08 14 2013

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Volume 10: Issue 20 August 14 - 27, 2013

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CCNV: The Community for Creative Non-Violence

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COVER ART

Historic photos of CCNV and “Promises to Keep” documentary.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC FALQUERO, PHOTOS COURTESY OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

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STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

City Prepares Winter Plan It may be the heat of August, but preparations for how the city’s homeless will be housed in winter’s freezing temperatures have already begun.

The Interagency Council on Homelessness is finalizing its 2013-2014 Winter Plan to submit to the D.C. City Council for approval.

Primary concerns surround how the city is going to house families during the winter months. It is estimated that there will be a 10 percent increase in the number of families who will be referred to shelters during the upcoming season.

However, D.C. General family shelterthe primary placement site for families seeking emergency shelter- is already over capacity.

“The Winter Plan is not legally enforceable, but housing families during [freezing] conditions is.”

-Scott McNeilly Staff Attorney Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Approximately 467 families are expected to be housed in motels. Unlike individuals, families are not sheltered in night-by-night arrangements. Instead, they stay in a facility until they are able to make other arrangements for a place to stay.

When asked how the city will be held accountable to the numbers represented in the proposed plan, Scott McNeilly, staff

YES!

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NEWS IN BRIEF attorney at The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, explained that while details of the plan may change, the city is required to find ways to house individuals and families during the cold weather.

“The Winter Plan is not legally enforceable, but housing families during [freezing] conditions is,” McNeilly said.

Men’s shelter capacity for the upcoming season has been set at 1,375, the highest number of men who sought shelter last season.

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is looking for one church and an overflow shelter to meet the designated capacity.

There is also a need for more women’s shelter space, particularly on non-hypothermia alert nights.

Hypothermia alert nights are determined by DHS based on the District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s recorded temperatures.

Alerts are called when freezing weather is forecast.

Women’s proposed capacity for next season is 426 spaces, above the 397 of individuals referred last year.

To meet the expected greater need, DHS is exploring the possibility of converting 10 alert night beds to seasonal beds.

Typically, seasonal beds are available from

the first alert night through the end of the winter season at the end of March.

Some service providers and clients have voiced concerns about the 32°F threshold used when the city determines hypothermia alert nights.

The City Council would have to vote to reform such guidelines.

There may be reforms in the locations and schedules of transportation to address places where individuals can stay warm during the night while waiting for buses before shelters, recreation centers and other services open, though details have not been finalized.

- Kelsey Reid

Bill Proposed to Address LGBT Homeless Youth Wisconsin democrat representatives Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore introduced legislation to increase funding, support and research on the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) homeless youth Aug. 1.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Inclusion Act would amend language in current legislation addressing homeless and runaway youth. The legislation was last reauthorized in 2008 and is up for reau-

thorization this year; however it could be renewed without LGBT-specific provisions.

The proposed bill would expand the services that federal grant recipients can provide for families of LGBT youth. Grant recipients will be required to prove their staff has been trained and has the “cultural competency” to serve diverse populations such as LGBT individuals.

Darla Bardine, Policy Director of The National Network for Youth and a co-author of the bill, said the reforms are crucial to the services homeless youth need and efforts to reconnect estranged youth with their families.

“It’s important for there to be family work that is specific to each family’s situation. Having the program staff trained and best practices in place to address that is something this legislation could facilitate,” Bardine said.

The legislation was informed by testimonies of LGBT youth who faced discrimination or lack of care in shelters or other service providers due to their sexual orientation, according to Steffany Stern, legislative director for Rep. Moore.

The bill bans homeless shelters from discriminating against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation or gender.

“We heard from youth about discrimination and a lack of awareness at providers. Some of these youth had been forced out of their houses due to rejection after they came out and then went to a shelter only to find that [staff] didn’t have the training or the competency to address their needs,” Stern said.

- Kelsey Reid

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Serving an End to Hunger

By Kelsey Reid Editorial Intern One in six Americans face hunger while 70 billion pounds of food goes to waste each year, according to Feeding America.

Campus Kitchen Projects across the country are working to end both problems, one meal at a time. So far, they’ve served two million meals.

