside?") Two references who are familiar with your work and community involvement. Please keep the entire application, including cover letter, in one file. Only people who are shortlisted to be interviewed will be contacted. Drop off your application at the CCAP office at 21FCarnegie Community Centre, 40 I Main St,Vancouver/mail your application to l.enee Son at: lenee@carnegieaction.org We encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply for the job including trans and gender variant persons, Indigenous persons, persons of colour, persons with disabilities and low-income Downtown Eastside community members.We will prioritize these applications in the hiring process. Applicants are encouraged to check out these websites before applying: chinatownconcerngroup.wordpress.com & www.carnegieaction.org
CARNEGIE COMMUNITY
ACTION PROJECT 111:15AM EVERY FRIDAY
The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) is a project of the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association. CCAP works mostly on housing. income. and land use issues in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver so that the area can remain a low income friendly community. CCAP works with english speaking and Chinese speaking DTES residents in speaking out on their own behalf for the changes they would like to see in their neighbourhood. Join us on Fridays 11:15 am for our weekly volunteer meetings! Downtown Eastside residents who want to work on getting better housing and incomes and stop gentrification are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided!
CARNEGIE AFRICAN
DESCENT GROUP
The Carnegie African Descent Group (CADG) has the same mandate as CCAP. but with particular focus on issues that Black and African Descent community members experience. For more information. contact: Imugab07S@gmail.com
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I 1Joiitittil&$ ,e"- 401 fdlii1iJr fdliimlilti=~ J =~ CONTACT US: Office: 2nd floor of the Carnegie. 401 Main Street. Vancouver Phone: 604-665-2105 Email: info@carnegieaction.org Website: www.carnegieaction.org
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Thank you to Vancity for supporting CCAP's work. Support for this project does not necessarily imply that funders endorse the findings or contents of this report.
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Everthought of VOLUNTEERING?
Do you have some free time?
Carnegie has a fun and rewarding Volunteer Program with a wide variety of opportunities! Food Prep, Serving, Dishwashing, Baking, Runner, and Sandwich Maker.
Seniors' Coffee Seller Cashier and lounge monitor.
~
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o~ Pool Room Monitor Check memberships and monitor use.
Reception - Monitor free phone and ticket distribution.
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Weight Room Monitor "
Computer Room Monitor Check memberships, maintain wait list and monitor computer use.
and ensure
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safe environment.
Adult Learning Centre One on one tutoring, computer tutor and reception positions.
Special Events Dances, music, karaoke, opera, theatre, and more! Help with setting up and taking down tables and chairs, monitoring the door ete.
Attend an Information Session Monday or Saturday at 2:30 pm (3rd floor). Carnegie Community Centre @401 Main St. Call in the morning to confirm: 604-606-2708 CarnegieVolunteerProgram@Vancouver.ca
FREE SHOWERS FOR WOMEN (TRANS WELCOME)
342 Alexander 302 Columbia
DTES WOMEN'S CENTRE 604-681-8480 MONDAY TO FRIDAY 6PM to 5AM SATURDAY SUNDAY HOLIDAY 24 HOURS Mon, Tues, Thur, Friday lOAM to 12PM / 2PM to 4PM Wednesday 11AM to 12PM / 2PM to 4PM Saturday Sunday 2PM to 4PM
EVELYN SALLER CENTRE 604-665-3075 320 Alexander MONDAY 9;15AM to 4:30PM TUESDAY to FRIDAY 9:15AM to 6:45PM SATURDAY SUNDAY 9:15AM to 5:30PM Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash Feminine Hygiene Available
320 E Hastings
FIRST UNITED CHURCH 604-681-8365 MONDAY to FRIDAY 8:30AM to 2PM Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash Available No Towels
I ~
FREE SHOWERS FOR MEN EVELYN SALLER CENTRE 604-665-3075 320 Alexander MONDAY 9;15AM to 4:30PM TUESDAY to FRIDAY 9:15AM to 6:45PM SATURDAY SUNDAY 9:15AM to 5:30PM Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash Feminine Hygiene Available
320 E Hastings
FIRST UNITED CHURCH 604-681-8365 MONDAY to FRIDAY 8:30AM to 2PM Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash Available No Towels
raise shit - a downtown eastside poem of resistance "the myth of the frontier is an invention that rationalizes the violence of gentrification, and displacement" NEIL SMITI-f
"prominent amid the aspects of this story which have caught the imagination are the massacres of innocent peoples - atrocities committed against them and, among other horrific excesses, the ways in which towns, provinces, and whole kingdoms have been entirely cleared of their native inhabitants" BARTOLOME DE LA CASAS, 1542
"these pioneers in the gradual gentrification of the downtown eastside say their hopes for a middle-class lifestyle are undermined by the tenderloin scene down the street" - DOUG WARD 1997 there is a planetary resistance brought to the downtown eastside was the word against consequences of globalization by friendly predators words against the power against poor people being driven from such as builders planners architects of money and law and politics and medi land landlords words against a global economic system they have occupied in common bankers and politicians the word "hebrew" originally designated and in community for many years not a racial class but a social class is like violence brought to our and while resistance to and rapidity of community of despised drifters and outcasts global gentrification by other predators who existed on the margins of middle differs according to specific local by johns and oblivion seekers eastern cultures conditions and those advocates by sensationalizing journalists we in the downtown eastside those ancient hebrew prophets said by arrogant evangelizing christians in the poorest and most disabled and ill predators like "the wealthy move the boundaries and community developers and real estate agents the poor have to keep out of the way in canada who remind me of no one so much the poor spend the night naked, lacking are part of the resistance which includes as gilbert jordan . clothes the zapatistas in chiapas, mexico the serial killer with no covering against the cold . the ogoni tribe