SF Hall of Shame:Will Mayor Newsom ever care about the Disabled &Seniors?

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SF Hall of Shame:
Will Mayor Newsom ever care about the Disabled &Seniors?
"My name is Bessie, I am 94 yr. old and STILL homeless"
(meshá Mongé-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley Foundation)
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Last month, a group of SF community activists met at the New Progressive Center in SF Excelsior District, preparing for the 11th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and "Criminalization of a Generation", which in everybody's consciousness is our Youth... We were in for a huge, nasty surprise...As the story unfolds, endless tragedies, repeated assaults on civil liberties, lies, deception and criminalization, I feel compelled to tell the World the story of Mama Bessie...


Two scruffy, boisterous white men walk in, pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair: their Mom Bessie Burger, 94, deaf, her legs painfully, horribly swollen with severe cellulitis. As we go around for check in, they introduced themselves: "I'm Larry Wilkerson, Bessie's older son"... "And I am Charlie, her younger son, we take care of her"..."And I'm Bessie, I'm 94 years old. And STILL homeless, the police has been harassing me, please help us!". As everyone gasps, Bessie, obviously well cared for, neatly dressed, flashes a bright smile, a twinkle in her luminous blue eyes: "We are not going to give up!".

The notorious Hell Angels adopted Bessie in Palm Spring and call her "Mama"! She is related to Edgar Allen Poe, and Navy Rear Admiral Allen Schley in the 1800's...

Larry, 59, Charlie, 57, and Mama Bessie have been in San Francisco for the past 4 months, after being evicted from their Palm Spring apartment (an unscrupulous building attendant pocketed their move-in fee and rent money, never turned it in to the building management...). Ever since, they have been sleeping sitting up in their 74 Ford Ranchero beat up car, that has 1,660,500 miles on its odometer, (if the car breaks down, it will be towed during street cleaning and the family will have lost all their possessions and only shelter) and first parked it behind San Martin De Porres "soup kitchen" on Potrero Avenue, but were chased out by Mission PD, banging their night sticks on the car's roof. This eventually lead them to seek shelter at CATS at 39 Fell Street, who refused to take them in, alleging that since the facility was not coed, Bessie would have to stay by herself somewhere else: "It is not my problem" stated CATS manager, "You can't stay here, good bye". Besides sleeping in their car, after applying for HUD housing (6 months waiting list), the family has been placed a couple of times at the roaches, drug infested Columbian hotel... Roaches were crawling on Bessie and her sons and sleep was not an option. They then parked the car in the Richmond District by the ocean, go to the Coalition on Homelessness in the morning, and rent a motel room for a day once a month (all they can afford) to give Bessie a bath and finally enjoy a restful night. The Commission on Aging has been giving them the run around, suggesting that Bessie part from her children who are her trusted, loving attendants, and is placed into a hospice, which would surely plunge Bessie into deep depression and an early death. Hospice would eat up all her income, leaving her with $50 a month..."You can stick your Mom in a home and you can go visit her"... Bessie, very astute and thinking with a sharp mind, adamantly refuses this tragic option. As Larry puts it, yelling in Bessie's good ear: "Mom, I told them you can't hear but you are not demented or senile!". Again, that beautiful, mischievous bright smile...

With their combined income of $1620, the family is not eligible for decent medical insurance (Medicare does not cover most of Bessie's meds, including Prozac which costs $147 a month to relieve her very painful cellulitis). Larry lives in chronic pain, displays early symptoms of Muscular Dystrophy, and is loosing eye sight due to a piece of glass lodged in his eye socket, since an assault on his person while he was bartending. Charlie suffers from degenerative arthritis, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, disabling migraines and arrhythmia due to the use of Vioxx for pain control, and also loosing eyesight. You can imagine that sleeping in a cold car does wonders for their health...

Does Mayor Newsom care about the Disabled and Seniors in gentrifying San Francisco? His predecessor Willie Brown not only consistently refused to meet Bessie, but had her forcefully "removed" from City Hall by the Sheriff...

