Dismantling Anti-Black Racism in the U.S.

by Contributing Author

by Martine Khumalo

Black people in America have clear visions for how to achieve change when it comes to racial inequality. This vision includes supporting significant reforms to, or complete overhauls of, several American institutions to ensure fair treatment, among them the criminal justice system and  political engagement and voting. This vision also involves supporting Black businesses to advance Black communities and providing reparations in the forms of educational, business and homeownership assistance. 

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Understanding the “A Place For All” Hearing

by Contributing Author

By: Carlos Wadkins

On Tuesday, March 21 San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors convened a special hearing for the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to present its “A Place For All” report. The department released this report last December as required by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s legislation of the same name. Since then Mandelman has been a vocal critic of the report, claiming on Twitter that it “is not a serious or feasible effort to end unsheltered homelessness” because of the high price tag attached and HSH’s insistence on an investment package which includes shelter,

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Xylazine

by Contributing Author

By a Michigan Harm Redux Worker

For years, it has seemed that it was working: the flow of money and awareness into the world of harm reduction and safer injection practices was saving lives. Though still marginalized and threatened by the state and bureaucrats at all levels, people who use drugs were finally given a means to protect themselves from death: our chemical friend naloxone, often sold as Narcan.

Countless doses of Narcan have been disseminated to bar staff and office drones alike,

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God and Me in 2023

by Contributing Author

By Lawrence Hollins

Today I’m turning the page, and I thank God for setting me free from that cage, and not sending me to my grave, because I had a crave, I was in a daze, and I walked around in a maze for days

My father God said it was just a phase, and that’s why you’re able to turn the page

From that ghetto vacation, that would have led to incarceration,

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The Flower and Me

by Contributing Author

by Clarence E. Block, shared by daughter Cheryl Block Shanks

Walking up the narrow trail
That seems to lead
To the top of the world…
It seems that I’ve
Been walking for hours
So I stop to gather my breath.

Looking back behind me
At the world I’ve left behind —
For a minute —
And now I’m walking again
Up, up …
Wow
I thought I’d never get to the top.
It’s so peaceful …
Nothing and no one is here, … READ MORE

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Stolen Belonging: This is What Accountability Looks Like

by Contributing Author

by Leslie Dreyer

The Stolen Belonging project, in collaboration with the Coalition on Homelessness, interviewed unhoused residents across the City to document the theft, abuse and trauma City workers inflict on unhoused people during encampment sweeps, how unhoused San Franciscans think they should be compensated, and how they imagine we should collectively hold the City accountable for these inhumane acts. In Street Sheet’s third installment of the Stolen Belonging project, we’re focusing on the latter question.

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“We have a right to live just as much as anybody else, and have possessions”: Interview with Guy Jeffries

by Contributing Author

by the Stolen Belonging Team

My name is Guy Jeffries. I’ve lived in San Francisco for 15 years. About a month ago I had DPW [the Public Works department] stop by and give me a warning to pack up and leave. They said I had a whole day to do this, so I went to the store to retrieve the trash bags I needed to pack up my things. I came back.

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“You Say Something. You Write Something. You Do Something” : An Interview with WRAP’s Paul Boden

by Contributing Author

by the Stolen Belonging Team

Paul Boden: I’m currently with the Western Regional Advocacy Project. Before that, I came up off the streets through Hospitality House, where a bunch of us together created what is the Coalition on Homelessness, in the mid-eighties.

I was homeless for six years, as a kid, from the time I was 16 till 23, when I hooked up with Hospitality House and have been engaged in fighting against homelessness and helping out my brothers and sisters that happened to be homeless since I was 23 years old,

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“Everything I Ever Had is Gone … How Could They Compensate Me?”: Interview with Veronica Ocampo

by Contributing Author

by the Stolen Belonging Team

My name is Veronica Ocampo. I’ve been here for over 15 years. The other night I had gotten into it with this guy and he came back to my tent later that night when I was by myself, and he was trying to start problems. I was a little shaken up so I left. When I came back the police and DPW [the Public Works department] had taken everything. 

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Mission Gold Issue 003: MISFITS: Trash Detectives, Somali Pirates & Superbugs

by Contributing Author

by Nick Marzano

Mission Gold (2015–2023) is a photojournalism series and independent magazine exploring street entrepreneurship, creativity, and courage on the streets of San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood.   

When I first moved from Australia to the Mission in 2014 , I arrived at the epicenter of a 21st century Gold Rush created by the tech boom. I was a prospector myself, an immigrant drawn to the glittering work opportunities of the Bay. 

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