Some Pictures from Our trip

Click link for more pictures

After the Inauguration

We had an amazing, exhausting, emotional, inspiring, unifying, educational, freezing, energizing experience least last 5 days at and during our journey to the inauguration. We ended up performing on MLK day 5 times including once at the Emergency Community Arts Collective where we were staying, once for students of Aliso High School from Salinas, CA (who had also made the journey to DC), in front of the Capitol Building where we were interviewed by women from Pitzer doing a documentary, in the hallway of the Barbara Lee Reception at the Rayburn house and then finally in front of the MSNBC live news studio. An experience that at times felt like political Disneyland with souvenirs at every turn was still an experience of a lifetime. Our commitment to a people's White House and our call to inaugurate the people,the earth, love, peace, education, housing, immigrants, choice, health and truth will continue as soon as we get much needed and deserved rest and our pocket books recover. Our next goal is to call on our community allies to help us organize a report back and to raise money to finish our documentary about our experience. Much thanks for all your support. One Love

The People for President Perfom Today!

The People for President Perfom Today!
@1pm @ the Canon building (rep Sam Farrs)
On Independence and New Jersey

@ 4 pm Rayburn building
The Barbara Lee reception
By the Capitol building

Sent from mobile device

Metro ticket

Washington monument

On the way to lincoln memorial

Oakland to Seattle to Detroit to Philly!

The Day After Tomorrow

I wanted to share this poem I wrote in the days after the election written with that cautious hope that I carry into this new year. hmmmm, to have written this about such a joyous night in Oakland and now the people are taking to the streets for a very different reason. And in a few days I will be in DC still with my cautious heart, open to the excitement and present in the moment, ready to dialogue with people from across the nation about our desires for a peoples inauguration and a people's presidency. love love love. MC


The Day After Tomorrow


Elections equal no hope status quo in my history
history of stolen elections
intimidations
forced votes
short term delights for a long term of empty promises

What does it even mean to hope for the future?
lift the burden of clay water jugs
amassed on your head
pushing down on your spine
crushing circulation
never resting to take a drink
carrying to a place that doesn’t exist on the map.

with that laundry list growing
of needs to change
needs to lift off
back pain sprinting down calves
up between blades buried knots in shrug of shoulders
head barely lifts up to the sky anymore.

This is the hopelessness seeping in

another friends’ family separated
how does this happen?
man made war torn limitations
families hopes dashed behind the hyphen
left for dead on borders in deserts from disregarded altitudes
haunted by the nameless stories hang heavy
noose arteries clogged
reacting to another disappointment

On this night the night before
eyes smiling watching everything
catching myself
open to the hoping
hoping to see something in between polls and pundits
still cautious but heart unbolted a crack to see some transformation
multi hued
this worldly rainbow man I see some of my own reflection in
recognizes the burdens of the past
reflects back our responsibility
walking beside
La Michelle
community organizer
with his postage stamp face
replace scar face and RIP T-shirts
on young brown and black kids in my neighborhood

I still hesitant to put faith towards politricks

On this night before
I can’t sleep
I want to experience each tick tock
and record the minutes with my tape recorder eyes
what it feels like
to hope like a wise young soul again
faith in change
release some of that burden dragging gaze down blocking hopes for the future
dignity in the struggle
getting a piece of peace for once

On this night the night has finally come
friends gather in the community that gave us space to discover
hopeful, confident even
hugging people I barely know
marking the moment in love
in the darkness behind the wonder

anything could still go wrong

eruptions at each vote count.

then silence.
the screen that reports our destiny
fills with a dark seal
plain letters
unclear what is
or might be wrong
the talking heads and crawling headlines have ceased.

A scream.
A full body eruption.
slowly first then smatters and crowd catches fever.
He won?
streams of tears and eyes and arms connect.
this moment shared with friends family and community witnesses.
we found hope today.
we cry and scream and watch family of four take over the white house.
our reflection up there.

Will this mean candy will start to grow from trees?
will the struggling many, community organizers and conscious poets
automatically find more money in their accounts?
will lovers have the choice to commit or not to commit
no matter the shape of their bodies?
will the dead rejoin the living and teach us forgiveness?

He speaks our name and
acknowledges the past and
invites us into the future.

Si se puede?
total release
joy in the streets
young black man says with cracking voice:
my president is
a black man.
My
president?

Today we bask in the historical glow.
Tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and take back our destiny.

©2008 Maya Chinchilla

Pictures from our event last night. See you in DC!

Ex-Bart Police Officer Arrested

CNN) -- A former transit police officer accused of shooting an unarmed man at a Northern California commuter train station has been arrested and charged with murder, an Alameda County district attorney said Wednesday.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff speaks at a press conference announcing murder charges.

1 of 3

"What I feel the evidence indicates is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act," district attorney Tom Orloff told reporters at a news conference.

"From the evidence we have there's nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder," he added. "The murder charge was the appropriate charge given the state of the evidence."

