Last week, the City of Seattle launched the beginnings of what will be an all-out assault on homeless campsites throughout the city over the summer. Parks workers dressed in full hazmat gear -- puncture-proof coveralls, goggles, heavy rubber gloves, and respirators -- tore out the campsites in the lower Queen Anne greenbelt. The media that had been summoned dutifully reported how "disgusting" these camps were, with "rotted food, bottles of urine, and countless syringes."
The dehumanization here is nearly impossible to wrap one's head around. Hazmat gear? In other cities, cops simply wear rubber gloves. This was transparently a media show, and the press uncritically lapped it up and delivered the story the city wanted. It was a shameful set of circumstances all the way around.
I was there to observe. A man who had lived in a neat campsite for three years was told to leave at 7 a.m. According to a parks spokesperson I talked to, he didn't respond to the outreach workers who had been through over the previous three days. Should this surprise anyone? A man who -- for reasons no one took the trouble to understand -- has peacefully lived on his own in nature for three years was offered a mat on a floor where he would sleep a few feet from the next guy over and be tossed out to wander the streets at 6 a.m.
So, his cold-weather tent was slashed open with a machete and nearly all of his belongings were thrown into a garbage truck.
This is not how one treats another human being. This is pure dehumanization. This is only going to get worse, and the time to take a stand is now. Join our Camp-4Unity at City Hall June 8-9. See the ad in this issue for details. We need to meet our summer fund drive goal of raising $85,000 by June 30 to sustain the organizing. This is a long-haul fight. We're nearly halfway to our goal. A generous donor has agreed to match all donations of $250 or more 2-1, up to a total of $15,000 to help get us there. Please help. Follow this link to donate.