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Take Action: Support #WhereDoWeGoBerk people are in need of:

February 5, 2020 by Jonathan 1 Comment

• Garbage bags
• Water
• Tents
• Medical support
• Legal support
But more importantly We Need Your Solidarity!
@ University and Frontage Road across from Sea Breeze Market

For More information Please Contact: wheredowegoberk@gmail.com or wrap@wraphome.org

Where Do We Go?
Berkeley California
A movement is growing in Berkeley, where unhoused people are demanding answers.

By Alastair Boone
Alastair Boone is the Editor in Chief of Street Spirit.

On September 19, two elderly and disabled women refused to leave their tents as California Highway Patrol officers threatened them with arrest. The women-named Mama Bear and KC-are in their sixties. Both are in wheelchairs. Both have tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to get housing. And they weren’t alone-a third woman, Piper, remained in her tent, grieving the recent death of her boyfriend, Fixie.

The women were exhausted. For weeks prior, they had been bounced around the same intersection countless times. From their tents, they can look out and see land owned by two government agencies: an alley owned by the City of Berkeley on one side and a large parcel of dirt owned by CalTrans on the other. And since the beginning of September, residents report that evictions have ramped up. One week, CalTrans comes and evicts them from the dirt parcel, forcing them to pack up and walk across the road to the alleyway.

The next week, the City of Berkeley comes to evict them from the alley, so they move back across the road to the dirt parcel. Mama Bear had moved six times when she decided to refuse. KC had moved seven times over a three-week period. Piper simply refused to leave her tent.

The three women were not arrested, and as of this writing, their tents remain in the same place. But their act of resistance is part of a growing movement that began on September 4, when the encampment underneath the University Avenue overpass was targeted by what advocates are calling a coordinated eviction effort between the Berkeley Police, CalTrans, and the California Highway Patrol.

“When CalTrans told encampment residents that they had to move off of their property, BPD was there to tell them they couldn’t move onto the sidewalk, because of the new [Shared Sidewalk Ordinance],” said Andrea Henson, a lead advocate and organizer for the movement who witnessed the eviction. (City officials deny that there was a coordinated effort.)

The next day, a similar eviction took place at an encampment above the University Avenue overpass, across the road from Seabreeze Market. So on the evening of September 5, residents of the two encampments made signs and attended a Berkeley City Council meeting to demand answers. Tired of moving from corner to corner, encampment residents demanded, “Where do we go?” These encampments were home to Jupiter and Fixie-two Berkeley citizens who were struck and killed by an Amtrak train on September 11. Each of them had moved several times leading up to the night of their deaths. This further rattled the community in the two encampments, and strengthened their desire to form a movement.

In recent weeks, this group of 40+ individuals have taken their message to the streets. On September 22, they marched to a West Berkeley town hall meeting hosted by Councilwoman Rashi Kesarwani. During their march, residents of the University Avenue encampments sang protest chants and danced in the streets, holding signs.

LaTonya West put her keyboard in a shopping cart and played jazzy renditions of traditional protest songs and original music as she marched. Drivers honked and cheered in support as they passed. When the group arrived at the town hall, they joined the democratic discussion. They held up pictures of Jupiter and Fixie.

They spoke about their personal experiences. Housed and unhoused residents agreed on the need for porta potties, trash pick-up, and better solutions.

“This movement is different because it’s the residents of the encampments, not the activists, that are setting the agenda,” said Andrea Henson, a lead advocate and organizer in the movement.

“The unhoused are organizing and taking a stand, refusing to move. They are marching and engaging in the conversation. They are fighting back against the predatory evictions and unlawful destruction of their property.

They are demanding an answer.”

For more information on #WhereDoWeGoBerk:

Email wheredowegoberk@gmail.com
Twitter @WheredowegoBerk

 

Filed Under: #wheredowegoberk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gael Alcock says

    February 6, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Housing is a human right. Losing the means to housing could happen to anyone.

    Log in to Reply

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On August 11th, Newsom's "Care" Act passed out of On August 11th, Newsom's "Care" Act passed out of the Appropriations Committee. The bill was amended on the 15th and will be scheduled for a floor vote any time between August 17th and 31st. https://conta.cc/3dz2NzQ
Part 12... Infractions and Due Process Rights Ant Part 12...
Infractions and Due Process Rights 
Anti-homeless laws and ordinances and their application have, in fact, created a loophole that allows for the circumvention of a homeless person’s right to due process under law. The process by which homeless people face repeated incarceration generally follows this scenario: A homeless man is sleeping on the sidewalk. A local ordinance makes it illegal to do so. The man gets a ticket and is later arrested for not paying the ticket. He spends a couple of days in jail, and is just as homeless now as he was before, only now he has a criminal record. This was the case for many of the individuals interviewed by RWHP. One man relayed the familiar scenario, “I was sleeping in a tent in a hidden spot near the freeway. They gave me a ticket for trespassing. I don’t have money to pay it. I’ve never been in jail before. I keep to myself, but now they’re going to make me a convict just for sleeping.”
SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE PEOPLES TOWMH SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TALKING DOWN THE PEOPLES TOWMHOMES ENCAMPMENT https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChAT9N5jNTY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This morning @phillysheriff ‘s came and evicted our protest encampment to Save the UC Townhomes. When asked why they were doing it, Rochelle Bilal responded that she “felt compassion for the townhomes residents but was just doing my job”