Former Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, was arrested Tuesday evening in Nevada, Orloff said.

He waived extradition and police officers were transporting him back to California on Wednesday.

Orloff said Mehserle's attorney has invoked his client's right to remain silent.

"In terms of an interview at this point in time, our hands are tied," he said. Watch Orloff speak about the murder charges »

Don't Miss

• KTVU: Officer turns self in without incident
• Hundreds demand action, answers in shooting
• Video spurs the investigation
• iReport.com: Share your thoughts on the shooting

Mehserle was arrested on a fugitive warrant charging homicide in Nevada.

He is accused of the shooting of Oscar Grant III at an Oakland, California, station on New Year's Day. The incident was captured on video by several witnesses and spurred violent protests in the northern California city.

Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nevada at about 7 p.m., Sgt. Dan Coverly of Douglas County Sheriff's Office told CNN affiliate KGO-TV in San Francisco.

Referring to Mehserle's arrest, BART said, "This comes after the BART Police Department conducted a thorough investigation that involved nine detectives, which BART Police turned over to District Attorney Thomas Orloff on Monday, January 12."

Leads led investigators to Mehserle in Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Contacted through his attorney, Mehserle surrendered.

Jail staff report that Mehserle has cooperated and is in a segregated area and on a precautionary health and welfare watch.

Mehserle resigned from his job as a BART police officer days after the shooting.

Grant, a 22-year-old father, was killed on New Year's Day in a crowded BART train station. Police had been called to the Fruitvale station after passengers complained about fights on a train and took Grant and several other people off the train once they arrived.

Videos from witnesses show Mehserle shooting Grant in the back as another BART officer kneeled on the man. The shooting spawned public outrage and a string of protests that led to more than a hundred riot-related arrests.

Police have not said whether Grant had been involved in the fight.

The Oakland Police Department is running its own investigation into the killing, at the request of Mayor Ron Dellums, Officer Jeff Thomason said Wednesday.

Oscar Grant

Oakland under siege

Click here for some photos and videos from recent Oakland protests.

January 14th @ La Pena in Berkeley

With all that's s going on now more than ever we need to create spaces for community to come together collectively and organize for change. MC


Inaugurate This! Click here for Evite
The People for President: Inaugurate This! $5-$50 sliding scale Join Bay Area collective of visual and performing artists as they fundraise to attend Barack Obama's inauguration as artistic ambassadors representing peace, art, and culture from the Bay. The only democracy is a people's democracy and we are the one's we've been waiting for! With performances by: Melinna Bobadilla, Maya Chinchilla, Rosa Gonzalez, Sarah Guerra, Sophie Hou, Xago Juarez, Susie Lundy, Dorothy Martinez, Javier Santos and Lakin Valdez Featuring: Indigenous Kaos Movie Screening of: The Chicago 10 and Mural Making! Don't miss it!

Wednesday, January 14, 8:00PM
la pena cultural center
3105 shattuck ave.
berkeley, CA 94705 US

Some thoughts on the way to DC in Oakland

Wow. Things are coming all together. We've got the basics. Plane Tickets. Check. Transportation. Check. Place to stay in D.C. Check. Place to stay in Philly (almost) check. Corazón, Alma and commitment to our collective struggle Double Check! Now what else is left? We had an amazing new year's eve party with lots of love rolling through to celebrate all the possibilities of the new year.  We've been rehearsing our Inaugurate the People street theater piece hard in the last few days and will be performing a sneak peak at our fundraiser Jan. 14th at La Peña. 

So many last details. Some worries and concerns like: will these West Coast kiddies be able to stay warm? Will we find something cheap enough but healthy enough to eat? Will we find a spot on the lawn? But most importantly our goals for this journey are grounded in the hope that we will connect with other like minded folks who are making moves across the nation to bring our own visions of change to the table. As well as  the desire to connect with different minds who want to talk and make a connection. So much excitement and a bit of anxiety bubbling through my body when I think of our place in this historical moment; of continuing to commit to push our agenda items: the earth, immigrant rights, the choice to commit or not to commit to love no matter the shape of our bodies, affordable housing, education, youth, justice for communities of color, solidarity, an end to war, a government that acts in the best interest of all it's people...yes we want it all and will continue to fight for it all. 

I can't wait for this next Wednesday at La Peña when we will ask those in attendance to let us know what their vision is so we can carry it with us. Tell us your justice agenda. What would the first thing you would change? I know I am committing to bringing this agenda of justice with me to DC and will document our experience so we can share it all with you. Thank you for giving me the community to serve as a committed artist. Even in these rough times filled with so much anxiety, hardship and struggle I remember my blessings. My hope is that we will make you proud that you are sending us as your artistic ambassadors and will continue to work with us in the future. Much love. Gracias Gracias Gracias. Maya

Chicago 10-Fundraiser for People for President

Showing at La Peña January 14, 2009
8pm
Fundraiser