The criminalization of houselessness and the complicity of educators

On May 1st, 90,428 people voted for Proposition B, re-criminalizing houselessness in Austin, TX. Only 66,292 people voted against the proposition. Austin had long criminalized homelessness through a no sit, no lie ordinance that allowed the police to ticket and arrest the houseless—yes, for sitting or lying down in public. But in 2019 the city council voted to decriminalize sitting and lying down in public, which at the time seemed like a big win for civil liberties and civil rights, locally. Of course the police harassment and abuse of the houseless that preceded no-sit, no-lie continued even after city council removed the ordinance, but far fewer houseless people were being ticketed and arrested which helped limit a lot of the harm.

In February of 2020, the political action committee Save Austin Now started a petition drive to reinstate the City’s camping ban. A second petition attempt succeeded in February of this year, leading to the ballot measure being included in the May election. When people attacked the effort saying that criminalization was anti-homeless and did not do anything to help end houselessness, Save Austin Now and their allies (such as the Austin Police Association) often argued that they were not trying to criminalize homelessness—that they were actually trying to help the homeless! But the language of the proposition is unambiguous, it focuses wholly on criminalization and not at all on helping the houseless:

Shall an ordinance be adopted that would create a criminal offense and a penalty for sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk or sleeping outdoors in and near the downtown area around the University of Texas campus; create a criminal offense and penalty for solicitation, defined as requesting money or another thing of value, at specific hours and locations or for solicitation in a public area that is deemed aggressive in manner; create a criminal offense and penalty for camping in any public area not designated by the Parks and Recreation Department?

The new ban is expected to go into effect on May 11th. Currently, we do not know what that means. Will the police immediately begin ticketing and arresting the houseless? Will the city or the state begin to raze current encampments? Or will the city wait until more support is in place to help the houseless people who will be displaced? The questions are coming not just from the houseless and those who care about them, but also the supporters of Proposition B.

What we all know, those who care about the welfare of the houseless as well as those who want to disappear the houseless, is that Proposition B is intended to harm the houseless. Fines, jail time, and threats of violence only deepen the struggles of the houseless community, making it more difficult for them to escape houselessness. It is uncivilized and inhumane to punish people for being too poor to afford a safe place to go. The harm of criminalizing houselessness is tangible and real. Those who support Proposition B are okay with harming the houseless because they just want them out of sight and out of mind—in jail, in prison, pushed out to another city, or dead.

Image created by Eli H. Spencer Heyman (Twitter: @elium2)

It is no surprise that the people who are most in support of criminalizing houselessness tend to be those who feel most removed from the threat of falling into houselessness, and who do not see the humanity in those they see as the other. The map of voter support for Proposition B (see image) maps quite well onto the map of financial support for Save Austin Now, as well as onto the higher income neighborhoods of the city. While the initiative was driven by Republicans, it was successful because of the eager support of a large share of affluent Democrats and independents.

Unfortunately, it was also supported by too many educators, as well. As I pointed out a week ago, wannabe school board members and too many educators have rallied around issues such as criminalizing houselessness, protecting and promoting white supremacy, attacking trans kids, and removing pandemic safety protocols from public and private spaces and organizations. What all of these positions have in common is the dehumanization of historically marginalized and oppressed groups, or a complete disregard for the lives of those groups.

I was recently made aware of some eager and harmful social media comments by a local nature educator who serves many homeschooling families and some local school communities. His name is Chris Hyde and he is the founder and leader of Natureversity. The reason I feel compelled to call him out by name and raise this point is two-fold. First, it is vital for people in alternative education communities and the homeschooling and unschooling communities to understand that a disregard for the humanity of others is not congruent with a belief in child and youth liberation, as liberation requires a commitment to anti-oppression as a base to build off of. Second, Abrome paid Hyde to take us through a multi-day outdoor training last summer, and one of the Facilitators at Abrome had previously worked with him at another organization, and it is important to us that we publicly distance ourselves from his rhetoric and actions.

