Dear Sudo Room,
Here's your invoice! We appreciate your prompt payment.
Thank you for stewarding the commons.
Love and solidarity,
Omni Commons
------------------------ Pledge Summary --------------------------
Invoice # : 1861
Invoice Date: 08/01/2019
Due Date: 08/25/2019
Terms: Net 25
Amount Due: $4,000.00
The complete version has been provided as an attachment to this email.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I've proposed a change in how we give people access to Omni. Thoughts?
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Yardena Cohen <yardenack(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 7:12 PM
Subject: Letting members vouch for others to have key cards
To: <consensus(a)omnicommons.org>
Right now our policy is to only give key cards to members of
collectives or working groups. People typically get a card by asking
in person from somebody who knows how to add them (usually me, Jake or
Anthony Di Franco) but I always encourage people to use this form:
https://omnicommons.org/keys/ The form goes to a mailing list and I'm
usually the one who follows up on those.
I feel that the current rules are not flexible enough. There's a lot
of cases where it's easier for everybody if non-members have keys:
* people putting on events with significant set-up periods. More than
one commons working group member has asked me to give them extra keys
so they can hand out temporaries to the event runners they work with.
* People doing volunteer work which is only ambiguously affiliated
with a working group, or for a working group without a formal
membership process (which is almost all of them...) Recently I
declared two new people to be members of the building wg (Ian C & Matt
L) because they were doing so much work, but it was hard to know what
the right move was, and I got pushback
* People who have been long-standing guests of members for so long
that we all see and trust, but they either can't or won't apply
officially
* Probably a lot more cases also
Those of us with the power to approve keys are often caught between
allowing the rules to be stretched in order to make life easier for
other volunteers, or being accused of abusing our power. I don't like
it.
An even more difficult burden is put on people who answer the doorbell
and have to decide on the spot whether to accept and vouch for the
person in front of them who wants access, who they may not even know.
This problem has led to significant conflicts. Wouldn't it be better
if that decision was made asynchronously so everybody has time to
contemplate the question and talk to each other before things become
urgent and heated?
I propose that we enable more people to have access to Omni by letting
active members vouch for other people. This way we can give people a
key card even if they're not directly a member of a collective or
working group. When they apply, we can ask "which members will vouch
for you" and then confirm with those people. We'd keep track of who's
vouching for who, and if there's ever a problem, we know who to talk
to.
Thoughts?
Hey Sudoers, this proposal will be up for discussion at Omni's
delegate assembly this Thursday (7/18) and hopefully ready for
consensus on 8/1. As Sudoroom's acting delegate, please let me know of
any questions or concerns you all have. Everyone is welcome at
delegate assemblies.
I think this is a great thing for Omni. I love Phat Beets and I've
been hoping they'd join officially for a long time.
Sudoroom's monthly meetings are supposed to happen on 2nd Wednesdays,
but it looks like we missed July's already. Would anybody be up for a
meeting this Wednesday 7/17 instead?
As usual, it would be great if any new members want to become an Omni
delegate. It's a relatively easy way to get involved!
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mylan Gerbeyesus <mylan(a)phatbeetsproduce.org>
Date: Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 1:21 PM
Subject: [omni-discuss] Phat Beets Joining Member Collective
To: <consensus(a)omnicommons.org>, <discuss(a)omnicommons.org>
Hello All,
Attached is a letter proposal to join Omni as an active Member. I will
be attending the next meeting this Thursday and I am more than happy
to answer any questions and present the proposal.
Best,
Mylan
Mylan Gerbeyesus
Program Director
Phat Beets Produce
(510) 775-2182
...connecting small farmers of color to urban communities
Support Prescription Veggies! Order a Beet Box CSA today!
