Occupy Chase The Invisible People We want you to disappear. You, yes you!--homeless people! Were tired of seeing you on Venice Beach. Youre dirty, smelly, annoying--worst of all--youre other Thats the message from affluent moneyed interests and $3000+/mon. renters on the beach. Disappear! Its not just their attitude, its the tactic the housed are attacking the unhoused with. Theres just one problem. Its based upon lies. Lies the good people of Venice find themselves attacking their once-beloved bohemian neighbors with because the affluent in Venice are also victims of the criminal actions of Wall Street bankers--whether theyre tired of being reminded of the truth or not. I woke up on the sidewalk near 3rd Street on Martin Luther King, Jr day 2014. I and other activists from Occupy Venice, Occupy LA and LA CAN had just participated in a Homeless Bill of Rights protest to honor Dr. Kings legacy of defending the marginalized from economic injustice. The right to sleep on the sidewalk, in cars, the right to 24-hr showers and bathrooms, to storage--the basics needed to turn your life around. Right before his assassination, Dr. King had organized The Poor Peoples Campaign--it demanded economic and human rights for poor Americans of every background. It included a 3000-person tent city where activists occupied the Washington Mall in 1968--long before Occupy Wall Street. It was motivated by the desire for economic justice: the idea that all people should have what they need to live. I raced down to the beach on my bike that MLK day morning in 2014. Just as I passed The Cadillac Hotel I spotted whats become the morning routine in Venice. The LAPD handing out $160 no-camping tickets to people who, most likely, have no money to begin with. The copsll tell you that they give warnings. That they were there at 6:00 AM and that now theyre back at 6:30 AM, but the truth is all discrimination is selective, and theres no exception to that truism on the boardwalk. They just sweep down and ask for IDs. Disappear. The tension on the beach is rising month-by-month. The other day someone (a property owner?) broke the locks on a small storage facility for the homeless. We dont want you here. As we marched along the boardwalk with a Mardi Gras-style band for the Bill of Rights protest, there were go-to-hell-style taunts. Get lost! The security guard’s (at The St. Joseph Homeless Center) voice rang out this morning Only seven people outside at a time. Weve been getting complaints. Vanish. A climate of fear born of the bankers putting trillions into their pockets--and leaving nothing for the inevitable fall-out from their fraudulent actions. You dont exist to us. But the property owners of Venice Beach dont like thinking about that--how they were economically marginalized also--so theyve turned to scapegoating the heart of Venice, the pulse, the life-force--the artists. The truth is that if all the homeless which the renters on the beach complain about actually vanished--most of the artists and performers would also. You dont view it, my fellow Los Angelinos, because you dont choose to see it, but its self-evident early in the morning with the sleeping gear mixed in with the opening carts. The lions share of the most interesting and unique artists on the beach are unhoused. I love Venice Beach. Its been part of my life for years and years as the John Lennon guy who photo blogs for the artists for no charge. There are no others to me--housed or unhoused. I see the spirit. The independence. The vibrant colors. The carnival sounds. The ambience of the crashing waves. The smiles on the tourists faces when a performer does a bit we locals have already seen a hundred times. The demonization of the homeless in Venice comes from a dark place, but not from our community--rich or poor. Activists set up their tents in 1968 on the Washington Mall, determined to carry of MLKs good fight, and we set up tents in Windward Circle as Occupy Venice, Occupy LA, LA CAN and others on his anniversary day--in the same spirit--loud, proud and unafraid. To remind people to stick together. Hearts and minds committed to social justice--and to never becoming...the invisible people. Occupy!
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:57:41 +0000
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