"The Meat Is On The Ground", Said The Po'lice: The (2011) July 4Th Homes Not Jails Protest

"THE MEAT IS ON THE GROUND", SAID THE PO'LICE: THE (2011) JULY 4TH HOMES NOT JAILS PROTEST

Redbeardedguy - Posted on 08 July 2011
Author:
Bruce Allison and Thornton Kimes



During July 4th celebrations this poverty skolah watched The San Francisco Mime Troupe perform in Dolores Park. The fun began at 4p.m. We went to the squat site, led by the Brass Liberation Orchestra (BLO), me, and Tiny aka Lisa Gray-Robles (with Tibu...not dancing...) performing a great Samba dance.

This poverty skola quickly found a place to relax in the squat, an "abandoned" 40-unit SRO (Single Room Occupancy) hotel at 21st and Mission. Three Po'Lice arrived, as I was touring the site (hanging out on the roof), ostensibly concerned about a bottle of flavored water spilled on the ground. The Po'Lice officer with authority over the other officers, aka The Sergeant, thought I was in charge, being the oldest fart in sight.

I said I wasn't the leader. He asked someone else. Someone else said, "This is a collective, we have no leaders." Unknown to me at that moment a young Raza man was getting introduced to the sidewalk the hard way, betting shoved face-first into it. One of the Po'Lice announced over the radio: "The meat is on the ground".

I looked down to see what was happening. There was a Po'Lice knee in his back. I later found out he got a broken tooth and a split lip--for trying to get himself into shelter. Only cannibals think humans are a piece of meat. The Sergeant replied, "We've got a powder keg in here and you're throwing gasoline on it? Cool it down there!"

They rushed the young man down the street to a Po'Lice cruiser to get him out of sight out of mind. Three Plain-Clothes Po'Lice in an unmarked black sedan (resembling linebackers for the San Francisco 49ers...), and Twelve Po'Lice cars suddenly appeared, as if a new episode of "The Streets of San Francisco" was being filmed. One of my POOR Magazine family, Muteado Silencio, tried to ask some questions about what they were going to do and got shoved away like a skunk at a Prom dance--thankfully, no damage was done to anything but his pride.