Last Sunday we talked about the proposal for the Eugene downtown security to ban certain “undesirables” from the downtown area. There have been some threatening incidents toward shop owners, which I agree are totally unacceptable. But I feel that the ability to banish people from public spaces has a big potential for discrimination, because it would only be used on people who make the respectable folk nervous, aka. dirty homeless people and punk teenagers. Can you imagine a group of elders being asked to move along from the benches on the sidewalk? Security certainly wasn’t bothering with the group of middle aged peace protesters who were flanking the entrance to the library on Saturday, but they did shoo the crusties off the benches they were chilling on when I was there on Tuesday.
I’ve been reading “Jesus for President” and thinking about standing up for powerless people who are being disrespected by the powerful. I wish we had more people in our faith community at times like this. How do you argue with 50 Christians joining the gutterpunks and homeless people on the sidewalks? I looked on the City of Eugene website and I didn’t see any upcoming public meetings that will deal with this issue. I really feel like this will end up being an abuse of power, and that we as a church should say something about it. Are there any other churches in town that care enough about it? I know you can’t force respect on people, but we can show others when they are acting cruel.
The second part of the issue is finding and being part of a positive solution, like an alternative safe place for teens to hang out and be themselves without being pushed around. The teen area in the library is minuscule. Nuestro Lugar requires those pesky commitments like obeying the law (for the record, I think LEAD is amazing, but I can understand why some don’t want to be involved). Everyone wants something like that (so they don’t have to deal with them out on the street) but they don’t want to pay for it, and when it happens, it’s a long struggle. LEAD didn’t have their own space for many many years, and the organization is 10 or 11 years old. The Youth Action Council has been trying to get a teen center since before I was involved in it in high school.
There’s a cycle in this lack of respect that happens between age classes. Adults disregard the rights and potential of teenagers, so the teenagers believe it and push back, which proves to the adults that they’re just bad eggs. Why does it have to happen that way? Where’s the support that growing young people need from stable adults?
Ok, someone else can use this soapbox now. What are we going to do about treating homeless people like human beings?
Hannah-
I think that your blog post is very good. As I sat here reading it I’ve also got the RG underneath my computer with the headline that the ban passed the city council. I think that you’re right when you seek a peaceable/positive solution to this issue. There are two sides to each story. I think that a solution doesn’t just bring peace, but comes out of peace. What do I mean by that? In a sense each side – the business owners and the street kids/ homeless – have to seek more than their own rights. There has to be a desire to live harmoniously…and the turf war from both sides has to stop.
I think you’re right about the powerful disrespecting the powerless. This ban is a backlash by the haves against a real or imagined insult on them by the have-nots. I think that it would be great to find a community of church’s in the area to partner with in advocating alongside the street kids. I know that we’re really small, but we can still be a part. Brian McLaren talks a lot about the concept of power. He says that as a white, American, upper-middle-class man he has an immense amount of power. His responsibility is to wield it in a way which helps, rather than hurts, the powerless. In a sense, this is a way in which we lay it down…by moving it into an aligned position with the needs of the poor and oppressed.
What are your thoughts on this concept?
By: joshclark17 on August 12, 2008
at 8:34 pm
So who we gonna call?
By: froregon on August 14, 2008
at 9:06 am
I understand the concern. In the paper and on the news it is aimed at people that have been arrested (but not necessarily yet convicted) of a handfull of named crimes including selling drugs to a minor, assault, and possession of alcohol by a minor and public intoxication. I’m sure that it can and probably will be abused but to be fair it doesn’t sound like it’s designed to sweep everyone but old, white people off of the street.
By: Herb on August 14, 2008
at 10:02 am
The idea of holding a forum for mediation came up today on the hike. What kind of “hearings” have been done already and how could we contribute and take things to the next step? Are there any that are coming up that we could be a part of, even the Springfieldians? What exactly was the city council ruling? What would we like to see from this issue being brought up in a forum to discuss how each side feels and what they’re looking for?
Who would have a stake in this that should be involved? LEAD and the Youth Action Board, downtown shop owners, Hosea Youth Services, Looking Glass New Roads, the Eugene Mission or any other organization that serves people without homes or who use downtown as a base, families and individuals who use downtown. Hey, if they’ve written letters to the editor and signed their names, and they’re in the phone book, we could invite them personally
By: froregon on August 18, 2008
at 7:01 am