If this family had a place to stay, Bessie's sons could be her attendants at minimal wage through General Assistance, and would be able to receive Food Stamps, not a current option for the homeless. Who could ever take better care of Mama than her loving sons? Bessie has 47 grandchildren, scattered all over the country. The family is sadly plagued with drug addiction, but brothers Larry and Charlie are, long standingly, clean and sober, which organically prompted them to take care of Mom. Raymond, Bessie's older child, is dying, hit heads on by a semi truck... Her grandchild Tyler James, 8 yr., was killed by drunk driver Mark Shifflet, a crack addict, in February 2001, who hit TJ at 70 miles per hour, threw him 120 feet up and skid on 96 feet on Highway 175. Lake County CHP did not do a tox screen and let the killer go! Shifflet had 2 previous and 2 subsequent DUI's... But no proof, no case...Mothers Against Drunk Drivers turned them down for services, since there was not an open case. A Lake County judge deemed the family's claim for justice "a frivolous law suit", and blamed TJ for his own death, "too far out in the road". Charlie says: "TJ was a sweet, wonderful boy: he had just donated his own toys to the Fire Department for poor kids!"

Larry, Charlie and Bessie have been constantly harassed and criminalized by SFPD. Charlie had been sitting on Haight Street, trying to sell trinkets to survive, when a "baldheaded White cop" yelled at him: "You can't sit here, you are NOT allowed to make a living this way. NO, you are not, if you sit out here I will give you a ticket and confiscate your stuff!". While Charlie was selling comic books on the street, an officer ordered him: "Get these damn books up, you do not have a vendor's permit, or I will take them and give you a $75 ticket!"

Bessie insists on carrying a sign in her wheelchair and on the back window of their car: " My name is Bessie, I am 94 years old and STILL homeless"... the cops keep telling her that she cannot stay on the street, and even when they sit in Golden Gate Park, they are constantly harassed: a "concerned citizen" called the cops about "2 men exploiting their Mom to support their drug habit"... Charles has been clean and sober for 30 years, Larry since 1994 ! Larry states: "Elder Abuse Services has been accusing us of exploiting our mother, look at her, does she looks abused?" "Yeah" says Bessie, "Do I look abused? My sons do not set me up, I do this willingly!". Officer Gretchen Parker and her female partner were more human and told them: "It is not illegal to panhandle". The Coalition on Homelessness has warned Park Station that the criminalization of Bessie and her children is unacceptable, and that the harassment must stop immediately.

Not only the police but righteous citizens of San Francisco continue to criminalize Bessie and her sons: (Charlie) "Once we were parked on Cole and Frederick in the Haight, this man spontaneously reached for his wallet, his wife grabbed him: Don't you give our money to homeless scum, if they are homeless, there must be a good reason why they deserve it". Once someone openly laughed at Bessie: "Oh, so what? You're homeless?", and a Jewish woman straight out blurted to her: "I don't like homeless scum"

"What are your demands on the City of San Francisco?"

(Bessie): "My wheelchair is rusting out and needs to be replaced. Cops: Leave me alone ! Newsom, give me a place to live with my children !"

(Charlie) "We just want to be treated like decent human beings and not common trash! We need a decent home so that we can properly attend on Mom, cleaned, fed, loved as she deserves, Poor people have been giving her five, ten dollars at a time, while rich folks look down on her because she is homeless. She needs real medical care, a good, caring doctor and all her meds!"

(Larry): "I want to tell Mayor Gruesome Newsom: What right do you have to attack people because they are homeless? What right do you have to send your cops to attack the Homeless? Why so unconcerned about people trying to survive? Get your head outta your butt!"

You go, Mama Bessie and Sons ! We admire your courage and persistence, and you will get Justice ! (I took care of my Mami Suzanne until her death at 92 yr, and reflecting back, if I had to live in a cold car with her, out of shame and desperation I would probably would have blown both our brains out... MORE POWER TO YOU!). Bessie, Larry, Charlie, your story is going to Rock San Francisco big time. WORD !

Idriss Stelley Foundation donated a cell phone to the family and will cover the monthly bill. I could not stand the thought of Mama having a medical crisis in the middle of the night in a cold car, and due to lack of quick access to 911, the ambulance would arrive too late... Besides Serving and protecting the Rich, DO Serve and Protect the Disabled , Homeless and Seniors, Damnit !
After the November Elections, Idriss Stelley Foundation will host a Benefit at 4921 3rd Street to raise funds to replace Mama's wheelchair.
You can call Larry Wilkerson
at (415) 368-2261 (415-DOT-CAM1).
Please log on to Justice 4 Bessie Burger, set up by Idriss Stelley Foundation, to show your love and support to Bessie, Larry &Charlie by emailing:
Justice4Bessie-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com