in nigeria who came down here repeatedly â&#x20AC;˘ the child of the poor is exacted as and the resistance efforts on behalf of and seduced bribed and bullied, security and with 10 native women from the city comes the groan of the Iavalas in haiti into drinking alcohol until they wer the dying the minjung in korea dead and the gasp of the wounded the dalits in india and one woman crying for help the zabal een in egypt revived after a night with jordan damn those who destroy the huts of the johatsu in japan though pronounced dead on arrival the poor and these are names for at st. paul's hospital plundering their homes instead of the flood described jordan as building them up the abandoned "a real decent-looking person those who tear the skin from off our the outcasts very mild-mannered people the garbage people a real gentleman who grind the faces of the poor the homeless poor he looked like a school teacher who join house to house and marginalized people white shirt and tie who add field to field I trusted him" 1 until there is room for no one but them and gentrification has become a central ' ituati h d t characteristic an d In our srtua IOn In t e own own those who turn aside the way of the of what nei! smith perceives as eastside " "a revengeful and reactionary " the single weapon we wield viciousness against t like the weapon native indian prophets various populations accused of like the weapon ancient hebrew prophets 'stealing' the city j used in situations of vicious from the white upper classes" I displacement I and threatened destruction oftheir and this viciousness an-dviolence J communities
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" our words like bolts oflightning in a dark night lighting our way and the native prophets of the americas our words who said like tears like rain like cries like hail "when these times arrive from our hearts we will leave our homes like dying deer feeling with each other in our suffering the land will be sold and the people will for each other be moved our words and many things that we used to have angry as thunder exploding in the ears in this land of those will be taken from us who would ignore or dismiss or inflict we have been made to drink upon us ofthe bitter cup of humiliation what they in their ignorance think is they have taken" away our lands best for us until we find ourselves fugitives, our words defiant as streetkids in a vagrants and strangers cop's face in our own community our words our existence as a distinct community brilliant and beautiful as the rainbow seems to be drawing to a close I saw our position may be compared spanning our streets to a solitary tree in an open space our words where all the forest trees around have of resistance and comfort and been prostrated " commitment by a furious tornado" like mountains we have become a community of our words prophets prophetic on behalf of the hard-pressed in the downtown eastside poor rebuking the system our words and speaking hope and possibility into buttons t-shirts fliers inserts situations newsletters pamphlets of apparent impossibility posters spraypaint slogans stickers placards speeches a first nations man recently told me he had come to the downtown eastside interviews essays poetry songs letters chalks paints to die graffiti he heard the propaganda that this is only a place of death, disease for as one prophet said and despair and since his li e had become a hopeless "when all is dark the murderer leaves his bed misery to kill the poor and oppressed" he came here specifically to die but he said jeff and muggs and eldon and kath1een since living in the downtown eastside and frank and what with the people he has me! maggie and earl and lori and duncan and the groups he has found and margaret and he now wants very much to live mark and sonny and ken and fred and sheila and Liz and his words go directly , and tora and terri and ian and chris and to the heart of what makes for real bob and leigh community J and jen and shawn and darren and a new life out of apparent death sarah and irene and and this is what we speak and live with our words our weapons 1 cathy and ann and lorelie and nick and
afflicted who trample upon the oppressed"
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linda and john and lorraine and joanne and judy and alii son and sharon and deb and marg and dan and jean and don and libby and carol and Iou and dayle and mo and barb and ellen and sandy and tom and luke and gary and travis and bruce and paul and deidre andjim and lisa and so many others our words and our presence create a strange and profound unity outraged at each other disappointing each other misinterpreting each other reacting against each other resenting each other unhealed wounds dividing us when to be about unity is to be caught in a crossfire of conflicting ambitions understandings perspectives still our words and our presence create a strange and profound and strong unity as in memory of the long hard nervewracking battles 'for the carnegie centre against the casino for crab park against brad holme for zero displacement bylaws against hotel evictions for poor people living in woodward's against condominium monstrosities and for our very name . -the downtown eastside removed from city maps the most stable community and neighbourhood in vancouver suddenly disappeared but recovered through struggle our name reclaimed but the meetings the pressure the downtown eastside community besieged and beleaguered strung-out and dissipated running on constant low-grade burnout fever
meetings and meetings and meetings a dozen fronts to fight at the same time deal with one and a dozen more appear another dehumanizing media story or a new condo threat . a hundred needs crying out all at once a hundred individuals with emergencies crying for a response sirens and sirens and sirens construction noise automobile mayhem a disabled population a poor and ill population criminalized ' up against globalization pressure cooker emotional atmosphere excruciating questions and dilemmas so much happens so fast how much compromise? how to organize? where to fight? more sirens and screams and break-ins welfare cuts more murders and suicides , more bodies on the sidewalks and in alleys and parks space and places for poor people shrinking and the ambiguities of advocacy the rumours the well-founded paranoias the political manipulations exploitations confusions deliberate obfuscations " and seduction of the gentrification system the backroom deals somewhere else in office towers and government office meetings and.Jllore meetings and yet beneath the ostensible reason for attending another goddamned meeting is that which truly holds us together holds and has held every real community together love not as passive abstraction or a commodity privatized but love as fiery personal and collective justice passion • '