Even if the tents are gone WE AINT GOIN NOWHERE‼️
Saturday AUGUST 27 — 9 am to 4pm Sunday AUGUST 2 Saturday AUGUST 27 — 9 am to 4pm
Sunday AUGUST 28 — 12:30pm to 4pm

Westminster Presbyterian Church
1300 N Street, Sacramento

https://wraphome.org/2022/08/02/sacramento-ca-advocates-community-summit-on-homelessness-august-27-28th/
California. (S)Care Court Hearing Tomorrow 8/3 Las California. (S)Care Court Hearing Tomorrow 8/3 Last Hearing before floor Vote
https://conta.cc/3vzRoWo
Part 11 ... California’s “anti-Okie” laws of Part 11 ...
California’s “anti-Okie” laws of the 1930s and the South’s Jim Crow laws in effect from the late 1800s to the 1950s are examples of the kinds of local laws overturned in previous generations. Yet, modern “quality of life” legislation and enforcement targeting homeless people can be found in communities across the nation.
The City Council postponed their vote on the 41.18 The City Council postponed their vote on the 41.18 expansion to August 2nd. If passed, this motion will add approximately 1,900 additional sites–a 376% increase in exclusionary zones across the city. 41.18 would then cover at least 88 sq miles (that’s 20% of the entire city).

Services Not Sweeps is urging EVERYONE to come to City Hall at 9:00am on August 2 and tell City Council that 41.18 is BAD POLICY and should be repealed.

When we fight, we win. 
But this fight isn’t over.

The community flooded City Hall inside and out on Wednesday to protest the expansion of 41.18 but the fight is not over. It’s clear that President Nury Martinez and friends weren’t prepared for our numbers and realized they were unable to rally their (few but loud) 41.18 supporters. Council delayed the vote to Tuesday August 2nd in an attempt to erode our momentum and stifle our voices. 
 
We won’t let that happen. The fight now is to keep the pressure on and show up next week!! See you next Tuesday 9am. Bring a friend.
 
WHO: You and your friends!
WHERE: City Hall, 200 N Spring St 
WHEN: Tuesday August 2nd at 9:00am
HOW: Read more details on our toolkit.
AGENDA ITEM 14 https://lacity.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=102513
Part 10... In fact, however, enforcement is very m Part 10...
In fact, however, enforcement is very much impacted by both skin color and appearance. Local governments cannot legally discriminate against people strictly because they do not have housing. Federal protections prohibit local and state governments from removing people from their communities due to the color of their skin or economic/employment status.
Part 9... This nationwide pattern has escaped Civi Part 9... This nationwide pattern has escaped Civil Rights protections because on their face, these programs are not clearly discriminatory. Local laws are often drafted in such a way as to appear to apply equally to all people in a community.
Part 8... While certain communities highlight diff Part 8...
While certain communities highlight different controls at different times, often depending upon the outcome of local elections and legislative and court efforts, all have one primary common goal: to remove the presence and resulting impact of people without housing from local communities. As the Mayor of Las Vegas stated when she outlawed feeding people in city parks: “If we stop feeding them, they will leave.”
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Statewide fight against Newsom's "Care"-LESS Courts continues!

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Thank you to everyone who signed the open letter to Governor Newsom urging him to reconsider his CARE Court proposal. There were over 500 si...
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16 Aug 1559579585251102720

On August 11th, Newsom's "Care" Act passed out of the Appropriations Committee. The bill was amended on the 15th and will be scheduled for a floor vote any time between August 17th and 31st. https://conta.cc/3JXM4SF
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#NoCARECourt KPFK Lawyers Guild Show "CARE" court Wed. 8/17 - 2-3pm - WRAP

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#NoCARECourt KPFK Lawyers Guild Show "CARE" court Wed. 8/17 - 2-3pm - WRAP

Tune in Wed., Aug. 17 from 2-3pm on KPFK 90.7 FM for this week’s edition of the Lawyers Guild Show. First...

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Thank you to everyone who signed the open letter to Governor Newsom urging him to reconsider his CARE Court proposal. There were over 500 signatories!

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Sacramento, CA. Open Letter to Governor Newsom re: Opposition to CARE Court - WRAP

Dear Allies, Thank you to everyone who signed the open letter to Governor Newsom urging him to reconsider his CA...

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While the bad reviews of Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo's 'tiny homes' proposal for Virginia Key, now catching ...

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Join us and our friends @APTPaction to say NO to C.A.R.E Court next Thursday, August 18th for a teach-in followed by feeding the people, and a march!

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