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Follow on Google News | San Francisco Poet Tony Robles Mourns 100 Year Old Eviction Fighter Iris Canada's DeathIn an email to Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises, Tony Robles' stream of consciousness elegy on the passing of Iris Canada, leaves the Sanctuary City of San Francisco questioning was everything done to help Ms. Canada in her fight for home & life.
Here's an elegy to Ms. Iris Canada, who fought to the end to live in her home of over fifty years as condo conversion policy swept away all she owned and her life after a three year battle! Poet Tony Robles' stream of consciousness words are reposted as they were sent via email... Tony Robles Cries Out! You killed Iris Canada. You poisoned the trees that greeted her in the morning with your toxic real estate speculator cloud. You killed her with your smile in court, pretending to care about her, treating her like a child saying "We want what's best for you". You killed her by filing that Ellis Act eviction and thinking she'd let you roll over her. You killed her when you thought she couldn't see through what you were doing. You killed Iris with your stares and glances from both near and far, as if she were a flea on a dog. You killed Iris with your photo-op in front of the courthouse while the sheriff's looked on. You killed iris from afar in your safe hometowns with absences of color and your many choices while those choices are subsidized by the rest of us. You killed Iris when you were asked to lift a finger to help but were held down by paperweights. You killed iris with the gavel, and the procedure and the fast slick words and your lack of tact. You killed Iris without a gun, you didn't need one--your indifference was enough. You killed Iris when you desecrated her home with your eyes, preying on her walls, her floors, her windows, blocking out the sun, choking the life from her slowly. You killed Iris when you came here and you continue to kill the community by staying. You killed Iris with your bade, mistaking it for the sun. You killed iris with strokes of the pen, stroke after stroke, until all that was left were strokes that you claim no responsibility for. You killed Iris Canada with your greed, your lack of tact, lack of grace. Yes San Francisco, your judges, your politicians, your lawyers, your real estate speculators killed 100 year old Iris Canada. You killed Iris and your are killing our elders. A job well done because that is what the city does--kills its seniors--with fear and indifference and evictions. You killed Iris Canada and you are glad she's finally gone--another remnant of the black community, living in a unit that is too valuable for her to occupy, whose possessions collected over a lifetime are being stored somewhere--to be disclosed at a future time. You killed Iris Canada, one less elder to remind of us of our obligations to our community, our obligations to each other because there are no obligations. 100 years old? Too bad. You killed Iris Canada--Peter Owens, Carolyn Radische, Stephen Owens, Judge Robertson, Andrew Zacks, Vicki Hennessy, the neighbors at 670 Page Street that went out of their way to make Iris' last days as uncomfortable as possible. And to the elected officials who did nothing to help--you killed iris. I hope you are happy now. Damn you all to hell. Tony Robles Poet San Francisco 12:26 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, 2016 End
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