Outspoken Homeless Sleepseeker Faces Six Months Jail...Again

(Note: I am not a Santa Cruz-area houseless advocate. I have spent quality time living beyond houses for more than 10 years, including on the california coast. And I feel that my experiences are an important addition to this article. Am reposting this, with some editing for this particular thread.)

The danger
...is that all these "nice" liberals (which make up most of Santa Cruz) fear people they don't really understand at all, people that their trusted media lie about and take things out of context on. They will go to their liberal churches and give token aide to people down on their luck (or wanting to live FREE OF tyranny in its diverse forms), but beyond that is emptiness. We thank them for tolerating us, and their token gestures, but without more meaningful relations, without going out of your way to empathize and see us as equals (!) no matter how "little" formal education we could tolerate, the bottom line is that alienation persists in a most unhealthy direction.

Which means, I think, a most dangerous setting of precedents in the long run.

As things get worse (i.e. on the one hand, all our posessions are stolen by cops, and on the other, police continue to be less accessible to us as citizens --i.e. "not paying their salaries via taxes"-- on diverse grounds), we'll likely take it. (Do we have a choice??) ...For awhile.

But if some fascist group comes along saying they want to help us, and then wants us to do their ideological bidding?? Where do you think they get their recruits? (from the ranks of those MARGINALIZED by all manner of humanity, of course!!)

Look how popular fundamentalist/dogmatic church groups are becoming, filled with homeless people seeking to survive. Their ranks swell, and pretty soon, women don't have the choice to have an abortion even if they're raped, and such things. Maybe I'm wrong, but don't you see the likelihood that your alienation from us will only make things WORSE in the long run??!

Citizens living in towns and cities on the coast of Africa, say Sierra Leone, all would not and could not imagine that their towns and cities might be attacked by fascism, but that happened. It has happened systematically. I read a book about it (A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah), about the child soldiers, which was quite popular in a liberal bookstore and in a liberal town's public library (a big waiting list to read it). They touched on what happened in coastal towns and larger cities when violence began to arise more and more, albeit the more organized variety.

Remember Yugoslavia? I recall hearing from Yugoslavians who said that such things could NEVER happen there!

Could it happen here?
Seems impossible, but look how taken by surprise so many 'modern' Africans were (along with their european aide workers!). But then I recall how many people were shooting guns off, quite randomly (on all days of the week, not just for new years'), and nearby public roads, along the coast of California and Oregon this last winter and spring. I was living in the woods. Such shootings were commonplace in Northern California, especially. Even in the fancy, liberal towns north of Eureka, though just outside of them. All the nice Unitarian Universalist liberals and their kind, didn't seem to know what was going on, or couldn't "deal with it", I guess.

They fed us well, but beyond that? What "business was it of theirs", after all? (plenty!)

Now, as things get more Rightwing, you think Rightwingers are going to continue to play nice? Call me off-my-rocker, but I'm sensing something developing in all of this hysteria mongering. They're being systematically hyped-up (read or listen to various marginal rightwing media), and the bottom line is that there's never any context or empathy allowed for people who have to (or choose to) live outside --or for any other "anti-social" group!

Yes, I'm over in SW Michigan right now (if you've looked up my IP), but that doesn't mean anything. I'm still seeking to speak up about a trend that I'm afraid is going to continue to get out of hand, and only make things worse for ALL (including duped rightwingers). Unless we all begin getting in touch with our informal powers to make meaningful community with each other!

(for basic, foundational info on such: http://www.ic.org)

More and more shootings are happening. More and more people are willing to sacrifice themselves to "make their voices heard" in these last-ditch-seeming ways, in "any way" they possibly can--even by shooting people. You know the news, you've seen how things are going. You really think the police are going to protect you???

So, isn't it about time that all you "nice" liberals start to go out of your way to BE HUMAN BEINGS with we who are being treated so stupidly and evil-ly by "the powers that be"? WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS JUST LIKE YOU! It's just that being in survival mode (and being forced to deal with state authorities and their stupidized rules) takes a lot out of us. You try living with that sort of threat hanging over you all the time, for awhile, and see how you do, psychologically!

You show your humanity to us, and in no time, we'll show you ours right back!

Don't be deterred by the provocateurs and the few who are already so lost that they can only react with the pain they've gotten to know too well in their experiences! Invite us out to EAT with you (when I had money I used to do that, and wow, people couldn't believe I didn't have some ulterior agenda!), even if it's "just" a picnic in a public park! And as you get to know us, invite us to stay on your land or something like that! You'll be surprised! I bet you'll meet plenty of folks who know how to fix stuff, and such things! We'll end up saving you lots of money!! (you CAN'T AFFORD NOT to befriend us!!)

You'll have allies, that's for sure. And the more allies you make amongst we who know how to survive in bad situations, the more strength you'll bring to your efforts of community defense!

Think about it!

p.s. I used to be a regular vendor with Street Roots in Portland, OR before I left that town (it is always really "hairy" around big cities, mostly because the cops are especially volatile).

When I tried to post my comment, blogspot kept reloading saying that I didn't put in the right text for its robot-blocking device...but after several attempts, when it continued to allege that I didn't type in the proper text, I gave up...Hell, I've seen this pattern from blogspot before (as well as other underhandedness), so at least I knew enough to copy my message! (have you tried wordpress? I'm not sure if it's any better, but I'm trying it for now)

post meant to be published on Gary's blog (http://peacecamp2010insider.blogspot.com/2012/08/somewhere-someone-asked-about-irony-and.html#comment-form )

Hey, glad you're doing what you have to do, and not just silencing yourself like so many of us learn to do. I posted a comment on the indymedia site, as well as my blog:

visionary4evolution.wordpress.com

Tho I haven't experienced Santa Cruz, I have experienced quite a few other 'liberal' towns and cities.

Btw, have you heard about the precedent set in Tempe, Arizona? I heard via a homeless activist space somewhere (never have been able to find out since, tho), that homeless people fought for and WON the 'right' to sleep publicly by defending themselves on 1st Ammendment grounds. Their very being was protected free speech!!

Myself, i advocate that houseless people begin "arting themselves", via their own or other people's art. Decorate their packs, their shop carts, whatever, with art. And become moving art galleries! And give an incentive for local artists to help support our humanity!

I'm an artist and I am still sometimes allowed to "make ends meet" selling my art on the street. But I've been unable to organize other artists (so far) to STAND UP for our rights on the issue, re: the 1998 little-known u.s. supreme court ruling that "artists have the right to sell their art on the street without a permit"! It was made in New York City.

If you look up http://sacredlight.to/pages/decision.htm on http://www.archive.org's wayback machine, you should be able to locate info. I have other links I've looked up, since, but don't have them on me right now. I don't have access to a law library (yet), so don't know recent developments, but it seems to me that this may be a way to respond.

Tho i see you are not willing to even try to work 'within' the illegitimate system! Wow! Keep up your example for the rest of us! I look forward to learning from you!

--the younger generation