occupynashville:

An occupier at Occupy Nashville was told that tonight, a Tennessee representative said that people “choose to be homeless” while he was defending his support of HB 2638 (which will criminalize the homeless). This is the letter that she sent him:

Dear Representative Faison,

I was at Legislative Plaza tonight and I unfortunately had to leave around 9:30 p.m. I heard that just after I left, you made the statement that people “choose to be homeless or not.” I sincerely hope that I’m mistaken and that you did not make such a statement.

But in the case that I am not mistaken, I wonder if you would say that the young constituent with cerebral palsy that you spoke of also choose to have cerebral palsy? Now before you say that a physical ailment is different from the socio-economic realities of homelessness, allow me explain. Let me tell you about my friend “Mark” who I’ve known for three years. Mark is un-housed and currently lives on Legislative Plaza. He has been an active member of Occupy Nashville and he carries signs, joins us on marches, has been quoted in The Tennessean, comes to our meetings, and picks up trash on the plaza. Mark did not choose to grow up in an abusive foster home. He did not choose to be verbally, physically, and sexually abused for over 10 years. He did not choose to live with such trauma and then to develop severe and persistent mental health problems. He does not choose to shake and have his body go into shock when he tries to stay indoors because he was gang raped by people in shelters. He does not choose to have flashbacks of the horrors he has lived through. Mark did NOT choose to be homeless just like my friend “Teresa” who fled a domestic violence situation did not choose to be homeless, just like my friend “Bill” who also grew up in poverty and in an abusive home did not choose to develop schizophrenia and find himself on the streets without insurance and without a support system.

I have attached a photo to this email. It was a photo taken this past Saturday night when an outreach group I work with (Open Table Nashville) opened up emergency warming shelters because there are not enough shelter and transitional housing beds in Nashville to accommodate all of the men, women, and children who are homeless. This photo is of “Gary’s” feet after we washed and bandaged them. Gary is a 61 year old man. When I found him on Legislative Plaza, he had been wearing the same clothes for multiple weeks. His clothes were stained with urine and feces, and in 20 degree weather he wasn’t wearing socks and was covering himself with a wet, stained sleeping bag. Gary is psychiatrically disabled and mentally impaired. He had second degree frostbite on his feet and sores all over his body from sitting in his own excrement. We took him in, cleaned him up, dressed his wounds, and he has been recovering in the hospital since Saturday night. You cannot tell me that Gary, Bill, Teresa, and Mark choose to be homeless. Don’t even try. If HB 2638/SB 2508 passes, it will make people like Gary—people who DO NOT choose to be homeless, but because of devastating circumstances are cast out from our society—a criminal.

I am a Christian (like you), a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and I have been a homeless outreach worker in Nashville for several years. Do not tell me that your duty is to the “laws of Tennessee” over the laws of God that command us to love our God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. To pass this law is NOT to love your neighbors like Gary, Bill, Teresa, and Mark. To pass this law is to criminalize your un-housed neighbors. To pass this law is to turn away from and deny the image of God that is in every one of our un-housed neighbors. But I guess Jesus was criminalized by his state, too—the Roman Empire—so this is nothing new. As my personal hero Dorothy Day once said, “Those who cannot see Christ in the poor are atheists indeed.”

With grave sincerity,
Lindsey
Nashville, TN

occupynashville:

A committee of the state House of Representative sent a bill to remove Occupy Nashville protesters from the state Capitol to the House floor after increasing the bill’s penalty to nearly a year in jail or a $2,500 fine.

 The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-2 to approve a ban on unauthorized camping on public grounds, in a bid to force the four-month-old Occupy encampment from War Memorial Plaza. The committee also approved an amendment that raised violations to a Class A misdemeanor, the highest class of penalties short of a felony.

Occupy Nashville protesters argued at Tuesday’s hearing that the bill – which specifically bans the use of items such as tents, tarps, sleeping bags and camp stoves – would criminalize homelessness. They also said the tents they have set up on the plaza are a form of protest that should be protected by the First Amendment.

