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"
Managed Mayhem: SFPD Alliance with displacement of the Poor, Black and Brown... Only in San Francisco Bayview? Think again...
(by meshá Mongé-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley Foundation)



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 referring to 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 story of "Mama Bessie" to the World...


Two scruffy, boisterous, weathered white men walk in, pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair: their Mom Bessie Berger , 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 son"... "And I am Charlie, her older son, we take care of her"..."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, 57, Charlie, 59, and Mama Bessie drove to San Francisco 4 months ago, 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 84 Chevy Caprice beat up 2-door coupé, 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).

They first parked behind San Martin De Porres "soup kitchen" on Potrero Avenue, but were chased out by Mission PD, banging their night sticks above Bessie 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- month waiting list), the family has been placed a couple of times at the drug infested, infamous Columbian Hotel... Roaches were crawling on Bessie and her sons and sleep was not an option.

They then parked in the Richmond District by the ocean, spending their morning at the SF Coalition on Homelessness in the Tenderloin District, and renting 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 SF Commission on Aging has been giving them the runaround, suggesting that Bessie part from her children who are her trusted, loving attendants, and be 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..."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 a 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 eyesight due to a piece of glass lodged in his left eye socket, since an assault on his person when 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 surely imagine that sleeping in a cold, rusty car, rain sipping in through the roof, does wonders for their health...

Does Mayor Newsom care about the Disabled and Seniors in gentrifying San Francisco?
His predecessor, "DA Mayor" Willie Brown, not only consistently refused to meet Mama 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 their Mom.

Raymond, Bessie's oldest child, is dying, hit heads on by a semi truck...

Her great 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 investigation. 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! This hurts us so bad, Mom will never get over this..."

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!".
On another occasion,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 sit in her wheelchair on the street, and even when they rest in the sun 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 Protective Services has been accusing us of exploiting our mother, look at her, does she looks abused?" "Yeah! (Bessie jumps in):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 conceded: "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 Mama Bessie: "Oooh, now what? You're homeless?", and a Jewish woman straight out blurted to her: "I don't like homeless scum"

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

(Bessie): "My wheelchair is rusting out, I need a new one!
Cops: LEAVE ME ALONE !
Newsom: give me a place to live with my children ! Stop ignoring us !"

(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 and 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 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, Gruesome Newsom!"

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 and the Nation 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 Bessie risking a medical crisis in the middle of the night in a cold car, and due to lack of instant access to 911, God forbid 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 Bassie's wheelchair.
ISF is now collecting donations for Bessie and her children to sleep and bathe in a motel until decent housing is secured ! No donation too big or too small: Together we can end the nighmare, by donating what we can, and pressure SF Hall of Shame to DO IMMEDIATELY DO THE RIGHT THING !

Checks are to be sent to: ISF,
4921 3rd Street, SF CA 94124,
attn: Justice4Bessie
You can call Larry Wilkerson
at (415) 368-2261 (415-DOT-CAM1).
Please log on to Justice 4 Bessie Berger, set up by Idriss Stelley Foundation, to show your love and support to Bessie, Larry & Charlie by emailing:
Justice4Bessie-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Bessie/