DC Campus Kitchen launched the first of many Sunday fellowship breakfasts at St. Luke’s Mission Center in Glover Park on Aug. 11. The breakfast is free, open to the public and served from 7 to 9 a.m. every other Sunday.

The National Campus Kitchen Project also recently marked its two millionth meal, served at an Aug. 6 event with Glover Park Village at The Guy Mason Center.

“We want to see communities come together, support each other and end hunger,” Mike Curtin, CEO of DC Central Kitchen, said.

DC Central Kitchen began The Campus Kitchen Project in 2001 in St. Louis, MO. Campus Kitchens are college and high school student-led community service projects where students prepare and serve free meals to people in need.

Campus Kitchen locations focus on food recovery and use leftover food from

commercial food operators and college cafeterias to prepare fresh, healthy meals for low-income individuals and families.

The Kitchens use food that would otherwise go to waste, as well as kitchens that would otherwise remain dark at night.

Student leaders are responsible for reaching out to local service providers and community groups that work with people who would benefit from free meals.

“We teach the students about developing relationship[s] out in the community and figuring out where the meals could make a difference,” Laura Toscano, national director of The Campus Kitchen Project, said. “We want them to get a sense of what programs are needed and assess the needs in their community.”

By assessing the unique needs in individual communities and developing relationships with local organizations and residents, students are able to develop a commitment to service while gaining a better understanding of the factors that can lead to hunger.

“We’re going beyond the food to address some of the root causes of hunger and developing student leaders in the process,” Toscano said.

Students from Campus Kitchens across the country gathered in DC for a threeday training. On the second day, the participants prepared and served meals to members of Glover Park Village, a neighborhood organization offering various services to elderly individuals.

Patricia Clark, director of Glover Park

Village, said DC Campus Kitchen’s twicemonthly dinners at the organization offer opportunities for intergenerational fellowship, in addition to great meals.

“It’s amazing how powerful these meals are,” Clark said. “People value this community connection over food so much.”

Approximately one-third of the Campus Kitchens nationwide seek to address senior citizen hunger and isolation.

Dorothy Bionvi, director of programming for Glover Park Village, explained that because access plays such a central role in the problem of senior hunger, Glover Park Village is always looking for volunteers who can serve as drivers to deliver meals and grocery shop for homebound citizens.

“We are focused on getting the word out about these meals and working the hardest we can to identify who is really hungry,” Bionvi said. “We’ll go door to door to figure it out.”

In addition to the partnership with Glover Park Village and the new Sunday fellowship breakfasts, DC Campus Kitchen serves food at Regency Houses senior public housing apartments and is looking to expand to other service locations and reach more individuals who are in need of free, nutritious meals and community connections.

“There is nothing to celebrate about two million meals, because that’s two million too many,” Mike Curtin, CEO of DC Central Kitchen, said. “We want to see communities come together, support each other and end hunger. Not because we have to, but because we want to.”

The Campus Kitchen Project marked its two millionth meal served with Glover Park Village members Aug. 6.

PHOTOS BY KELSEY REID

CCNV: Thinking Back, Looking Forward

By Mary Otto Editor-in-Chief Mitch Snyder insisted the auto theft charge was a bum rap.

But it was while he was serving a twoyear sentence in the federal prison in Danbury Connecticut that Snyder was baptized into radical faith.

Performing the sacrament was a fellow prisoner, a Catholic priest named Daniel Berrigan, locked up for burning draft cards to protest the Vietnam War. Snyder spent the rest of his time behind bars leading other prisoners in strikes and fasts. And when he was free he came to Washington to join a group of peace activists who called themselves the Community for Creative Non-Violence. They shackled themselves to federal buildings and occupied ballrooms full of dignitaries demanding an end to the bombing of North Vietnam and Cambodia.

They also ran a soup kitchen. And as the war wound down, with plenty of fierce energy left among them, they shifted to fighting homelessness.

Snyder brought his dramatic flair and his gift for street theater to the new cause.

His personality was difficult yet magnetic.

