Lessons learned from 300 Sundays
I don’t like going to Chico City Council meetings. Never have, never will. The second meeting in April was no different.
Near the beginning of each meeting, during Business
From The Floor (BFTF), the public is invited to speak for three minutes—on virtually anything. And the public does. Little green men in your underwear drawer? No problem, as long as profanity and insults are kept to a minimum, and all comments are directed to the council.
Often, there are a number of people who speak for the sole purpose of putting the homeless in the worst possible light. Think needles, feces, screaming, blood, boils — and all the rest of Pharaoh’s plagues.
As a matter of conscience, I often speak during BFTF. It’s a message I could deliver in my sleep; delivered as a counterweight to homeless scapegoating hysteria. It goes like this: 1. There are homeless people because we have too few houses and services — a failure 40 years in the making. 2. Homeless people, whether sheltered or unsheltered, have human rights. 3. I know many homeless people, and the more I know them, the more I like them.
Well, the second council meeting in April was different. It wasn’t just the usual few homeless intolerant folk, making their bimonthly pitch about needles, feces and voodoo ceremonies in the greenways. No, the room was packed, and more than 40 people signed up to speak. A proposed homeless resting site — the “Marsh” site — had people in full NIMBY dudgeon. For an hour the crowd trashed the homeless, trashed the resting site location, trashed the council, and even trashed trash.
After the rabble had spoken and the council was once again holding forth, there was more of that almost reasonable sounding “our hands are tied” kind of rhetorical mumbo-jumbo-city-talk. In this mix, Councilor Morgan made some particularly illuminating points: “So, Mr. City Manager, it’s not a difficult task, it’s an impossible task and when we come back and discuss the other two possible sites, that may or may not be on the table now, and the public goes, wow, this is harder than we thought, we’ll probably move away from where we are. Honestly, one of the reasons the Marsh site was picked was because there is no shade and there is no water and there is no anything else. And somebody said, probably no one will go. And we’re, like, perfect. They’ll go to Portland or wherever it is.” Audience laughter, applause.
Forgive me if I revisit a couple of those tired talking points I mentioned above: The most fundamental fact about homelessness is that there are more people than homes. When we see a homeless person, we’re seeing a person who lost in the great housing competition. Whereas, I believe, Mr. Morgan sees a willfully unhoused, refractory miscreant—deserving of no shade, no water, no nothing. And he is very popular for seeing it this way. So popular that Morgan can suggest the homeless go to Portland and not a single of his minions wonder if this makes any sense, given Portland is another homeless hell, housing deficit disaster zone.
But, here’s where it gets more painful. I’ve spent 300 Sundays on Chico City Plaza getting to know people living in the public space. I’ve brought 300 truckloads of materials needed on the streets. I’ve done this very publicly for a few reasons: It’s a demonstration of inclusion that can’t be made in the shadows. It’s a visible protest of our laws and our culture of rights violations. It’s a way to meet and know people on their terms.
And, here’s what I’ll now claim after 300 Sundays: I know something Mr. Morgan doesn’t know. Because, as far as I can tell, Morgan takes no time to get to know who he has judged unworthy of shade and water — that is, the kind of knowledge possible when you repeatedly approach people with some respect, and at least minimal generosity. Here’s something else I’ll claim: Morgan and his minions are ignorant in a way that can never be overcome with a drive-by approach to homelessness.
Dear reader, if this was any other subject, wouldn’t there be immediate agreement? I don’t care if it’s raising a barn or raising corn or raising hell, you gotta get close to know anything at all. So, with the homeless population, why is everyone free to operate without a license? Well, here’s the answer: Policy dependent on driveby demonization is expensive, fruitless and sadistic, but this policy accomplishes one thing, it supports a cherished myth: That we are a great country and anyone in rags or dying by the side of the road has had every opportunity to win; that is, on terms we’re free to imagine, as we experience poverty in the rearview mirror and at a very great distance.
The most fundamental fact about homelessness is that there are more people than homes. When we see a homeless person, we’re seeing a person who lost in the great housing competition.