“Corporations can by television and billboards,” said protester Michael Custer. “We are not wealthy. … Those tents? They are our billboard.”

But supporters of the bill said the protest has fostered fights, drug use and lewd behavior, including at least one instance each of a public sex act and urination.

“If you approve of that – you think that’s peaceable assembly – you need to be peed on,” said state Rep. Eric Watson, the bill’s sponsor. “See how you like it.”

The vote by the House Judiciary Committee means the bill could be voted on by the full House within days. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up a companion measure later this afternoon. 

occupynashville:

Dear Governor Haslam (bill.haslam@tn.gov.) OR Representative Watson (rep.eric.watson@capitol.tn.gov) OR Senator Gresham (sen.dolores.gresham@capitol.tn.gov),

I know that you, as a civil servant, an elected official, and a person of faith, are committed to defending the Constitutional rights of all Tennesseans and in helping those who live without the stability of a home. For this reason, I am writing to ask you to halt HB 2638/SB 2508. This bill imperils our freedoms and also threatens Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens.

I am concerned that this bill exists in order to criminalize one specific social movement: Occupy Nashville, located at Legislative Plaza. While major corporations are allowed to “live” near elected officials through constant campaign contributions and lobbyist activity, this bill limits the presence of real, human constituents who are petitioning their government for a redress of grievances on behalf of the 99%. Furthermore, this bill seeks to remove and label law-abiding, concerned, tax-paying citizens as “threats to public health, safety, and/or welfare.” 

On the contrary, we believe the true health of the Public—the health of our democracy—is contingent upon the continued activity of social movements like Occupy Nashville. I am sure you are aware that permanent vigils near decision-makers is a time-honored method of non-violent change-making, from Tiananmen Square to Tahrir Square.  

But beyond limiting the free speech rights of Occupy Nashville and all Tennesseans, this bill would also criminalize our homeless friends across Tennessee who cannot live in traditional shelters. The available homeless shelters in Nashville do not accept individuals who wish to stay with their spouses and families, who are pet-owners, or who work non-traditional work hours. It would be hypocritical to promote family values and then further criminalize poor people who are working to keep their families together by outlawing their presence on remaining public land.

While it is certain that the bill is written to address the existence of Occupy Nashville on Legislative plaza, this bill would not only inhibit first amendment rights to those petitioning for a redress of grievances and criminalize the urban homeless, but would also apply undue restrictions to all parks across the great state of Tennessee. Assembling in Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in Memphis or Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville could potentially be criminalized if this bill is to pass. 

Occupy Nashville has worked with the Metro Public Health Department in the past to address any potential health concerns, and we are happy to continue this relationship. We are committed to working with you and other officials to address any future concerns that may arise during the course of this historic campaign.

However, should HB 2638/SB 2508 be passed, and be used to evict Occupy Nashville, I will once again be at the Plaza, willing to risk arrest on behalf of our First Amendment rights.

Sincerely,

(Name, address, #)

This is in regards to a bill that is being shoved through Tennessee’s legislature. I think it’s a very important bill to stop, not just because it affects Occupy Nashville, but because it potentially and unduly limits access to state parks all across Tennessee. This is a big deal, y’all. If you live in Tennessee (and even if you don’t) please take a second to copy and paste this (and maybe remove or edit the last paragraph) and send it to Gov. Haslam, Rep. Watson, and/or Sen. Gresham. 

Again: THIS APPLIES NOT JUST TO NASHVILLE, BUT TO MEMPHIS, CHATTANOOGA, KNOXVILLE, ETC. All of Tennessee would feel the repercussions of this bill, as per Occupy Nashville’s lawyers. 

“Occupy Nashville’s problem has not just been that women get abused there. More broadly, our problem is that when men and women call out that abuse, they are told that ‘that’s not what this movement is about’ and that feminism is a distraction from our larger goals, the goals that supposedly unify all of the 99%. While this kind of dodging doesn’t always fly, it works surprisingly often. When it does, the supposed nobility of the larger movement-at-hand acts as a free license for us to act out our internalized misogyny unchecked. That’s when, for all its sometimes-utility as a combative slogan, “we are the 99 percent” backfires. In those moments it becomes a tool used against women rather than a tool for inspiring democratic experiments.

