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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2018)
Street Roots • Sept. 7-13, 2018 Court decision lays bare our deep inequalities lot gets written in a day, and on Tuesday, Sept 4, Donald Trump managed to punch out 16 j .wild and furious tweets. But among this frenzy, it’s worth pausing to notice when a body of writing tilts society a bit more justice, and that’s what the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did that same day. Judge Marsha Berzon wrote an opinion upholding the Martin v. City of Boise decision, and in doing so, she reminded us that toe S f l l M b w I v X l ¡1 problem is not the poor, but poverty. Citing the Eighth Amendment By Kaia Sand to the Constitution, Berzon ' wrote that criminalizing people in Boise for being homeless is cruel and inhumane when there aren’t enough shelter beds for them - similar to the stance that the Department of Justice took in 2015 when it issued a statement of interest on the same case (then titled Bell v. City of Boise). Let the logic of the decision reverberate: criminalizing people for being homeless amounts to cruel and inhumane punishment “As long as there is no option of sleeping indoors,” Berzon wrote, “the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice, in the matter.” But there’s more nuance to the decision. While a district court dismissed this lawsuit in 2015 (as Bell vrCity of Boise) on grounds that there were enough shelter beds for homeless people pn the streets, the Appeals Court overturned that decision, showings that this is not simple a mathematical equation to balance. Even the appearance of available shelter beds needs to be understood in context. People might not have access to those beds because of particular restrictions - from the times of day shelters can be accessed to the length of stay an individual is allowed to stay. In certain instances, Berzon wrote, religious expectations pose further restrictions. The Ninth Circuit Court is big, covering the western region of the United States, and although the decision addressed a case in Boise, it was filed in the federal courthouse in downtown Portland. The implications of Martin v. City of Boise matter all over the West Coast. That’s why the city of Portland attorneys were scrambling to argue that it doesn’t apply to Portland, where the city laws against caftiping are eerily similar to those in Boise. Indeed, there is a pending court case in the Oregon court of appeals - State of Oregon v. Alexandra Chanel Barrett - that challenges the Portland public camping ordinance, which makes it illegal to camp in or upon any public property or : X L a K aia San d is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach her at kaia@streetroots. org. Follow her on Twitter @mkaiasand Page 3 O p in io n public right of way (14A.50.020). While the federal decision in the Ninth Circuit does not determine the outcome, it could influence it, because the Barrett case is based on the same argument that targeting people who are homeless is unconstitutional as cruel and inhumane punishment. And if you feel a glimmer of a sense that this should not matter - after all, all those tents are out there, people are camping - remember this: People never know when they might get swept And each time they are, our city take steps backward, because people are traumatized that much more. The Martin v. City of Boise decision reminds us that, yes, people are traumatized because these actions are cruel and inhumane under the U.S. Constitution. We are criminalizing the fact that people have to exist somewhere, and this is a society structured against the poor. The same applies to our approach toward mental illness and drug addiction. We live in a society where people are reeling. If you have guests who ask what is wrong when they look out over the humanity under the patchwork of tarps and tents, you could respond: deep inequality. This is West Coast inequality. Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles - these tents are all of us. And even if we have enough shelter beds for everyone, that deep inequality would still exist It would still serve us well to mount tents as monuments to the problem, because even if people are indoors sleeping on mats, they would be no less poor. They would just be out of sight. Here in Portland, one full-time minimum wage job is not enough to afford housing. A person would have to work two full-time minimum wage jobs to afford to Mve in thi» cfty. The average household’ led by an ' ' African-American or Native-American Portlander, or a single mother, cannot afford an apartment in this city. It is deeply unjust. In November there will be some ballot measures that give us opportunities to make progressive steps. Ballot measures 26-199 and 102 bring more money for deeply affordable housing to the region, and allow that funding to be more effectively applied. Ballot Measure 26-201 addresses climate change - which affects everyone,, but affects the poor more aggressively - and ties our solutions to more and better jobs. And if any candidates are arguing for law and order to disappear the poor from public view - well, recall this Ninth Circuit Court decision: that is cruel and inhumane punishment. We have a lot of tents in this city because a lot of people are homeless. If it feels extreme, it is extreme - up and down the West Coast. But the extremity does riot rest in the people who live in the tents. The extremity exists in all of us: this is who we are, a deeply unequal society.. Write hi if you would Wee'' / to lW / s o m e t h in g \ \ \ A—— A that youVe written published in our pages, or would \ / \ \ A / / like to get involved as a member of our reporting staff, contact Executive Editor Joanne Zohf at 503-228-5657, joanne@streetroots.org. We ask that all submissions include the author’s name and contact informate, if available. Street Roots 211 NW Davis St Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.sfreetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 pjn. Mon.-FrL, 7:30 &m.-2p,m. Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street Roots? Email Andrew Hogan atandrew@streetroots.org Staff Executive Director Kaia Sand kaia@streetroots.org Executive Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne®$tfeetFOOt$.org Vender Program Director Cole Merkel coletstteetrootsorg Development Director Andrew Hogan andrew@streetroots.org Senior Staff Reporter Emily Green Vendor Coordinator: DeVon Pouncey Administrative Assistant* Kayla Jones Program Assistant Meghan Murphey, Jesuit Volunteer Vender Assistant Alex Gillow-Wiles Development Assistant Rosemary Wilson Editorial Producer Monica Kwasnik Reporters Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly Prado, Ellena Rosenthal, Amanda Waldroupe,, Helen Hill, Jason Cohen. Photographers Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown, Celeste Hoche Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chair Rachel Langford Vice-Chair Dan Jones Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Alison Hallett Directors Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn, John Brown, NeJs Johnson Volunteers John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Dennis Hogan, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jason Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Brooke Anderson, Gillian FJoren, Mark Oldani, Bianca Butler, Camber Hansen- Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Helen Hill, Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen McFall, Pioneer Courthouse, one o f fo u r seats fo r the United States Court o f Appeals fo r the N in th Circuit. Robb Hengerer, Maile Yeats-Rowe, Erin Parsons, Faye Powell, Danny Moran, Susan Maloy and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call for more information at 503-228-5657.
