MARCH OF THE EVICTED

by Joseph Bolden

In San Francisco, Friday, October, 29, 1999 hundreds of people fed up with suspicious arson, owner move-ins, and the massive eviction of low and very low income tenants in San Franciso, marched on city hall.

James Tracy, the lead organizer from Mission Agenda led the march which was comprised of the working poor, homeless, disabled, students and struggling artists who have been or are on the brink of being evicted due to the extreme housing shortage and loft and housing development ""History repeats itself only if we let it." James led the chant.

"South Of Market was stolen from the workers who used to live there, since the land was given to corporations like Sony, Metreon, Holiday Inn and the AMC Kabuki (American Movies Corp.) It is only fitting that these businesses pay the people back in full, rebuild the International Hotel (200 senior Filipino's were evicted from the hotel in 1977.)

James Tracy introduced former tenants of the International Hotel
'I'm glad to be here my name is Bill Saul I lived at the International Hotel, I was an attendant there, thirty years ago, the first evictions happened in 1969, what we said in 1969 is still as relevant then as it today; "POWER TO THE PEOPLE." the crowd chants "POWER TO THE PEOPLE."

"We are finally faced with a situation.",.a speaker named Malique began, "where we are seeing residents getting evicted on all levels and all classes, its no longer just the poor being affected. "

A young woman named Stephanie Hughes stepped up to the mike, "The reason I'm here today is for families, people are staying in these hotels who are being left out in the cold with their children, I have five children, four boys and one girl. On December 28th 1996 my house burned down, since then I have been staying in cars, trucks, warehouses, and hotels, none of them could give us long term tenancy because there were too many of us, or I didn't have enough money- I had to quit three jobs in order to be with my children and then I was so afraid that C.P.S. (Child Protective Services) would come and take my kids .."

"I hear It takes a villiage, well where was this village when that hotel burned down and these children were on the street? WHERE IS THE VILLAGE RIGHT NOW, I WANT TO SEE THIS VILLAGE THAT CARES AND COMFORTS SO MANY FAMILIES, AND I WANT TO SEE IT IN THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO AND I WANT TO SEE IT TODAY!

I used to sit and see people when I was walking down the street homeless, hand out and I had nothing to give them and I had money in my pocket but I had nothing to give them - It wasn't until my house burned down, and everybody turned their backs on me, then I realized, OH MY GOD, THESE ARE PEOPLE, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN ITS GONNA HAPPEN TO YOU; AND WHEN IT DOES THEN YOU WILL FEEL WHAT WE FEEL WHICH IS... OH GOD, SOMEBODY HELP ME, SOMEBODY HELP ME! I AM A NATIVE SAN FRANCISCAN, BORN AND RAISED, HOW DARE YOU TELL ME to leave my city "

More eloquent speakers discussed rents, arson, rules and regulations that single parents and families go through, trying to find housing. They are true tales of horrors description of people falling through the safety net on to the hard cement of uncaring economic prosperity of the San Francisco Real estate gold rush.