Some might dismiss Hyde’s comments as focused on cleaning up trash, whether he meant picking up actual garbage, or if perhaps he considered the personal belongings of displaced people to be trash to clean up. We know for a fact that in the past the local police have forced houseless people to leave their stuff behind at the threat of arrest, and then they would trash their personal belongings, or a ‘cleanup crew’ would come in and threw everything away. They’ve even destroyed water bottles in the summer, and thrown away mobility devices. Some might even question whether cleaning up is a euphemism for disappearing people, such as mass arresting the houseless, or putting them on buses with a one-way ticket out of town. Hyde’s comments did not appear to go that far, but plenty of people on the same “Take Back Austin” Facebook page thread were willing to go there (images attached). Take Back Austin, by the way, seems to be a collection of anti-houseless, pro-MAGA folks led by right-wing City Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly who somehow feel that the affluent Austinites need to take back their city from houseless folks. As if the houseless have any power whatsoever. Inhumane and delusional.

We had some difficult conversations around houselessness during the training that we did with Hyde this summer. We made clear why we would not call the police on the houseless, and we argued that houselessness is a choice made by society far more than it is a choice made by those experiencing it. That in a just, compassionate society that prioritized the wellbeing of everyone, that houselessness would not exist. We clearly did not move him to recognize the humanity of houseless people, or our collective responsibility to each other and the environment.

Whether or not to criminalize houselessness is far more than a question of aesthetics, or a effective tool to combat houselessness. It is a question of ethics, and a question of what type of society do we want to live in. Any educator who believes that all children should be treated as full people must be opposed to the othering, marginalization, and oppression of the houseless. After all, over 2 million children experience houselessness each year. Instead, educators should be working to help change the conditions of society so that children are able to grow up in a world that will nurture them and allow them to contribute to their families, their friends, their neighborhoods, and to improve the human condition. And in order to help create that world we must begin with a firm commitment to anti-oppression.

Day 117 of AY20-21: I yelled at a Learner

Tuesday was day 117 of the pandemic year and the first day of shadowing for a prospective Learner. We started out the day with a morning meeting where we led with announcements. My announcement was I did not want to wait until the end of the day to do our social justice oriented activity, as that risked us not getting to it. Plus, it was easier for a couple of Learners to do it early in the day rather than later in the day. We then each introduced ourselves with our name, pronouns, how long we have been here, and what our favorite thing about Abrome was. The favorite things responses were interesting: no dominating hierarchy, the community and the people inside it, learning more about myself and the world and feeling less alone, less “fights” (i.e., struggles between teachers and student than there are at school), having new people come to Abrome.

That Tuesday was also a huge step up in terms of our intentionality on social justice for the social justice oriented Flying Squad. We agreed that we were going to pick up trash again, and we got right to it after the morning meeting. We spent a lot of time picking up trash on the walk that morning, and it would lead us into many deep conversations and lessons learned. Also, some songs. I don’t know how I did not know, but apparently the Learners and Facilitator Ariel have sung “the Abromies go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah” before, and their rendition on this day was fabulous, until a turtle stole the show.

Facilitator Ariel and I tried to help the Learners recognize where they were physically within the city, and we would point out landmarks and help them orient themselves based on places they’ve been with the Flying Squad this cycle, or prior to the pandemic. We also talked about why and how the trash accumulates in certain places. Some tried to turn the pickup in to a competition, but Facilitator Ariel specifically requested that we not compete, and that we just work together.

In total we had four large heavy duty garbage bags with us between seven people on what should have been a pretty clean trail along the river on the west side of downtown Austin. We were filling up the bags pretty quickly though, leading us to believe that either the city does not clean up very often, or that they don’t clean up at all, or Austinites are particularly challenged at finding trash cans for their trash.

As we were going under the 6th street bridge above Shoal Creek the youngest Learner looked in a large storm drain and said, “why is someone sleeping in there?” I asked him to step away so that we could talk about it. At that time an adolescent Learner walked over to it to look in, and I told him, “please do not look in there, leave the person alone.” He said, “I just want to look,” and I replied, “no, do not look in there. Leave them alone.” He then said he was going to look and proceeded to bend down to look in there and I yelled, “[name], step away now!” It was the third time I’ve yelled at a Learner since I’ve been at Abrome. It shocked everyone, including the Learner. One of the benefits of yelling once every two years is that it brings everything to a halt. I then had a conversation with the Learner about how little privacy and dignity are afforded to the houseless, and how our curiosity does not justify us disregarding their privacy and dignity. The Learner was naturally defensive and upset, but on the topic of honoring the humanity of those who are already marginalized in society I was not going to let this moment pass without explaining clearly what my concerns were. As I was talking to the Learner about it Facilitator Ariel was talking to all the other Learners about the necessity to not cause harm, and how easy it is for people who have privilege to hurt others.