On the many contentious email threads of Occupy Nashville, we are often admonished to ‘leave feminism out of this’; or, if the author doesn’t want the liability of being specific, just to ‘leave our agendas at the door’ and (it always seems to be white men saying this) ‘focus on our core issues’ – presumably, the twin goals of getting money out of politics and ending corporate personhood, rather than the issues of ending identity- or body-specific violence, like that against women, people of color, or people overseas. [I assume that other activists are familiar with these online flame-wars, but if you’re not, thank your luck and read on.] While few if any of those people calling for feminism to be ‘left out of this’ in Nashville are anarchists, this is something in anti-authoritarian circles that we refer to as “manarchism” – essentially, the idea that your anticapitalist militancy is so badass that you don’t have to treat others with kindness or take feminism seriously.”

I am taking the liberty of posting this, as a feminist occupier in Nashville. Feminism IS a core issue. But even beyond Nashville, there have been women reacting positively to this piece, upset that misogyny is alive and well in many encampments across the nation, women who are actively trying to dismantle the hegemony of patriarchy in their attempt to imagine and create a better society, a better world. I highly recommend this piece to any occupier concerned with the issue of feminism. 

occupynashville:

A wonderful article by a Nashville occupier. 

What can the anarchist labor movement teach us about solidarity in the fight against sexual violence?

occupynashville:

thedailywhat:

This Seems Kinda Wrong of the Day: For the second time in just over a year, the city of South Fulton, TN, has found itself having to respond to a flurry of criticism over a controversial fee it requires of residents outside city limits who wish to be protected from fire damage.

When Vicky Bell called 911, firefighters from South Fulton rushed to her mobile home just outside the city. But once it was determined that Bell and her boyfriend had not paid the $75 “pay for spray” fee, firefighters simply stood around and watched her home burn to the ground.

The scene was reminiscent of a similar incident which occurred in October of last year. In that instance, the home owner reportedly offered to pay whatever it took for firefighters to help, but was told it was “too late.”

Mayor David Crocker stood by the city’s policy, telling Local 6 that “there’s no way to go to every fire and keep up the manpower, the equipment, and just the funding for the fire department.”

Crocker believes that helping even one non-subscriber would result in a lack of incentive to pay the fee. “After the last situation, I would hope that everybody would be well aware of the rural fire fees, this time,” he said.

Indeed, Bell told the news station she was aware of the fee, but didn’t think this could happen to her.

No word on why the couple wasn’t given the option of paying a fine in exchange for the services of the firefighters who, according to bell, were already at the scene “sitting at a distance.” 

[wpsd.]

This is the sort of austerity measure that should never have to happen. Ever.

At last night’s GA, Occupy Nashville passed around a basket to collect money for this family. The local Red Cross in east Tennessee agreed to pay for two nights at a hotel for the family, but that’s all they could provide. After that, the family is on their own, with no house or belongings. We collected money to attempt to extend that stay.

If any other Tennessee occupations could reach out to this family and offer money, clothing, or even shelter, PLEASE do so. 

Reblogged again to add: 

If any other occupations (or people!) want to donate as Occupy Nashville has, send checks to:

Northwest Tennessee Disaster Services
PO Box 1458
Union City, TN 38281
Attn: Bell Family Fire

This is a really great article on Occupy Nashville!

“We do have a lot of conservative voices in this camp and the thing that is really appealing to all of us is we believe in the common ties that bind us,” said Samantha Blanchard, a 30-year-old office administrator who was sheltering in a tent as rain poured down on a frosty, grey Sunday afternoon. 

“This is a place where if people were really going to come together and form that ‘purple’ (combination of blue and red political affiliations) that everybody lusts for, it’s going to probably happen in this camp.” 

also featuring yours truly.