social
love as in our public celebrations love as in our public grieving love going past fatigue again love taking risks in the face of uncertainty love as stubbornness sticking to community principles love as willingness to go one more length to make one more leaflet love sitting down together one more time love saying hello to hate and fear and 'goodbye love as resistance, tolerance and acceptance love for this poor beloved community reeling from global upheavals love taking on the consequences of a syste producing more wounded more damaged more excluded more refugees more unemployed and never-to-beemployed and love's immense capacity to care and love as courage
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like the other day near main and hastings an old white man headed across hastings in the middle of the block traffic roared and blasted in both directions the man was using a cane and moving very slowly his eyes fixed somewhere beyond it sure looked like he'd never make it but would become another vehicular maiming or death down here and then a native fellow waiting at the bus stop like a matador dodging furious bulls . dodged into the traffic and stopped it using his body as a shield and escorted the old white man safely to the curb
, words and courage and love and hope and unity if only we had the means for self-determination instead "the real estate cowboys ... also enlisted the cavalry of city government for ... reclaiming the land and quelling the natives, in its housing policy, drug crackdowns, and especially in its parks strategy, the city devoted its efforts not toward providing basic services and living opportunities for existing residents but toward routing many of the locals and subsidizing opportunities for real estate development" wrote neil smith about the lower east side of new york sounds familiar, literal like the day the police showed up on horseback to patrol the 100 block of east ~as~ings horses on the sidewalk where some of the most ill and suffenng human beings t most drugged and drunk and staggering human beings slipped and stumbled through the huge horse turds left laying on the sidewalk
r remember
attending a kind of gentrification summit called by a vancouver city planner to examine the city's victory square redevelopment plan david iey,jeffsommers, nick blomley and chris olds reached a similar conclusion the plan does nothing to prevent displacement and gentrification but when recently reminded of this verdict the city planner still pushing his plan • said "I don't care if god and david ley ... " and that's just it the necessity for heeding the prophetic blast and rallying cry
delivered by larry campbell now the provincial coroner in the carnegie centre last summer
against itself against panhandlers
"raise shit," he said
raise shit when a city planner in with the convention centre seam says "the voters of vancouver can easily live with 20 to 25,000 homeless people and not even notice"
raise shit against the kind of "urban cleansing" gentrification unleashes it's a war against the poorest of the poor 1,000 overdose deaths in the downtown eastside in 4 years highest rate and number of suicides in vancouver lowest life expectancy for both men and women fatal epidemics of aids and hepatitis c and lack of humane housing identified as a major factor in all this violence against us raise shit when a friend of mine, a gay native man, tells me "I'll try anything to get a decent home I'm gonna become a mental case I'll even go into an institution if it'll help me get a decent home" raise shit when both young people and hard core addicts either deliberately infect themselves with hiv or take no precautions to prevent infection so that they have a better chance at obtaining housing, income, health care and meals Y. raise shit when a city cop in a newspaper column says "the locals were at their best fighting and howling" and calls drug addicts "vampires" raise shit when an extremely influential north american theoretician of displacement, george kelling is brought to vancouver by the business people and the police to define and divide our community
and we, you and I, us are all that stands between
and prostitutes
and when I think of raising shit I think of this basketball team I once played on composed of middle-aged beat-up alcoholics and addicts from the streets who'd been sober for awhile and we entered a city recreational league against teams that were younger, stronger, faster, healthier and more skilled and though we lost most games by a large margin we determined that no matter what the score each hotshot team we played would know by their fatigue and sweat and brui$e~ that they had been in a game that they were up against an opponent we knew we couldn't out jump or outrun those teams but we sure could raise shit better than they could and amazingly we actually won a few games¡ to raise shit is to actively resist and we resist with our presence with 01)rwords with our love with our courage we resist person by 'person square foot by square foot room by room building by building block by block we resist because we are a community of prophets, of activists, of advocates, of volunteers, and agency workers
the unique vulnerable troubled Iifegiving and deathattacked community of the downtown eastside we are all that stands between our vast community and those who would gentrify and displace and replace it replace with greed the singular leadership we have here where it is said we lack a single dynamic individual leader but we have the most powerful leader there is the most effective leader we can have in this grave situation our community our community itself has emerged as our leader the downtown eastside community itself leads us and it is to our credit that this is so J for it is from our prophetic, courageous, conflictual and loving 1 unity that our community raises shit , and resists
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BUDOSBORN 2001
Raise Shit - Social Action Saving Lives
is the story of the years-long struggle to open Insite, an accepted & 'legal' Safe Injection facility -the first on the North American continent. The book's authors are Susan Boyd, Donald MacPherson and BUd.