A bit further down the trail the Facilitators stepped away so the Learners could discuss where they wanted to take the day. As we were standing and sitting around a middle aged man came walking by and jokingly told us not to pick up his bed roll that was sitting under the bridge. It was a joke that fell flat, as no one thought that joking about being homeless was in the least bit amusing. Particularly in that moment. The Learners eventually decided that they wanted to find a place to dump the trash, go to the bathroom, and then make their way north to The Texas State Capitol grounds to hang out, with a stop for some food along the way.

We emerged from the trail to a spot that conveniently had a dumpster waiting for us, and after we took a photo with our haul, we dumped the trash. I expected that we would then begin to walk but a woman with a dog came by and the Learners asked if they could pet the dog, and then they got into an extended conversation with the woman. Facilitator Ariel and I used the time to talk about the difficulties that we had under the bridge and what role we can play in helping Learners decenter themselves when necessary.

Soon thereafter we stumbled upon a bike shop that Facilitator Ariel’s friend works at. There, he talked about difficult situation that arose for the shop the prior summer during the protests and uprising around racial injustice and police brutality. The shop had a contract with the police department, and decided to end their contract, and that led to a lot of harassment directed at the bike shop. The harassment included threats of violence against the shop, even though the high profile owner of the shop expressed very reactionary, conservative views of the necessity of policing.

Facilitator Ariel and most of the Learners then went to a nearby park to use a public restroom, while I stayed with two Learners who wanted to get some food at a local corner store. Both Learners bought food, and sat down to eat, and I pulled out my lunch. As I was finishing, Facilitator Ariel and the other Learners came back.

One of the Learners who stuck around had found two skateboards without wheels and was playing around on them. He was practicing a variety of moves, and when Facilitator Ariel showed up, he also got into the act. It was during this time that it became apparent to me that I am definitely not the cool Facilitator. Just kidding, I already knew that.

We then continued to move north toward The Capitol, although the youngest Learner began to struggle. It may have been the salty food he bought coupled with not drinking enough water. We all slowed down for him and waited. I was proud of how the Learners recognized the need to support the struggling Learner instead of walking off.

One of the great things about the day was that the long walk allowed us to have a bunch of different types of conversations. For example, while walking one of the Learners asked Facilitator Ariel if he could touch his hair. I intervened and asked to speak to the Learner. I told the Learner that it is inappropriate to ask Black people to touch their hair, and that American history is one that has never honored the bodily autonomy of Black people. I asked him if he had ever been told not to ask Black people to touch there hair, he said no, and I said that that’s okay. Today was the day, and even though he may be curious that, once again, there are times when curiosity must be put on pause. Not only did he not ask again, but he later walked up to Facilitator Ariel and apologized.

Also on the long walk, we came upon a houseless musician who spoke with us about his art, about his experience in Austin, and about concerns he had about Austin and society. For some of the Learners, it was their first ever extended conversation with a houseless person. I hope that it helped move the perception of danger a bit, as a local group has been spending lots of money trying to convince Austinites that the houseless are a threat to public safety so that people will vote to further criminalize homelessness (by making it illegal to camp or sleep in public).

When we got to the Capitol some people collapsed to the ground and slept. Facilitator Ariel and a young Learner got goofy with the GoPro. Later, that Learner wanted to roam the grounds to look at the statues and Facilitator Ariel offered to join him. As they went from one statue to another, they talked about what the statues represented. When they got to the large statue glorifying the Confederacy, they discussed why it was so prominently placed, and so tall. They then contrasted that to the African-American and the Mexican-American statues nearby. In reflection, Facilitator Ariel and I agreed that the variety of experience and conversations we had that day fully justified our move away from Barton Springs and to House Park. We were finally able to focus on social justice.