11AM-5PM, Tuesday - Saturday
_______________________________________________
discuss mailing list
discuss(a)lists.omnicommons.org
https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/discuss
(v2)
To everyone on this email thread,
Before you jump to read my experience below I would like to first say a few things. I ask that you read my full response and if you have something to say about it that you talk to me in person. I did not behave 'out of the norm' for Omni standards. In fact, on most days with less traffic and no regular meetings I am usually the person to answer the doorbell after 5 minutes of annoying ringing yet my behavior was never hostile to any guest of Omni. There is no reason or rational for racist behavior and that includes ringing a doorbell. I have had the time to read the evolution of email thread which has only made me nauseated. I would also like to point out that racism isn't a card non Europeans pull out to feel better about themselves. In fact, when one makes the decision to call out racism behavior we always have to evaluate the risk we take which more often than not leads society to call us: sensitive, crazy, unwarranted, narcissistic, attention hungry, claiming a false handicap, or ______ (a number of other things). Reading your responses and to see them go from "Is this real? (because this is Omni - a safe space!)" - to - {Insert joke here} has been honestly not surprising given the current state of things in the world. Anger doesn't describe my current feelings about the situation just disappointment and confirmation that some people in this world will never treat black folks with respect. I thought Omni was a safe space for me for a long time but I now realize Omni is just another space in the Bay Area that isn't a real safe people to ask other people to be accountable for their behavior. I asked my friend to try and start a mediation process so I could come back into the space without being treated like a violent male and also give the other person to room to be accountable and grow from this experience. Yet, after seeing the chain of emails I realized that Omni is just a space to give white folks the freedom to wash there hands of any guilt they may have without actually doing the work to remove themselves of behaviors we all are conditioned with growing up here on captive Native American soil. With that said I was looking for some process to be but in place so this does happen again to someone else but I have only seen this going from the original call for mediation to an inside joke. At this point I really don't care what Omni does because if post Occupy toxic men run Omni then that is all it will ever be and as a black person I don't have the energy to teach white people how not to be racist. That's not my job - I don't do that.
TLDR; a toxic person is rude to someone and instead of coming to there senses about their actions after being given the benefit of the doubt they decide to be even more toxic.
Response:
I rang the doorbell a couple times thinking someone would get to get pretty quickly. After a few minutes of waiting I decided to ring it again. I figured either no one could hear me and was in the back so after about 5 minutes or so of waiting I decided to ring the bell continuously instead of in discrete intervals and waiting for a response. Rob opens the door slightly without inviting me to enter (which has never happened in the past - normally people are friendly and inviting into the space). Having see him around the space 3 days week for the past 2 years in passing I said "Hey, my names Deon I see you around the space often I was just coming in to work on stuff." He says in a extremely hostile tone "I've never seen you before I don't know who you are. Who are you?" Weird flex but ok. I say "I'm Deon and I helped start the village (FTP) - do you know Needa B?" He goes "No, I don't know who that is or who you are. Why the fuck are you ringing the doorbell like that." It was obvious that Rob did not trust me from jump because of ______? Also, how are you 'apart' or Omni and don't know Needa B? OK! At that point I explain the obvious - I was trying to get in the space. He continues to speak in a hostile tone and curse saying random things about me not behaving like a normal human and how annoying I was for ringing the doorbell of a couple minutes. Instead or fighting fire with fire like a brute I decided to give him space to be accountable for his behavior and demanded that he speak to me with respect or that he respect my boundaries and stop talking to me. I waited until he finished to explain to him that it is not ok to speak to me in that way because it's extremely rude and unless I disrespected him there is NO reason for him to talk to me in a disrespectful manner - in particular cursing me out. He then says "I didn't curse at you - I don't like that accusation." At this point I realize that he either: A. Has mental health related issues. - or - B. Does not have ability clam down and use communication skills to be accountable for his behavior and start a fresh respectful conversation. I immediately told him "If you cannot be an adult and take responsibility for the way you are coming at me right now then I can't be talking to you. And just so you know this is no way to build friendships in a space like this by talking to people like that. Have a good day, peace." I walk upstairs to the room where people do yoga and stuff to mind my own business. Right behind me is pissed off 'BBQ Bob' he storms in and yells "What is your name?" He then claims he is responsible for me being in the space and that if I were to hurt someone that falls him! If he didn't remember my name from the last time I told him I'm not telling him while he's profiling me as dangerous to the space. I refused to tell him my name and I told him to stop harassing me. If you are 'white' reading this thinking this behavior isn't racist you are the problem. If you are a man and think there is nothing wrong with following people around profiling them for no reason you are the problem. When a non European person tells you that your behavior is discriminating chances are they aren't waving a magic wand in the air to get rid of you. They are under verbal or physical attack. If this behavior of policing isn't rooted in racism I don't know what is! At this point I realize that he believes I am a threat to the space and he won't stop shouting things like "I need to know who you are and who you are with or you cannot be here. Needa B isn't apart of Omni! If you were a normal human being I wouldn't be doing this!" I am not going to explain why this specific language is rooted in racism. If you do not understand why hire a POC to teach you or do the work to educate yourself. If you are white and think it