ulSundays An Outdoor MuitimQdia Visual Arts Market Napi~r Greenway (Napier St @ Commorcial Drive) 4,Sundays, August 12 ~Sopt 2,2018 12-5pm Disturbing and/or ordinary, everyday events??
A couple of weeks ago a man handed in a piece he'd written telling about how he'd been violently arrested by a couple of kids in police uniforms. He was drunk in a public place, an Indigenous person in his late 50's and was hurt bad enough to put his arm in a sling.
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Yesterday a woman came in saying she had been with her elderly uncle (82) at the Tim Hortons near here. The day before they told her the washroom was out of service. This day she observed 5~6 people going in/ coming out. When they finished their coffee she asked at the counter to get the door opened and they told her again that it was out-of-service. She & her uncle are Indigenous. It's blatant racism!
By the way, this issue - August 15, 2018 - marks the 32nd anniversary of the Camegie Newsletter. Underway right now is the 3rd Annual Sandy Cameron Memorial Writing Contest. Specifics are on the next page and there is now one more month to submit your writing and/or poetry. Deadline for all entries is September 15 at noon and there will be both cash & gifts for work '. ",I with merit. The results will be announced at a special I ' ~I event to be held during the Heart of the City Festival at , ~!)(0, the end of October. (~~ ;-7"",).-, With respect to all, .fJ\yJ,J , ~ drew PaulR Taylor, volunteer editor since '86.
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THE SANDY CAMERON MEMORIAL WR/TIN6 CONTEST ENJTRY FORM Please print as neatly as you are able to. Name of author
Contact Info: Phone
Today's date
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Prizes will be awarded for each category. lst, 2nd & 3rd will be $100, $75 & $50. Additional prizes for entries deserving recognition.
Guidelines for Writing Contest 1. Writing must be the original work of the person submitting the contest entry & not fiction. If plagiarism is recognised the work will be returned. 2. Entry forms, for contact information, are available both at the Community Centre's front desk (Main floor) and from the Newsletter office (2nd floor). Contact information for the â&#x20AC;˘ writer must be provided with each contest entry. 3. Essays: This means writing in sentences, with grammar and structure attempted. Poetry: All forms accepted. Must use the same typeface throughout. 4. Subject matter is open to the individual author. It can be about most anything relevant to readers In the words of Sam Roddan: [It] must have a bite. It must create some kind of disturbance, a turmoil in the heart, a turbulence of memory and feeling. 5. The length ofthe essay can be 250-700 words, basically what can be printed on 1 page in the Newsletter. Poetry of whatever length, but no more than can be printed on 1 page. 6. Deadline for submissions is 12:00 noon on September 15,2018. Results will be announced at a special event during the Heart of the City Festival (late October or early November). 7. Each writer way submit only one essay entry and/or one poetry entry. Additional entries will be returned without being judged. 8. Do not include any photographs or illustrations with your entry.
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WANTED Artwork for the Carnegie Newsletter -Small illustrations to accompany articles and poetry, -Cover art - Max size: 17cm(6 %")wide x 15cm(6")high, -Subject matter pertaining to issues relevant to the Downtown Eastside, but all work considered, -Black & White printing only, -Size restrictions apply (i.e. if your piece is too large, it will be reduced and/or cropped to fit), -All artists will receive credit for their work, -Originals will be returned to the artist after being copied for publication, -Remuneration: Carnegie Volunteer Tickets Please make submissions to Paul Taylor, Editor. The editor can edit for clarity, format & brevity, but not at the expense of the writer's message,
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OF MASS DESTRUCTION
IGNORANCE and SUSTAINED FEAR
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