On my way home tonight..

On my way home tonight I saw a homeless man. This is not an unusual occurrence for me. He was standing on the street corner with his sign. There is usually someone on that corner.

When I saw that man I realized that it is wrong that he is homeless. There is no other word for it. Wrong. The fact that we have a society where people are allowed to live in abject poverty and resort to begging on street corners is wrong. We live in the most powerful country in the world and yet we choose not to address this issue. Homelessness and poverty are not separate issues and neither are greed and wealth. It is because of the greed and wealth of a few that we have the homelessness and poverty of the many.

We need change. Our country cannot keep serving the god of greed.

I occupy because I know that the time for change has arrived.

Occupy Austin Eviction (part 1 of 2)

I'm not one of those people that is scared of the police. In fact, I generally think that police are trying to do their best (I actually believe this is true of almost all people – we just define best very differently).

Saturday night I was scared of the Police. Although this story is about Saturday night, let's start with Friday to set the scene.

Friday night, about 10 pm, I got a text from stating that eviction was imminent. Immediately we left our fun night of board games and headed to City Hall. It was a warm February night and rain was on the way.

We arrived at City Hall about 10:20 pm. The scene was I imagine in books or a country that is under martial law. There were police surrounding City Hall in riot gear. There were cop cars blocking the streets around City Hall. Police were barring more people from entering the premises. I saw a few of my friends running back and forth between the free parking lot and City Hall trying to organize trucks and cars to remove all personal belongings before the police took custody of them. Everyone was in a frenzied, harried state. No idea what would come next or why we were being evicted.

At this point we decided to stay far from the fray. Instead of trying to get onto City Hall property we intentionally stayed away from Police and potential arrest. In case this became a violent situation I was ready to be the person that reported on it. As a member of the Occupy Austin media team I contacted more members of the media team, who I knew were not at City Hall, and informed them of the situation as it was unfolding. I took pictures of the Police in riot gear as they descended from the City Bus, now labled “APD”. I watched as more than 100 police approached my friends. I did not know if this would be an incident like the one in Oakland that would end in tear gas and mass arrests. I did not know how this night would end. I was scared.

I saw people being arrested. The cops carrying people from City Hall Plaza to the vans awaiting them. I did not know if they would take everyone or just a few. I knew that doing what I was doing was important, but at the same time I felt guilt because I was choosing to let these people that I have been organizing with, marching next to and creating the revolution with risk arrest and bodily harm while I watched. After a few arrests the remaining Occupiers began marching. They took the tent (the one symbolic tent of our Occupation) and marched. They gathered in a park near City Hall.

Just as we approached the gathered Occupiers police also began approaching the park. We left and began walking in the other direction. They began marching and chanting and took to the streets again. We walked away. Again aware that I was walking towards my own safety while I left my friends (and dare I say family?) in peril. We walked and walked. Trying to keep an eye on this misfit protest that had no where to go. Then it started to rain.

The rain was not playing with us. People had been kicked out of their homes into the streets to wander as the rain approached. It was now storming. We lost sight of the protestors. It was hard to tell who was a part of the protest movement amid the many people out to party on 5^th and 6^th street. I tried to spot those I knew.

It continued to rain. We tried to follow them but they were lost in the rain drops that drenched all those who dared to go out – protestors and revellers alike.

Around 2 am we decided it was time to get home and get to work. We wandered back to the car which was parked about 4 blocks from City Hall. There were a few Occupiers huddled under an awning. We stopped and spoke with them briefly. They had broken up about the same time that we decided to head home. The Occupiers left had made sure everyone had a place to go that night. We headed back to the apartment and began the long work of writing a press release.

I was in an emotional state, unable to think clearly, but I knew that we had to have something to give to the Press by the morning. We stayed up and we worked and we wrote and we wrote and we edited and we edited. Around 5 am we went to bed. I'm proud of that Press release. I'm proud of the way we are handling our eviction.

That was my Friday night. Saturday night was a whole different experience.... and another blog post.