is ok to follow a black man around referring to them as potentially hostile after reading this you are the problem. At this point I'm using all of my energy not to explode because this is the EXACT behavior that causes black people to be murdered by police. And for the record just because someone participates in Occupy and cleans the closet at Omni does not absolve you of racist behavior. So then I said find lets go find people who know me so you can see I'm not dangerous. So then I walk over to the hacker space where two people who I interact with on occasion were sitting. [I originally began the first cleanup efforts in that space and have spent at least 20 hours of my time organizing that space by myself.] They attempted to mediate the altercation yet Rob justified profiling me as a person who would do harm members of Omni by relaying this entire incident to me not being fully human because I was a little impatient with a doorbell(??). He also states that Needa B is not a member of the Omni and that she our rents office space and keeps her 'shit' in the basement that she needs to come get. Wait..... what? Needa B may not be a member of Omni but to reduce the work she as done in the City of Oakland fighting for rights on the front-line is past disrespectful. Had I known Omni didn't like or respect Needa I would have stopped going there all together. At some point one of the two who were trying to mediate says "Rob is the number two person at Omni so whatever he says goes." Huh? Omni has a hierarchy in which labor can be a means to gain political power of the space? A space which is advertised as a 'safe' space for all? At this point I have given him multiple chances to communicate with me like an adult and be accountable for his behavior. I realized that not only do I have no support in the space but that if he continues to harass me his hall space at Omni won't prevent me from treating him the way I treat all white men who behave towards me in this manor. He then decides to reference me not being a human - again. So, I said "Oh yeah because I forgot black people aren't human we don't give birth we hatch our kids." I then stormed out in anger and said "if you follow me outside I'm kicking yo ass!" Usually when white men behave like Nazi I don't give them the space for growth I treat them like Antifa treats Nazi. So if you think for a second I was hostile toward this cis-white male you have no idea what self defense is. I have the right to defend myself against any and all attackers no matter who they are and his continuous petty hostile behavior told me that he did not have the tools to communicate with another person and that he does not understand the magnitude of what he was doing which puts me as a human in no other position except to defend myself from any further hostile behavior. If you do not agree with this it is because you have no idea what it means to be black in America. The amount of courage it took to walk away time and time again instead of escalating the situation to the point of dragging this 60 kg [soaking wet] cis-white male outside to teach him about his racism. So before any of you call me hostile I ask you to think about how I could have reacted to this situation from jump street. Instead, I choose to treat this individual like a human and understand where he was coming from. Sad to say I did receive the same common courtesy. Wish you all the best.
Peace,
D
Sent from ProtonMail Mobile
On Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 4:30 PM, D. Scott Nanos <scott.nanos(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Greetings Sudo et al, I'm so sorry but I have to bring to your attention a recent, very unfortunate, inappropriate, and violent encounter a friend of mine, Deon Saunders, had with a guy named "Rob", who I don't think I know personally, although I'm sure he's well known around Omni in general. I don't believe he's a sudo member specifically, but I believe this incident sort of came into Sudo territory when Marc became involved; I also really respect and love what Sudo room provides to the community, and I know that Sudo is a powerful force within the Omni; as such, I'm writing to you all now because I believe this issue definitely needs to be dealt with, and not ignored or brushed aside.
>
> Basically, Deon is friends with Phat Beets and Food First, and has been frequenting the Omni in order to do work and access the community resources that are available. To my understanding, he often works in the Sudo room space. Although this should not need to be said, I can personally vouch for Deon as an upstanding and generous member of the Oakland community.
>
> Deon was having trouble accessing the space the other day and rung the Omni doorbell several times, at which point guy named Rob opened the door and started cursing at him and being very aggressive. After Deon was able to enter Omni, Rob then started following him around and harassing him, acting like a cop. Although this is egregious in and of itself, and a terrible counter-representation of the Omni's values, this all came to a head when Rob accused Deon of not being "an actual, normal, human being". Whether or not this was intentional, it evoked longstanding racist attitudes that black folks have been subjected to, suggesting that Deon was less-than, or sub-human. Deon was so offended that he promptly left the Omni and has not been back since.
>
> Besides this very loaded and hateful comment, this general kind of treatment and attitude, overall, is the EXACT opposite of the way black folks should be treated when interfacing with the Omni. Rob's actions are not okay, at all, and I strongly feel that a serious accountability process should be implemented for this incident. This is not a small matter. I've spoken with Deon, and he has agreed to participate.
>
> I've also heard that this type of incident has happened before at the Omni, specifically involving Rob. Correct me if I'm wrong, but apparently, the attitude that was expressed to Deon was that Rob is one of the main people that operates (i.e. helps to reproduce and sustain,) the Omni, and as such, people basically go along with what he says and does. If this is in fact the case, then an accountability process is even more imperative. In no way should labor, and by proxy, "power" derived from labor, enable a person to act with racism against members of the Oakland community. I think it's in the best interest of the Omni to address this issue immediately, for Deon, for the Omni, and for the Omni's relationship with the greater community of Oakland.
>
> I believe Marc was present for part of this incident as well, and although I know, Marc is so busy doing vital work for Sudo and Omni, it might behoove him to also participate in this process, as a witness.
