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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2009)
14 » street roots -* j,jjfr h fr Education * Dialogue* Independence Right and wrong on the streets in the eye of the beholder do it anyway. So the person comes back to nothing. Their self-esteem goes down. They always lose their job. Bût they say, “I did it once I can do it again.” Again their safety nefrgets swept. And again, and again. Each time there selfesteem goes down and down. Pretty soon this person is thinking, “Why should I even try. They’re just going to take it away.” Then they get this fuck-it attitude. They just don’t care anymore. “And why should they care?” I asked her. Well, Chat changed her mind about homeless people, and she thanked me for talking to her. Other hdmeless people also get their safety net taken away from them, too. Talking to other officers they understand that there are different types of homeless people. But they have to put us all in the same pot. Taking away the safety net of a homeless individual, when we’re trying to end homelessness in 10 years, is counter productive.. It’s also treating human beings like animals. You treat human beings like animals, they’ll become animals. And that’s what we’re breeding right now. I think that if somebody gets busted in an apartment complex, they should make everybody move out. Or if they get busted in a neighborhood they should make all the neighbors move out. Or if it’s by businesses they should make the businesses move out. If you think this is crazy, really stupid and duinb, then why is i t OK in the homeless world? I mean, not only are the bad homeless people punished, but the good homeless people also are punished. We need to change this way of thinking, and reward those law-abiding homeless people ast time I was home I was watching a movie with some wannabe gangbangers. In the movie there was one scene where two police played good cop/bad cop. The young gangbangers thought it was cool. I told them, “That aint cool!” J t ’s fuckin’ stupid!” I mean, you’re standing with your friends talking. The next thing you know the police jump the curb with their police car, lights on, and sometimes the siren. My friends and I would sigh heavily, give a little smirk, and roll our eyes. Knowing what comes next. ? The police officers would jump out of their car. If there were no homeless people around they would get really dramatic. “Up against thé wall!” they would shout My friends and I would turn slowly to the wall. The newbies to the street would start yelling, “We didn’t do nothing. We were just standing here talking.” They would try to explain. The young gangbangers would interrupt me and say “Yeah, that’s cool.” Then I would tell them, “No, it’s not. On the streets you’re guilty until proven innocent. You have no rights.” They’d look at me with their eyes glazed over and say “yah-huh”. Frustrated, I’d look at them and say, “You stupid punks.” I remember getting arrested and the arresting officers taking me and my friends’ backpacks. Our backpacks containedour ID’s, important papers, and clothing. So we would call the police station to try and retrieve them. But we were always told that, no, this wasn’t our precinct, try this one.; We would just get the runaround. We would end up losing everything and have to start over again. , ; . ; weeks. The police have been passing us by, they never said we had to leave.” She said she’d been on vacation for two weeks and that we had to leave. I told her “No!” So she called for back up. Three other police cars,arrived. They asked what the problem was. She said, “I told Leo Rhodes is a street activist an d homeless advocate. He is them they can’t sleep here.” Then the other, also a vendor with Street Roots an d a regular conributer to the newspaper. officers’asked, “Were they fighting, or . anything like that?” “No,” she replied. “Did the owner call in to complain?” ‘ me if I have any drugs or alcohol. I don’t : “No,” she replied again. have any slurred speech or smell like “Well, let them sleep,” he said. alcohol. And yet they still ask me this “No,” she said angrily. “It’s illegal!” ; question. Then I asked the council, “Is it Then the other police suggested she call because I’m Natiye American, or because their superior. The same questions were. . I’m homeless?” I’m clean and sober going asked, “Were they fighting? Did the owner on nine years. You need to ask the police cali?” In a roundabout way, the reply was let this question. them sleep. By this time the woman was . 1 have a lot more stories, some real brutal really angry. So angry she was crying. They ones. But one more thing I’m always did let us sleep there. reminded is that there are good police There is a more friendly way or phrase of officers. saying or replying than the world sweeps. One, his last name was Baxter; he was a But to a homeless person like me, there is King County (Wash.) sheriff’s deputy. He ho nice way of saying we’re going to take all came to Tent City 3 and said) “I just heard of your belongings and your safely n e t It’s that they’re going-to start a teht city in the .actually a sick joke. I mean, if a non- city of Bothell, Wash., in a few days. This is ; homeless person’s house gets broken into j the only tent city I know of. And I want to . or vandalized, they call the police and know what a tent city is.” So we gave him a justice will be served. But a homeless tour of Tent City 3, He was impressed by the structure. I remember toward the end of person can’t call anybody. Where’s the justice in that? I was speaking to a police the tour he kept saying,/This is. just like a officer one morning and she told me all M.A.S.H. unit, minus the heho pad and the homeless people were criminals. I kept wounded soldiers.” trying to convince her otherwise. Then I remember camping opt under a bridge finally I gave her this scenario: A homeless in Seattle. A policewoman came in with her person is working and they live in a tent lights and sirens on. I jumped up thinking, because there’s