Tag: First They Came for the Homeless

Hundreds of people rise to become “Radical Redistributors” in this time of COVID-19: “I have a case of toilet paper. I’ll bring it over tomorrow,” said Reena, a now unemployed accountant from Alameda; “I have a box of organic vitamins,” said Mr. Johns, an architect; “I will bring two bags of non-perishable groceries over,” said Linda, a landscape gardener; “I have so many masks – we had hoarded them after the fires,” said Gene, an UberEats driver.

The moms have declared they are staying and are putting a massive call out to everyone to join them tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 a.m., at “MomsHouse,” 2928 Magnolia St., West Oakland, to keep a roof over their children’s heads. Homelessness is cold, terrifying, painful … and violent!

At thanks-taking time, we are not asking for a friggin’ one day of charity; we are asking for liberated land, de-criminalization and our own self-determiNATION so we can solve our own problems and build movements and long-term solutions like Homefulness. We will not continue to be swept to death.

It was the first time I’d ever attended a Police Review Commission meeting in Berkeley. Together with nine other community members, we went to express our opposition to three terrible policies of the city government and its police department: 1. Repeated police raids on homeless encampments, 2. City participation in the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center and its domestic spying operation, and 3. City participation in the Urban Areas Security Initiative.