Skip to main content

At the Safe Ground movement rally

Before the 10:00 AM rally at City Hall that the "Safe Ground movement" had planned for this morning, Sister Libby [CEO of Loaves & Fishes] came up to me and I asked if Cathleen Williams is still a part of the "movement." Libby nodded and said "yes," or "oh, yes" in a strong, certain way.

"Shouldn't she not be?" I asked.

"I've been reading your blog," said Libby, politely. "I don't think that she's communistic. Communion is part of the movement."

As she was walking away, I asked Libby if she believed People's Tribune was communist. There was no response, or perhaps Libby didn't hear me.

I didn't stay, but later, maybe fifteen minutes after 10AM, I saw the crowd of people, numbering perhaps 100, maybe more, marching around City Hall, chanting repeatedly "What do we want? Safe Ground! When do we want it? Now!"

They settled in, where they had been, in an area between the two buildings that make up the City Hall complex. Joan Burke, Loaves & Fishes' Director of Advocacy said a few words through a megaphone – something about the great good work of this that and the other and him and her – and then Sr. Libby said a few things over the megaphone I couldn't make out.

People milled around, chatting in groups. There were homeless people, many wearing Safe Ground T-shirts; some men were very well dressed and had to have been politicians or businesspeople or lawyers; happy supporters of the homeless cause were there; more than a few seniors were there; as were some detached people, possibly city workers out to see what was happening. One older man with flowing hair was dressed impressively in a brown robe as a Jesuit or Benedictine monk, excepting that his sneakers and jeans showing below the robe distracted a bit from the effect. A motley, yet starkly liberal, grouping. A News40 van was parked nearby, as were a couple of large black police vans. A couple cops, closer to the action, were on bicycles.

Comments

Unknown said…
I was there today too, took a few little videos and know it was a good peaceful rally with good educational value. We should mainly focus on helping to meet people's basic needs and not lose sight of helping the homeless to help themselves. We should not get lost in ego-driven petty politics. Red-baiting is kind of old hat. I myself am not an old guard communist, but I can relate to the true positive merits and potential of a true global democratic socialism. I cannot endorse the evilness of state corporate capitalism. But I digress... Let us help the homeless and support safeground!
Unknown said…
Loaves & Fishes has long lost sight of helping the homeless to help themselves.

I am sorry that you are so fully ignorant of the history of the 20th Century, Peta-de-Aztlan. A "true global democratic socialism" would manifest as the realization of the Orwellian nightmare.

Popular posts from this blog

Sex, Lies and Exegesis

Definition: exegesis [ek-si-jee-sis]: critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, especially of the Bible. Painting by He Qi , a prominent artist from China who focuses on Christian themes. This piece is inspired by The Song of Solomon. In his May 21 column, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof stirred up a hornets’ nest. His column wasn’t really a column, it was a quiz, titled “ Religion and Sex Quiz .” The questions and what he provided as the answers were provocative, to say the least. We would later learn, in his follow-up, a post to the Times online in the afternoon of the same day, “ Reader Comments on my Religion Quiz ,” that the information that was used to create the quiz came with the help of Bible scholars, “including Jennifer Knust, whose book inspired [the quiz], and … Mark Jordan of Harvard Divinity School.” Kristof doesn’t name Knust’s book, but a quick googling reveals that it must certainly be Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s...

In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day

Calvin [a "green hat" in Unfriendly Park] makes the argument for continued incompetent management. Hobbes represents me — only, in real life, I don't have that good a coat . In an act of Collective Punishment, Loaves & Fishes closes its park in the morning on New Year’s Day In one respect — and only one — that I can think of, Loaves & Fishes is NOT hypocritical: The management hates the way America is run and wants to turn it into a backward communist country . Consistent with that, Loaves & Fishes’ management runs its facility like a backward communist country. The People’s Republic of Loaves & Fishes. A seemingly minor thing happened on New Year’s Day. A couple of people smoked a joint in Loaves & Fishes’ Friendship Park and one of the park directors, or both of them, determined, at about 10am, that, in retribution, they would punish all the homeless there by closing the park for the day. This is something the managers of the park do all the ...

Loaves & Fishes implicates Buddhism and Jack Kornfield in its June Donations Plea.

The Sukhothai Traimit Golden Buddha was found in a clay-and-plaster overlaid buddha statue in 1959, after laying in wait for 500 years. It's huge and heavy: just under 10 feet tall and weighs 5 1/2 tons. At the beginning of their June newsletter , Loaves and Fishes relates a story, taken from the beginning of renowned Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield's 2008 book The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology . The first part and first chapter in Kornfield's book is "Part I: Who are you really?" and chapter 1 is called "Nobility: Our Original Goodness," which ought to serve as a clue to what the beginning of the book is about, not that that sentiment isn't strewn through-out the chapter, section and book such that what Kornfield is telling us should be crystal clear. Somehow, the not-ready-for-primetime management at Loaves & Fishes have managed to use Kornfield's wise and kindly words in a way that mangles th...