It's raining again and the occupied parks are pretty much all gone now, but I am comforted by the realization that at least here in Eugene the homeless have a place to go.
The movement born out of anger and outrage at the social and political inequality in this country, turned into a demonstration of compassion.
Here in Eugene there was no army of storm troopers in riot gear that drove out the protesters. The occupiers were allowed to pack up there teepees and domes and myriad tents and store them in a rented warehouse. The movement lives on in another rented office.
It may be that the Occupy movement's greatest achievements are that it changed the narrative in this country. Before we were dead set on austerity measures no matter who it hurt, and the rich were destined to receive ever more tax breaks while more and more people were thrown out into the streets.
But in this community the occupation highlighted the plight of the homeless. Regular people from the community came down to visit and found that the homeless are just regular folk like you and I. They are all deserving of our respect and dignity. And the community responded to their plight.
First came the Egan Centers. There were 5-6 churches and other organizations that decided to open their doors when the temperature got cold. The Egan Centers were named after a homeless Vet who froze to death in his car.
http://eganwarmingcenter.com/Then once the word came down that we had to leave the park they opened up a building in the Fair Grounds and another Church that made another 150 beds available to the homeless for the holidays.
As a nation we are judged by how we treat our weakest and most vulnerable members. I am proud that in our community, especially in this the holiday season, our community has found it's heart. Now we are discussing ways to make permanent homeless sites. In the past permanent camps didn't work because when you threw dozens of damaged and distrustful strangers together you ended up with lots of fights. The occupation has shown people how to form a community and how to get along. Maybe permanent solutions are now possible.
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion...The Occupation allowed us to put faces and names to the statistics. It is easy to forget about people we don't see. It is easy to dismiss them as societies outcasts if they remain hiding in the bushes. But now we realize 30% of the homeless are families, and about half of the children in the country are below the poverty level.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/201...Most of the other cities spent millions on their repression. Los Angeles sent in 1400
Police after midnight when most people were sleeping and they turned 700 tents into seven and a half tons of garbage. This was the accepted tactic that most of the cities worked out. Along the way there was tear gas and the pepper spraying of the defenseless. Now the protesters are suing because of this abuse of power.
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP17c7883e...In the Miami/Dade County, Fla., Pottinger decision — a group of homeless people sued Miami because of that city's policy of arresting homeless people for sleeping, eating and congregating in public, and also for seizing and destroying their property — the court said the Constitution's Fourth, Eighth and 14th Amendments protect homeless people. It ordered the city to pay $600,000 to the plaintiffs and to establish "safe zones" where the homeless could live without fear of arrest.
http://osaka.law.miami.edu/~schnably/pot...I think compassion works better don't you?