homeless_oregon8

To the editor:

I have just a few comments to make about the story, "Armitage Campers Must Leave Site", Sept. 28, which shows a photo of myself and partner just minutes after receiving our eviction notice.

We weren't too surprised at the manner in which the notice was delivered: a couple of official-looking characters handing us an official piece of paper that says in effect: "You must comply with this order or else!"

The implication was that we have all this time been willfully and maliciously camping on government property in utter defiance and contempt of the law with total disregard for the feelings of other people wishing to use the area.

The fact is, all this time we have been painfully aware of the sign which says, "State-Owned Property, No Overnight Use" posted just a few yards from where we were parked. It's not as if we felt comfortable doing what we knew was in violation of the law. We were only camping here because we had no other choice. Now once again we are reminded that we are criminals. We are committing a criminal act by being homeless and having no other place to go.

The story in the Register-Guard didn't quote anything we said to the reporters and did nothing to challenge the stereotypical image the average person seems to have of us. It mentioned complaints of "criminal activity and sanitation problems" in the camp, implying that we are a bunch of mindless, irresponsible, antisocial drunken rowdies who haven't quite grasped how to live in civilized society and therefore must be removed for the sake of all the "decent" people who have a "legitimate" use for the area.

This is a stereotype that is very consciously perpetuated by the powers that be in order to keep the public ignorant about the real reasons we are homeless, to soothe their consciences about the way we are treated by suggesting that our homelessness is our own fault. The fact that we were not quoted in the article shows that they don't want people to know we have anything intelligent to say about the situation, while the printing of our picture sets us up as silent targets for future harassment.

The quote from Gary Gustafson that "The land is public land and it's our job to make sure that all citizens have safe and equal access to it" betrays the prejudicial attitude that homeless people are not citizens, and that the phrase "all citizens" does not include us.

If you look at the Constitution, you will find nothing in the Bill of Rights that says "These rights only apply to people with homes." We have the same right to be heard by the government as everyone else. We also have the same needs for privacy and dignity as everyone else, and we have done nothing to forfeit our rights to these things. We are homeless because of circumstances which are not our fault, but that of government policies.

The government knows that we know this, which is why they are not only trying to keep us silent, but also to have us removed from the public view altogether. Our visibility is an embarrassment to all who would shrink from the truth: we are living proof that the system does not work!
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