A Day of Protest

by Joseph Bolden/PoorNewsNetwork

On a warm Sunday in March I attended "The Housing Winter Summit" taking place outside the Polk Street side of Civic Center.
We are supposed to start at POOR Magazine’s office at ll:00 am. Glad I’ve done my daily Martin De Porres free breakfast and not sleeping in, which is what I would do normally. Usually on Sunday I like to plan my day around doing absolutely nothing. That’s either sleeping, television, listening to radio, or being in Berkeley meeting with my ladyfriend, suffice to say, resting is always a treat.

The Housing Winter action started at 12 noon, with James Tracy and Willie Warren (Po Poet and activist) from the "Right To A Roof Project, talking softly, strongly and passionately about suffering Veteran’s from VietNam, Desert Storm, getting little but lip service from the country they pledged their honor, blood, limbs, mental stability and lives for. After much heartfelt testimony from several speakers we were then blessed with a Capoiera troupe. Midway through the day a Free Tibet march walked on the other side of the street- we paused to wait them out and give them respect for their resistance. Then on to the Poetry…

It began with a piece by Jack Hirschman, poet, actor, activist and author, whose stirring, true depiction of struggling street life mesmerized audiences with its deathless prose. Another poet, Nancy Esteva from The Coalition on Homelessness spoke her poem or, should I say poesa, completely in Spanish, and even though it was in another language her emotional content came through clear.

Then, almost simultaneously, and very quickly, two structures were erected, one was an arch erected from shopping carts, in honor of all the folks who were arrested and had their shopping carts taken away by DPW and the SFPD, and a brightly painted pink house with two sleeping bags inside.

The Pink house stood as a representational, physical backdrop of the need for housing for all.

At first I though I having an adverse bummer trip seeing a carnation pink brightly colored structure in the shape of a small house, behind it metal shopping carts suspended in the air by thick metal normally used for foundations in high rise buildindgs.

I blink at the sight feeling whoosy and and sick again the sun beaming on me - heat hurts.

Next up was poetry and kinetic sculpture by the performance group The ‘Po Poets` Project including .Junebug, A. Fay, Dharma, Tiny, Mari, and me. Each person did a piece to the theme of Equal Equity in housing, holding signs that read; Will Work For Equity, Will Work for Land and Will work For Justice. At the end we all chant a line, Permanent Housing For All and depart the "stage" There were more poets before the day was over – and then finally, the remaining people "occupied" the Pink House, hoping to also seize the unused land of the Civic Center

Still feeling the after effects of getting over the flu I wanted to simply get under covers and sleep in my little SRO in the Tenderloin that I am lucky enough to have.

However, I have one more duty to perform on this Sunday, help someone move out of their long cherished living space in Bay View Hunter’s Point, where they were evicted for no good reason at all and now are homeless.

That Pink House is still standing, I hope.