Street Roots • June 15-21, 2018
Page 3
O p in io n
Street-level lessons on the urgency to end trauma
swiveled their cameras back to the stage.
Internalized biases, miscommunication,
heightened emotions - a scene can swirl into
By the time I walked up, a clearly distressed
violence. There is so much trauma on the streets
man was sitting on the sidewalk, yelling, while an
that any encounter has a train of other encounters
officer towered over him. Down the block, a man
that have gone badly behind it. The scene goes in
filmed the scene with his cell phone. People walked
and out of focus.
up; a crowd swelled. More cell phone cameras
“People need to know that people are on their
clicked on. Police cars pulled
side,” Leanne Falzon explained to me later. “That’s
up, lights flashing,
more learned in the cafe for how people
what and
we have
and more officers - seven in
de-escalate each other.”
total - soon stood over the
Please do hover here with me for a moment on
distressed man. One officer
what Falzon said: people de-escalate each other.
By Kaia Sand
stretched rubber gloves onto
Sometimes, the person spiraling out of control needs
his hands. The man was on
the help from others, and sometimes, they are in the
the sidewalk, vulnerable,
position to help. Fear can transform into
shouting about his fears of
belligerence, but it doesn’t always stay there, and it
police, while numerous
doesn’t have to get worse. Many people who live on
uniformed men occluded his view, police lights
the streets and in self-governed villages possess
these skills. It was through a previous Pitch a Tent
flashing.
But here was the stroke of luck. Of all the blocks
event that I received my first de-escalation training
for this to go down, this had to be one of the most
from organizers who had been homeless, and who
skilled, per-capita, in de-escalation. Because on this
also helped with security at Right 2 Dream Too and
night, people were gathered for the annual Pitch a
Hazelnut Grove.
Tent event, June 8, kitty-corner at Southwest Fourth
Falzon told me that before I walked up, the man
Avenue and Washington Street.
was yelling, “I have PTSD. I have PTSD.” He was
First launched in 2010 by Right 2 Survive, an
advocating for himself. His conduct might have been
organization dedicated to the rights of homeless
bound up in his traumas. The people who have
people, Pitch a Tent calls attention to the sanctioned
already suffered suffer more for their suffering.
camping by people holding spots for the Rose
I think about this as I follow in horror how the
Festival Parade. The event, explains one of the
Trump administration is ripping children from
founders, Leo Rhodes, is “in protest, not against the
families who cross into the United States seeking
asylum. The very reason those families are targeted
parade, but against the idea of letting people pitch
is because of their previous traumas: They are trying
their tents for leisure but not for survival.”
to escape violence and poverty. Now, children are
Organizers heighten the contradaictions of how
im p riso n e d , facing th e t e r r o r o f l o s i n g t h e i r p a r e n t s ,
housed and homeless people are treated by pitching
and parents are imprisoned, facing the terror of
tents for homeless people to sleep along th e p a ra d e
losing their children.
route, too. The one-day-event is festive with live
All we can see is a present moment - like a man
music, dance and poetry, burgers on a grill - an
yelling out belligerently on the sidewalk - without
evening for people to catch up.
knowing those layers of the past. I think about
So the crowd around the police and the distressed
images from that Portland street corner - the
man understood that a shouting, screaming person
strobes of light of police cars, flashes of cell phones.
does not always pose a threat. How we respond
And then a hand offering corn bread on a paper
creates more options for a good outcome.
plate. Each moment has so many possibilities. I try
It was a situation that easily could have gone
to remember this on the streets of our city where
badly, but didn’t.
people suffer poverty and violence in public view.
Leanne Falzon, the Sisters Of the Road Cafe
Out of public view are these families separated
Program Manager, convinced the officers to allow
from their children; some parents, in fact are now
her to approach the man. Instead of hovering over
incarcerated in Oregon, at Sheridan Prison. These
him, she knelt down offering him cornbread on a
forced separations and incarcerations are not just
paper plate. He clutched the plate and his voice
present-day cruelties; these are curses into the
calmed just a little. Leanne also offered him a
future. Some day, the families torn apart by our
cigarette. As he inhaled from it, he calmed a bit
government will have to lug these traumas with
more.
them.
And then, the police let the man go - and go he
Here at Street Roots, as we grapple with how to
went, clutching his cornbread, dashing quickly across
act in this moment, we gathered some steps on the
the street and out of sight. Safely.
back page of this issue. Please step forward and take
Everyone in the crowd watched, still not making
action.
any quick moves, then dispersed back to the
festivities of Pitch a Tent. The documentarians
I
K aia S a n d is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach her a t
kaia@streetroots. org.
Follow her on
Tw itter @ m kaiasand
t was a situation that easily could have gone
badly.
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