>
> I am writing this email not because I am trying to "cancel" or ruin anyone, but because I care about Deon, The Omni, Sudo, and the Oakland community at large. This issue seems indicative of larger problems, and if addressed with love and respect and accountability, could seriously benefit all parties listed above, and improve the Omni and it's relationship with Oakland.
>
> I'm not sure where to take it from here, as I am personally extremely busy with other community-based activities in Oakland right now, but a mediator/facilitator should be sought out, ideally a black person, but at the very least, a non-black poc, and probably someone that isn't personally involved in the day-to-day operations at Omni, sudo etc. If i am able, I could possibly be this mediator, but I hope other options are sought out first, because a.) I'm a non-black, mixed race poc, and b.) I have very little capacity at the moment.
>
> But please keep me in the loop regarding an accountability process for Rob, and I'll do whatever I can to help move this along and reach a fair and just conclusion.
>
> Sorry to bring such difficult news to you all, but I could not stay silent.
>
> With love and Solidarity,
>
> Scott
Hey all,
I'm working on a side project on creating personal filters for the upcoming
fire season and am in need of raw HEPA filter material and/or also
activated carbon/charcoal material as well. Does anyone know who I could
reach out to to find this? Most of it's produced in China but if anyone has
any extra lying around or has a friend who works in creating filters please
let me know.
CCL and sudo room are both getting stuff donated from Rikke's work.
CCL is getting a new -80 which will make the whole room quieter and
sudo room is getting some new nice work tables.
We will need to clear out space for the tables before next weekend
(Sunday). I'll be at sudo room today working on that.
If anyone from sudo room is able to help move stuff next weekend then
please sign up (see email below).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rikke Rasmussen <rikke.c.rasmussen(a)gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2019 10:50:57 -0700
Subject: [CCL] Equipment move - the final plan
To: Counter Culture Labs Members <cclmembers(a)googlegroups.com>, CCL
board <cultlabsboard(a)googlegroups.com>, cclabs
<counterculturelabs(a)googlegroups.com>
Hey everyone,
*tl;dr - we're moving everything next Sunday 7/21, expected 10AM-3PM
commitment.*
First off, I apologize for the confusion regarding planning for the
equipment move - it's taken me longer to pull everything together than
expected. Secondly, thank you to everyone who's chimed in to say they are
willing to help...hopefully, we've managed to come up with a plan that
still allows you to do so. I've created a volunteer sign-up sheet
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18sINDXqbovdTNbC5TzizESanCKfbLO2Fpos…>
to help us coordinate.
*So, without further ado, here's the plan:*
1) We will all meet at the site in Hayward - 4030 Point Eden Way - at 10AM;
we'll try to make sure that everything is staged and ready to load on the
truck. We're getting a 16' truck w/ 6000lbs capacity, so I expect we'll be
able to fit everything in one load. Patrik is going to be organizing a
carpool pickup from CCL around 9:30AM - please be on time if you want a
ride or are giving others a ride so we can stay within the expected time
window.
2) Loading will take roughly an hour, and there's a 30-45min drive to
Oakland, so we'll be at CCL around 12PM where everyone who couldn't make it
to Hayward will meet us to help unload and get everything moved inside and
set up. This will likely take another 2 hours or so if we don't have to
spend time clearing space for our new equipment.
3) If possible, we will then load up the old equipment (-80 freezer,
possibly a fridge?) and move it to wherever it needs to go. This is
dependent upon us having a plan for what we're doing with the old freezer,
so let's spend this coming week figuring that out.
*Things that need to happen before next Sunday:*
1) Stage everything at Hayward so it's ready to load (Rikke, Patrik, one
more person if possible
- happening Sunday 7/14 at 10AM, same address as above)
2) Clear space for the new equipment at CCL and sudo room, in particular
the benches (Marc, can you coordinate this at sudo room?)
3) Coordinate car pooling to and from Hayward for anyone who needs a ride
or has space to provide one
Volunteer sign up sheet at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18sINDXqbovdTNbC5TzizESanCKfbLO2Fpos…
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Adam has a really nice Roland MDX-540 CNC mill that he's willing to bring to
sudoroom. But it's a really big heavy fancy machine and has a dedicated
computer, and should get set up in a semi-permanent location.
Presently sudoroom has a DIY shapeoko machine which hasn't seen much use. I'd
like to move the Shapeoko along to somewhere else and have people use the
Roland instead.
What do people think about this? I am thinking it should go in the corner
opposite the fridge.
-jake
I walked by the old baby supply store tonight (Baby World) at 44th and
Telegraph and there were some people selling T-shirts there.
They were from Critical Resistance.
Turns out someone donated that entire building to them and it's
Critical Resistance Oakland's new headquarters!
Thought I'd spread the good news :)
--
marc/juul