As the day was coming to a close we let the Learners lead us back to the pickup point. One of the Learners took charge, and began walking in the wrong direction. Two other Learners expressed concern that they were going in the wrong direction, but had differing opinions on which way to go. Eventually they checked out a map on the shadower’s phone, and they began heading in the right direction. Later, they got stuck again. With a lot of confusion, fueled by exhaustion, the youngest Learner implored them to follow him. Eventually they did, and he led us right back. It was a remarkably remarkable day in retrospect.

Meanwhile, at the other cell they made friends with two ducks, discovered berries on a favorite tree and used an app to determine that they were mulberries, investigated a stick with dried up zebra mussels on it, and largely just enjoyed having a very large public space primarily to themselves for the day.

Day 111 of AY20-21: lots of social justice conversations

I’m going to try to catch up on the daily blog posts between now and the end of cycle 9, which runs from April 19th to May 11th. I fell behind as things had gotten quite busy with the latest info session and more people becoming interested in going through the admissions process at Abrome, and the age-old problem of thinking that if you’re already behind you can just throw another delayed blog post to the pile.

Monday, March 29th would be our last day before people started coming back from quarantine in the specialty cell that I was in with Facilitator Ariel, the Flying Squad. I wanted to start the week strong with the few who were not in quarantine, so I asked the group what was interfering with our ability to focus on social justice. The answers included that our drop off point was too far west, that some were uninterested, that some were distracted by food, and that some were too focused on spending money. On this day we committed to supporting a Learner’s focus on houselessness, a big issue in Austin right now as there is a campaign to criminalize the houseless. We agreed to walk to a mural of Wonder Woman in downtown Austin that was across the street from an encampment, so that the Learner could hand out cliff bars and water to the houseless and engage with them about some of the challenges that they are facing. We agreed that we would stop by some food trucks to appease the fixation that some Learners had on buying food (that they cannot easily get at home).

One of the Learners who had been wearing hiking boots had been struggling as of late, and we were thrilled to see that he got a new pair of sneakers, which he later reported made his walking experience much more comfortable. With better shoes we were all comfortable taking a different path in search of new experiences. As we walked there was lots of conversation about social justice oriented concerns. Two of the Learners had made comments about how they were uncomfortable around the houseless, so Facilitator Ariel asked them to talk about their fears. This led them to discussing what type of prejudices are common in society, and how such prejudices can infect us.

Meanwhile, on the walk I got to speak with the Learner who was on a mission to learn more about how she could impact the issue of houselessness. She admitted that she did not know how to talk to houseless folks, and worried that she would not be able to talk to them in a way that made them feel comfortable. I suggested that she talk to them as she would anyone that she was meeting on the street for the first time, and then we talked about strategies to do so. Fortunately she brought food and drinks that she could offer folks which would serve as a potential segue into a conversation between two people who are curious about one another. I also brought up my concerns about coming across as someone who is probing people for information, with the assumption that they can solve their problems. Specifically, we talked about the notion of white saviorism, and how that could potentially play into such interactions. The Learner was quite nervous, but eager to consider ways of being that would prevent her from unknowingly doing harm.

When we got to the Wonder Woman mural we took a break to drink water while the Learner who was leading the way prepared to engage with the folks at the encampment. I was really impressed with the way that the Learner acknowledged her fear, and then made her way into the encampment offering support and looking for conversation. Unfortunately for her, it was the middle of the day and hot, so a lot of folks were not available to speak with her. Nonetheless, she engaged with some houseless folks. The two other Learners who had admitted to being uncomfortable around the houseless observed her efforts, and it was nice to see their perceptions challenged.

Then we walked across the Congress Street bridge where we came up on one of the large office buildings, where I noticed a bunch of studs that were placed on the marble that ran along long rows of raised plant beds. I asked the Learners if they knew why the studs were added to the marble, assuming that it was to prevent houseless folks from laying down, which would have been quite topical given the mission for the day. A Learner guessed that it was to prevent skateboarders from using it, and I replied, “actually …” and went into an explanation of what hostile architecture (or anti-homeless architecture) is. Facilitator Ariel then interjected and said that actually that particular type of stud is meant to prevent skateboarders from using it, and then we talked about the differences between anti-skateboard architecture and hostile architecture. It was a really good moment for me to model to a Learner that it was okay to be wrong, and to learn from it.

