New Beginnings (Al Action Loves You)

Hello Family, 

It’s a new year with a new beginning. 

Happy Black History Month. Every day should be 

Black History Day.   

This country was  built upon the backs of people 

of color due to the ingenious idea

of slavery. In this country the color of my skin should not be a crime. 

So where are my REPARATIONS?  

Al Action needs that money 

in cash to buy not one, 

not two but three brick 

buildings in the South End of Boston, where I was born.    

IT’S MY MONEY! I want it now.

Somebody help me. 

The address is on my birth 

certificate plus each building on each side. 

THAT IS WHAT I WANT

FOR ME AND MY CHILDREN.  

If nobody told you 

that they love you today,

well, tough shit nobody told 

me either. I might have to find 

new friends. What about  you?

My dear brothers and sisters. 

My name is Al, Al Action. 

I am a vendor for Spare 

Change News. 

Mr. James Shearer is the co-founder of SCNews. I call James affectionately Big Dog. Mr. James comes with a Big Bang.

Let us look at the facts.

Al Action is a black man. I was 

raised up in a housing project 

in Boston, MA. 

He has very little formal education. 

He has very little work experience.  

He comes with a very dubious and suspicious past 

but is a veteran 

with an honorable discharge.

OK. The past is the past. BUT 

Big Dog, The Champion of Poor 

Folks, gave Al Action a job 

when no one else would, 

four years ago. Well, it brings 

tears to my eyes thinking about it.

James Shearer, along with 

a small crew of men and women, 

started and created Spare Change News, 

the nation’s oldest street 

newspaper, in 1992. 

Today, respectfully, 

it is a rainbow coalition of 

people helping people in whom 

the quality of services has not 

diminish to our readership or 

vendorship.  

It has been a 30-year run for SCNews! WOW!

Al Action, a vendor for SCNews, 

can’t do many things for more

than 30 minutes, but Mr. James 

Shearer has been doing it for 

three decades. WOW! again. 

How many national, regional 

and local newspaper have 

come and gone since this time?

The answer is too many. 

SCNEWS. The nation’s oldest 

street news paper is alive and 

well in the Boston/Cambridge arena.         

I really believe that All Lives Matter.

Your life matters. My life matters. Native American lives matters, Jewish lives matter. Women lives matter. LGBTQ lives matters. Poor white folks’ lives matters. Afro-American lives matter, but …..

a. No lives matter until addicts 

lives matter.

b. No lives matter until the 

not-housed-yet lives matter, until the housing insecure 

c. No lives matter until the 

mental health lives matter.  

d. No lives matter until poor

folks lives matter, until the lives of

the less privileged matter

e. No lives matter

until people of color’s lives matter.

f. No lives matter until the… 

h. No lives matter until the 

racially incarcerated individuals 

in federal institutions matter.       

I call the latter classifications, 

The INVISIBLES. 

Mr. James Shearer has been a champion 

for all these people for many years.

Just review his total collection

of writings and his involvement in The Poor People’s Campaigns.

So I give a big shoutout to 

Big Dog James Shearer, a 

cofounder of SCNews. 

You should too. Big Dog put 

us poor folks to work. 

He created jobs and 

opportunity for people 

other people would not employ. 

It brings a smile to my face 

thinking about all the fcuking 

money I made selling papers for 

SCNews. Thank you, Readership. 

The people who buy our papers.

Nevertheless it was really 

about developing relationships 

with our readership which has put 

a smile on my face. 

For example, Robert K. of The Patriots gave me 15 minutes of his time and 200 dollars on Newbury St. while I was selling papers in 2020. I have pictures to prove it.

One little boy, who happened to be 

white, went to the car with his 

parents then came back to me 

with his piggy bank full of money 

and gave it to me while I was selling papers for SCNews near the BSO on Huntington Ave. 

That was a KODAK MOMENT. 

If that doesn’t bring a tear to 

your eyes, I do not know what will.

It does for me.

Just the other day a lady 

put two cents into my baseball cap. 

I ask her, “Do you want a paper?” 

She said, “No, 

but keep the change.”

This did not bring a smile to 

my face, but I kept the money. 

A little bit of money is better 

than no money at all. 

It adds up. Believe me.  

In the words of Abby and 

James in a letter to our 

Readers, Al Action, a vendor for SCNews, is “So thankful for your generosity.  With love.” 

So to our readership, I say also 

give yourself a hand of 

applause and a good pat 

on the back, on the shoulder, 

but don’t pat too hard 

because you might fall over.   

In conclusion, James Shearer 

gave me a job with a badge to 

sell street papers for the nation’s 

oldest street news paper 

and for that Al Action is grateful. 

James Shearer is the person of 

the year for his community 

services over the last 30 years.

Wherever you are, give him 

a hand of applause. 

Dear Mr. James 

Shearer, if nobody 

told you that they love you today — well, Al Action loves you, baby.