Street Activists Take to Streets for Street People

Activists march through streets for street people

By ROSALIO AHUMADA
BEE STAFF WRITER

Pictures: http://www.modbee.com/local/story/9031741p-9927877c.html

A group of activists slowed downtown Modesto traffic Saturday afternoon as they marched for homeless people they say are being forced out of city parks.
Kim Skaggs, 39, spotted the group as she gathered her belongings behind a downtown building. Skaggs has been living on the streets of Modesto since she was 20.

As they walked by, Skaggs gave the activists her thumbs-up approval, wishing she had enough strength to join them.

"I'm glad they're out there standing up for our rights," Skaggs said, holding a light-blue plastic garbage bag over her shoulder filled with her belongings. "We're like nobodies out here."

The group of 20 protesters from the Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians Collective of Modesto walked at around 3:15 p.m. from Tower Park to Graceada Park.

They chanted, carrying spray-painted signs as they walked in the middle of J and K streets.

The group works to try to feed and provide clothes for homeless people, group spokesman Doug Gilbert said.

Gilbert, 20, of Modesto, said Tower Park on 17th Street had been a safe haven for homeless people, but police have been more active there recently.

"They're trying to drive the homeless out of the park," Gilbert said. "Homelessness is not a crime."

He said the United Samaritans Foundation truck still comes to the park to provide free meals. But that might end if the homeless people who gather there continue to be seen as criminals, he said.

"A human being is a human being, no matter how much money they make," said Nicholas DeGraff, a 24-year-old Fresno activist. "These are social issues, and they're not going to be solved by force."

DeGraff spent the day at Tower Park teaching homeless people about basic civil rights in hopes of giving them self-empowerment.

"They need to assert their rights at the first initial contact with police," DeGraff said. "They have a feeling of being powerless in the system."

Workshop comes with free meal

Along with DeGraff's workshop, the activists provided free meals to any homeless person who attended the event.

The group made it to Graceada Park without incident, despite the traffic slowdown.

The biggest backup was about five cars, the drivers of whom all waited patiently for the marchers to pass. Modesto police didn't intervene throughout the 30-minute march.