not enough shelters and jeez lady, it’s 11 p.m. She jumped out of her affordable housing. So this person keeps car and asked, “Who’s in charge here?” Being^the senior most_person I said, “I am.” frieir tent and „area cfean thinking that if Then she said, “You can’t sleep here.” I told they keep it clean nobody wili complain and that are trying to make a difference. Not police officers are coming to m e and asking her, “We been sleeping here for three the police won’t do a sweep. But the police punish them because of a few bad apples. a . . Walpole: A true story in the movement for prison abolition ellelo turned slowly, returned to his introduced programs, eventually leading to cell, and closed the grate, locking the prisoners winning control of day-to-day himself in. ...Two prison guards operations. The prisoners, working with entered Dellelo’scell, one clubbing him in 1530 civilian volunteer observers, created the upper part of his arms, then cuffed him. rehabilitation, educational and work ... As Dellelo was - programs that successfully created an moved down the tier... - atmosphere of peace and community among Two officers yelled up, the prisoners. The guards’ union saw the ‘There’s Dellelo. How changes as threatening their livelihoods and come he’s still walking?’ finally refused to work. They expected the ... They caught up to • relaxed discipline to result in chaos. Instead, him at the top of the peace and higher productivity ensued. stairs. One of the Then political manipulation and power policemen grabbed his struggles between administration, the hair and smashed his face against the , guards’ union and the supporters of the railing. They threw him face-first, hands tied prisoners movement for reform resulted in behind his back, down a flight of stairs onto violence, when the guards returned to work the flats, where they kicked him and and resumed their practices. Part of the dragged him through water and broken strategy of each eruption was to make it glass. They called him names while dragging seem that the prisoners reform programs him through a gauntlet of state police; Who had failed. As lead author, Bissonnefre stomped on his feet, kicked him, and beat presents a detailed accounting of the * his legs with wobden clubs.” activities at Walpole. Above are a few excerpts describing the But this book is more than a dramatic beating and torture of Robert Dellelo, telling of the horrific events that go on in co-writer of “When the Prisoners Ran our prisons, which we have heard before. It ■ Walpole.” As I read this book, I could easily is a history, carefully documented, of have selected more than 50 pages I wanted significant beginnings of organizations that to quote and share with Street Roots’ readers. support the abolition of prisons. To make Many pages of quotes by two prisoners, the point understandable to those of Us who active in the National Prisoners Reform can only rely on what we read, but never Association (NPRA) during the critical really witness* Bissopette includes.,, period (December 1971 to July 1972) vividly observers’ notes that have been preserved, describe what was really happening at storied by two prisoners who participated, Walpole. and biographical information of other In 1971, the prison yard massacre at principals in this-amazing story. ' Africa drew nationwide public attention to f We are shown that in spite of more than 30 years of support by What now; includes prison issues. The Massachusetts voters, vowing to “not let an Attica happen here!” hundreds of organizations and thousands,of Supported a move for reform at Walpole’s concerned citizens, that politics, corruption, Massachusetts Correctional Institute. John and profit-taking continue to maintain a O.Boone, the first black man to be prison system that fails to require minimum ; appointed as a prison administrator, humanitarian treatment of more than 2 ■ FBOM T B I DESK OF Ruth Kovacs Ruth Kovacs is a Portland activist, former teacher and host of Prison Pipeline oh KBOO, 90.7fin. She writes regularly about the r-ihe ‘ millions o f individuals and families affected by theU .S. prison system. million citizens. Nor does this system acknowledge that this inappropriate (to say the least) system of punishment is costing taxpayers money that could and should go toward health, welfare ahd education. Such a transfer of priorities for funds would not only minimize crime and make our streets safer, but would add worthy and productive citizens to our communities instead of allowing them to deteriorate as they are dehumanized at an outrageous cost Day by day events that report on the above repeatedly show the political friction and self-serving agenda of the players as observed by volunteers and reported by the press. Nonetheless, although for a period of four months the prisoners managed to “run Walpole” and prove that new reforms could make a difference in 1971, here it is 2009, our society is still confronted with many of the same serious problems. During the. 2009 Critical Resistance 10th anniversary gathering in Oakland California, I witnessed enough support from all over . this country to believe that we cfo* indeed, know how to solve the crisis of our growiftg prison population and the bizarre financial drain that continues to perpetrate7 the basic problems. Bissonefre’s book is not a page-turner or an easy read. It gives the reader something, to think about on every page. I often turned to one of the 578 Endnotes, or referred to the 12-page index to help keep track of the daily action and interaction. But, when I turned the last page, I knew I had learned a great deal about events that those who endorse the abolition of prisons have 3 understood for years. I encourage anyone ’ who really wants to understand what I see • as an overwhelming system of injustice, to read “When The Prisoners Ran Walpole.” W O THE RAHWAlPOtE ¿ “’’ST « g a g “When the Prisoners Ran Walpole,” By Jamie Bissonette with Ralph Hamm, Robert Dellelo & Edward Rodman South End Press - 2008. Paper Back-258 p a g e s-$20
