JANUARY 26, 2024 POETRY Thee one TERESA BASHAM Groundcover vendor No. 570 You will alwayz be, My sweet love, You’ll alwayz have my heart, You’re thee perfect one for me, You’re thee one I think of, You’re thee one I depend on, I never want ta part, I know we’re not wrong, We belong together, My love for you, Izz so strong, I belong to you. GROUNDCOVER NEWS What many homeless people seem to know more than most others PHILIP SPINK Groundcover contributor If you want to be a spirit Of grace despite angers burning within, Of dignity despite attacks of oppressors Or slights of degredators; You should gather up Every seed, and blossom, and wingbeat of love That have ever given strength to your spirit, And with them turn yourself into a tower Of light above hate, To make hate small and withering. To rise kindly towards the true right Let your love become a power, But of a very gentle nature; By seeing no hater as your enemy, But rather hate itself. Thus you make the noble judgment, Contending against all horrors of profound violence, That if you in a fury take out an eye for any eye, This will never truly heal you, But rather cut out along with another’s hated eye Some gentle part of your own heart. EVICTED from page 4 me if I knew where any other camps were — asking me to tattle on other camps. “PATH told me they would help me move; they gave me their number and told me they would call. The police officer told me it would eventually come to bulldozing. I appreciate them not giving me an official ticket; the sign is ridiculous, though. “PATH came again to my tent the next Tuesday morning; they offered to give me a ride somewhere else. I couldn’t go with them at the time; I was uncomfortable with the idea of moving. I didn’t want to ride in the car of someone I didn’t know. And where else would they put me?” Truly, it's a catch-22. When it comes to land for survival camping in Washtenaw County, everything is spoken for. It's all either private or public. Earlier that same day, another camp on Ypsilanti City property was issued a verbal warning of a looming sweep in a similar fashion. It is home to three people who had occupied the space since June 2023. Mark, a resident there, met the police at his tent door. “He asked me for an ID and who was in my tent. They told me I had until Monday to move. My first thought was, ‘Are you crazy? Go where?’ Our spot is low-key. We’re way off the road, we’ve never seen anyone pass us. They wait until it's below zero, and tell us we have to move our spot. We don’t have anywhere to go.” Mixed signals Tuesday January 16, affected campers and members of Washtenaw Camp Outreach attended Ypsilanti City Council to speak out against the recent winter sweeps. More activists went to the Washtenaw Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, January 17 to convey the same message. “Stop the sweeps. People need a safe place to have their camp set up that's not going to be threatened with eviction. City property should be that place people can go …The city has a responsibility to do something. For the police, for PATH, for the city to spend their time evicting someone is inhumane. The tents are iced to the ground,” said LK, WCO organizer, addressing Council. Marie reminded Council, “I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing to get rehoused. I’m working with all the agencies I can be.” The Ypsilanti Police Chief denied issuing these notices, and Ypsilanti City Council members claimed to not know anything about it. Washtenaw County Commissioner Annie Sommerville offered to mobilize funds to pay for hotel rooms for the displaced campers (and did). Marie recounted, “I talked to the Police Chief, I talked to Councilmembers, and they told me they weren’t going to sweep. It’s confusing ... I see flags, fences, tape everywhere. I don’t know what it means. “I dread the unknown. You just sit in your tent and wait for someone to come ... That’s traumatizing for me. Now I’m living in fear. “I think there is room for improvement in the way we interact. I don’t want to point fingers at anyone, I know there is tension. I think this is an opportunity to improve these interactions. I hope we can grow. That’s important to me.” More than just a warning The threat of a camp sweep still causes harm, even if not immediately enforced, as in the case of Marie, Mark and Mikey’s campsites. Unwelcome encounters with police or government officials can be traumatic, especially after experiencing homelessness for some time. “I’ve been attacked for no reason before. I’ve stayed in hotels, motels and lived in my car wrongfully attacked by law enforcement. In the last year and a half I’ve had so much law enforcement contact. Starting when I was ripped from my home. My stories aren’t that different from others. In fact, I’ve been fortunate,” said Marie. The campers affected by these sweeps choose not to enter into winter sheltering programs hosted by the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County for a variety of legitimate reasons. Campsite locations are chosen based on proximity to employment, resources, water and other survival needs, bus routes and more. Campsite set-up involves tents, tarps, supplies, often natural materials and are arranged with care and intention. Threats of eviction — even if they are misinformed or premature — displace people even further. They are as deeply harmful as an eviction from an apartment or house. LK from Washtenaw Camp Outreach reflected in an interview that camps are swept on both private property and on City of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor [public] property throughout the year in this way. She recognizes that most campers do not want to fight back because it inevitably causes further exposure to police and the courts. The community fight for these campers’ right to shelter as they choose has been waged through survival programs, fundraising for emergency hotel stays and mutual aid efforts. The acute inhumanity of these recent sweeps during the January polar vortex motivated direct action from the community, ultimately winning their short term demand for the City of Ypsilanti to "Stop the sweeps." But the fight doesn't look like its stopping here. These campers understand their right to shelter and their right to housing. It's time for the County, the City and land owners to get on board. 11
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