Portland observer., January 16, 2013, 2013 special edition, Page 33, Image 33

M artin L u th er K in g J r .
January 16, 2013
Page 33
2013 s p e c ia l e o i lion
Ibrahim Murbarak, one of the four main founders of downtown Portland’s Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp.
Prophet of the City’s Streets
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
le a th e r bag on his back,
Mubarak describes his mission
as “Fighting for human rights
to shelter, food, sleep, and
clothing.”
Martin Luther King Jr. would
have been inspired. For the
late civil rights leader who we
celebrate in a national holiday
on Jan. 21, the world of pov­
erty and inadequate housing
was closely related to the chal­
lenges of racism.
“Like a monstrous octopus,
poverty spreads its nagging,
prehensile tentacles into ham­
lets and villages all over our
world,” King said. “Two-thirds
of the people of the world go to
bed hungry tonight. They are
ill-housed; they are ill-nour­
ished; they are shabbily clad.”
Mubarak knows the issues
of not having a place to call
home firsthand. He knows
what it’s like to be kicked off a
step by a policeman’s boot. He
knows what it’s like to not to
be able to find a place to rest;
to be wet, cold, sleepy, hungry,
B re * htoo
spati
I*
grouchy... to be without a
house.
Mubarak says he was in a
“bad place” when he first took
to the streets 25 years ago. A
stressful divorce quickly turned
continued
on page 35
Right to
Dream, Sleep,
and Be Human
Downtown camp a
beloved community
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
The homeless-run, temporary shelter Right 2 Dream Too, offers homeless men, women, couples and familie
with children a place to rest and refuel. The accommodation has been cited monthly with fines by the city.
Walking into the Right 2 Dream Too houseless
camp, a gravel corner lot at Southwest Fourth
Avenue and Burnside Street, I think of what
people coming together might look like after an
apocalypse: former citizens in layers of worn and
torn clothing, sitting around, keeping warm or
keeping busy, food tents, rigged electrical equip­
ment, dogs, sleeping bags, tobacco, raised garden
beds...
It’s a steely cold December day and I am
greeted with a gleaming white smile and a hand­
shake by one of the camp’s four founders and
continued
on page 34