Like me, on this Thanksgiving Day, and every day, you are probably surrounded by four walls, a floor and a ceiling, with readily available heat at your command.

Like me, you know that there are hundreds of thousands who do not have that luxury.

Artwork from the Berkeley Homeless Protest.

Like me, you probably have no idea what it is to live outside, your possessions in a bag or a shopping cart, ignored by those who walk by, threatened by police who neither protect nor serve and by thieves more than happy to serve themselves. Neither is it likely you have much idea what it feels like to wake up at 4:00 AM in the bitter cold having to perform certain human functions without indoor plumbing. Here’s just a glimpse:

"I am living in a refrigerator out here. We have people without coats and blankets still. One guy is in a tee shirt, shivering in a corner. We are working on a way to keep him warm. This weather is only going to get worse.

And you almost certainly have no idea what it might be like to wander the streets with a mental illness, then, not even knowing you are pregnant, give birth at a bus stop in San Francisco.

Unlike me, you probably don't know that six of the nine members of the Berkeley City Council feel that it is their right and duty to make this life even more difficult than it already is for those who call Berkeley's streets home. And that they are conning Berkeley's housed population into thinking it is all for the best. I thought you might want to know.

This photo is the heart breaking truth of too many people in this country. This is someone's home. Every night this person builds this structure, and every morning they take it down. This has been going on for over a year here... The person inside this structure is a 69 year old retired nurse. She dedicated her life to helping others. Now, in a week, Berkeley wants to pass new laws that will have a negative impact on people who are barely surviving. The truth is, this is the face of homelessness that the press doesn't report. The politicians don't consider her plight, but a housed voter gets to say no, no homeless in my park, or on my sidewalk, or in my shopping district. City officials don't have to care if the community is not willing to. Few city officials have understanding or compassion. If they did, Julie would not be living in a self made, cardboard box shack on the sidewalk.



Please share this. Berkeley City Council must be made to understand there is a human cost to criminalizing people because they have to survive.

Like me, you're probably aware that criminalizing the homeless makes no sense. Fining and jailing people furthers the downward spiral they have already entered, whereas we know that providing a home is the critical first step in fostering an upward spiral.

Unlike me, you probably don't know that a group of homeless people in Berkeley, California have risen up in protest. Triggered by ordinances being considered by the Berkeley City Council to criminalize homeless behavior, and led by First They Came for the Homeless, a growing protest, begun November 16th, complete with tents, food and signs, has developed on the grounds of Old City Hall at Allston and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in downtown Berkeley. I thought you might want to know.

Tents on the grounds, Old City Hall in the background. “This is an Occupation, not an Encampment.”

You could guess that the powers that be would not allow the homeless to organize themselves; to go from being individually helpless to voiced collectively. And so it was that on Tuesday, Nov 24th, the police came around handing out trespass notices, demanding that those without a place to call their own remove themselves to go... somewhere else.

But no one has moved. Buoyed by community support, a sense of righteous anger and the 1st Amendment, they are staying. As some there have put it...

"It's not an encampment, it’s a protest."

The ultimate goal of the protest? As a local paper reported, Mike Zint, an organizer for First They Came for the Homeless, made the demand:

"Zint wants Berkeley to designate a spot where the homeless can set up tents and live through the winter. “

Mike Zint, foreground, at the Berkeley Homeless Protest

A modicum of shelter for the winter. It’s something so obviously un reasonable only crazed protesters with no respect for private public property could think of it. And something only sane politicians could deny.

Panoramic View of the Protest and Old City Hall.

Front center: “We demand Equal Rights. We Demand Equal Protection.”

Middle left: “Homeless not Helpless.”

Photos courtesy of First They Came for the Homeless photo albums.