As we continued to walk, one of the Learners asked me if I was excited about the Godzilla vs. Kong movie that was coming out. I told him I was uninterested in watching any King Kong movies as they were rooted in anti-Black racism. This caught the Learner off-guard, and he explained that his desire to watch the movie had nothing to do with racism, and then he began to talk about how great the movie was going to be. I acknowledged that his interest in the movie was not rooted in racism, but that the movie was, and that I was willing to talk to him about why they are racist. But that I was not interested in talking to him about his arguments for why he would watch the movie in spite of their racist history. He then took the conversation to Facilitator Ariel, who likewise told him that he was not interested in talking about the movie. The day was shaping up to be one that really challenged this Learner’s beliefs.

We continued to walk in support of a Learner’s mission to engage with the houseless, and we focused on walking toward the Arch near 7th and Red River. As we were walking an individual began walking with us, trying to engage with us. One Learner asked, ‘why was the homeless guy trying to talk to us,’ and we asked him why he assume the person was houseless. This led to another conversation about prejudices and assumptions.

After we stopped so the Learner could hand out some more water and cliff bars, we decided that it was time for the Learner and Facilitator Ariel to get some long overdue lunch. We made our way back to Congress so that we could stop at a convenience store where they could grab food. When we arrived, however, there were a handful of Austin Police Officers standing around. All the Learners wanted to go in, so I offered to watch over their bags at some tables reserved for customers of the store. Facilitator Ariel recognizing that I would be out there around APD cops asked me if I would be alright, which one of the Learners picked up on. Facilitator Ariel then explained to her why he asked that given my past experiences with the Austin Police Department, and the need for us all to be watching out for one another.

After Facilitator Ariel and the Learner got some food, and another Learner got himself some seaweed and a drink, we settled in to eat our lunches. I ate a sandwich that I had packed in my bag, while another Learner ate from a bag of chips that he had brought along. It was restful sitting there and eating and talking with one another in the shade, and we were in no hurry to get going. When we finally finished and as we were packing up, Facilitator Ariel got a call from a friend who wanted him to know that they were at the sight of a protest where people were getting arrested. We were only two and a half blocks away, so we decided to walk in that direction.

When we arrived at protest site at 4th and Congress, where Garrett Foster, a supporter of Black Lives Matter, was killed the past summer, we noticed that police had shut down the street and surrounded the group of protesters who were yelling at them. We later found that the police had come up on the protest and threatened to arrest the protesters, to include Garrett’s finance, Whitney, a Black woman and quadriplegic who was with Garrett when he was killed the prior summer. Two white women then positioned themselves between the police and Whitney, which led to the police arresting one of the women, shoving the other woman out of the road, and dumping Whitney out of her wheelchair into the gutter. Understandably, the protesters were outraged by the actions of the police, and from a safe distance I was able to talk to the Learners about what had happened and why the police were so antagonistic toward these protesters in particular.

As the police relocated away from the protesters, and as the protest died down, we began to walk back toward the pick-up point at Zilker Park. During the walk one of the younger Learners expressed how concerned he was for Facilitator Ariel during the incident, and how he wanted him to avoid the police so that he would not be arrested. Facilitator Ariel explained to the Learner that as a Black man he does not get the luxury of just avoiding the police in Austin, but that he would do his best to not engage with them. It was a heavy day for the Learners, as we had several extended conversations about houselessness, racism, and police brutality.

Because of the unexpected stop at the protest site, we really needed to move. While one of the Learners no longer needed to stop at the food truck because he ate at the convenience store, one of the Learners still hadn’t been able to get any food, and that was his main objective for the day. Facilitator Ariel agreed to jog with him to P. Terry’s while the rest of us would go straight to the pickup point. Our path took us by Trader Joe’s, where the Learner had previously gotten boxes of organic jelly beans, and asked if we could stop in to buy some more. I reminded him that he agreed to go straight back, and that he agreed to keep walking. We made such good time that we were able to spin around some bars along the river, and got back to the pick up point with time to spare.

Once Facilitator Ariel and the other Learner joined us we settled in for a great afternoon roundup. We noted that each of us had walked 6.2-7.2 miles that day, and we were able to really dive into some social justice topics. All in all, it was a really great day for us as a Flying Squad.

Meanwhile, at the other cell: