"I love the fact we open our arms to the world and work hard to support all of our citizens"
--Joanna Rees, venture capitalist candidate for San Francisco Mayor at May 5th candidate forum at the University of San Francisco (quoted in Bay Area Reporter newspaper)
"2 million people in prison, 2 million young people on the streets--there's something wrong about that!"
--"Bad News" Bruce Allison (talking to me) before the march to the Great San Francisco Sleep-In
POOR Magazine Elder Skolah "Bad News" Bruce Allison and I went to the "lawn" across the (Polk) street from San Francisco City Hall, betwen McAllister and Grove Streets. We were there to support Operation Shine America (dot org) and Trans Youth Rise Above (dot blogspot dot com). Bruce has his ways of getting information and I'd stumbled across Operation Shine America, its excellent and devastating video clip, and at least one link I happily attached to my Facebook addiction. Then I was asked to make sure Bruce didn't go all kamikaze on us the way he did at a Sacramento, CA education budget protest the weekend before when he had to get arrested to get decent health care perpetrated on an infected foot.
I walked down Polk Street from the Elk Hotel and crossed the "lawn" wondering where everyone was at 5:45p.m. Bruce and I arrived simultaneously, finding the gay/lesbian/bi/transgender youth across the street from the Bill Graham Auditorium. Food Not Bombs also showed up then and set up a meal served at 6p.m., the beginning of the action prior to the march to Castro and Market, where the Great San Francisco Sleep-In was to happen at Harvey Milk Plaza.
Humans weren't the only critters there, a half-dozen dogs were having fun getting to know each other and humans new to them. I was surprised to see no cats, for I have noticed some cat loving shopping cart-equipped houseless veterans of the street here and there in the city.
From 7 to 7:30p.m. there were several announcements about the impending mostly-silent march. Banners, signs, and brooms--for symbolic sweeping of the streets of all housless (and particularly queer youth, who have even fewer resources in this city, ever smaller crumbs to fight for than adult poor and/or houseless) folks.
Neither Bruce nor I have sleeping bags, so both of us were there to be supportive but we weren't going to participate in the whole thing. Before the march kicked off the wind got stronger, the temperature dropped fast, and the other ingredients for a rain storm loomed overhead. Bruce and I marched to Van Ness Avenue where I split off from the group to catch a bus to POOR Magazine.
Bruce is a champion walker, but this time I got to 16th and Mission Streets first. The rain started falling in earnest soon after. We both hoped the Sleep-In folks were okay. Walking to Castro and Market would have dismantled ME, which wouldn't have been the case in some of my earlier brushes with houselessness in San Francisco. I walked EVERYWHERE in 1989.
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011, there will be another event to place houselessness firmly in front of anyone who still thinks they can ignore it. May 22nd is Harvey Milk's birthday. Milk, the first openly gay male elected official in the U.S., (assassinated in 1978--I watched the riots in San Francisco on tv in college after his assassin's "Twinkie Defense" got him a light sentence), opposed a 1970's Sit/Lie law attacking gay men.
The gay community is split, with some being suckered into supporting Sit/Lie laws, supporting Po'Lice abuse of houseless people whatever their age, and national gay organizations like Human Rights Campaign not embracing economic justice for everyone. Local activist Tommi Avicoli-Mecca gave me a flyer for the 1p.m. event before the Great Sleep-In march got started. Gay Shame is an organization that campaigns against the assimilation of gay people into Capitalist consumer-culture, but Tommi is part of a new organization, called QUEEN (Queers for Economic Equality Now) overtly sponsoring this event.
Harvey Milk Plaza is also the place to be on May 22nd for this anti-Sit/Lie event. I want to recruit you to be there!