Fellow activist and CCNV spokeswoman Carol Fennelly fell in love with him. Jerry Jones dropped out of college to help him.

Michael Stoops slept on the cold city sidewalks with him for months.

They and many others managed to make the fight against homelessness romantic.

The movement grew. The nation was captivated. When they marched, they were joined by Hollywood stars. When they opened their makeshift shelters, idealistic students came to volunteer.

But as they fasted and marched, sang and served soup, the ranks of the indigent continued to swell. Vietnam war vets. Deinstitutionalized mental patients.

Broken addicts. Laid off workers and their children.

By then it was the 1980s and President Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

“Government is not a solution to our problem. Government IS the problem,” Reagan famously said. His mission was to reduce the size of the government and with it, federal spending. Reagan preached individual responsibility while cutting public assistance and public housing. His actions stung the advocates for the poor. So did his talk about welfare cheats and welfare queens. Reagan insisted the homeless wanted to be on the streets.

“They make their own choice for staying out there,” the president said.

It seemed highly unlikely that Reagan’s administration would end up turning over a decrepit federal college building on Second and D Streets to Snyder and his anarchic band of squatters. It seemed beyond imagination that same administration would agree to spend millions to transform the decaying structure into a model

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

#5

COVER STORY shelter for more than a thousand hungry and ragged men and women. But after a series of dramatic protests and desperate fasts, that is what happened.

The renovated Federal City shelter formally opened in 1987. Along the way, the advocates successfully fought for local and federal laws to help protect the homeless.

Then in 1990, to the shock of those who loved him, Snyder hung himself in the shelter he had fought so hard to win.

The place, often called simply CCNV, has endured.

With more than 1,300 beds and offices for programs that offer sobriety, health care, job training and nourishment, it remains among the the nation’s largest shelters.

It has had its share of money and management troubles over the years.

Nationally and locally, programs geared toward addressing homelessness have changed and evolved. Yet grassroots activism remains alive and well within the walls of CCNV. A group called SHARC (for Shelter Housing and Respectful Change) led by shelter resident Eric Sheptock and made up of dozens of homeless men and women and their ”housed allies” meets there weekly.

They march on City Hall. They testify at hearings. But do they, or the wider community of advocates, have the clout, the numbers, the power it may take to keep CCNV alive?

Real estate values in the city have soared. The vast building is again crumbling. And the federal agreement that helped make it a shelter is scheduled to expire in 2016. Members of a city task force charged with pondering the fate of the shelter are scheduled to be named this month. Some say the shelter should be renovated. Others envision a future where the building is sold and a new homeless shelter rises, perhaps on an adjacent parking lot, owned by CCNV. With the famous shelter at a turning point, Street Sense writer and vendor Reginald Black, intern Carla Yengo-Kahn and volunteer Harry Frey spent recent days seeking out some of the people who know CCNV best. They visited Jerry Jones and Michael Stoops at the National Coalition for the Homeless where they continue their advocacy work.

They caught up with Carol Fennelly by telephone and found her deeply immersed in a new program she created after leaving CCNV. It’s called Hope House and it helps the families of prisoners stay connected with their loved ones.

They attended SHARC meetings, spoke with current shelter residents and compiled testimony from a recent city council hearing called to discuss the future of the shelter.

Collected on pages 6 to 9 are some of the memories, observations and images they gathered. And on page 10 Black writes about his own evolution as an advocate for the homeless, a calling that he says has been shaped and informed by the legacy of CCNV.

Cover of a brochure about CCNV as a model shelter.

P H OTO C O U T E S Y OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS.

SCRAPBOOK

By Carla Yengo-Kahn, Reginald Black and Harry Frey Editorial Intern, Vendor, Volunteer

From right: Michael Stoops, Mitch Snyder, and two other activists.

PHOTO COUTESY OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS.

Mitch Snyder sits behind a statue of two huddled citizens, the base reading “THIRD WORLD AMERICA.” Snyder dedicated the temporary sculpture to the homeless on Capitol Hill in 1986. (left) The statue can still be seen in the corner of the basement at 2nd and D Streets NW. (right) PHOTO COUTESY OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS.(LEFT) PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK (RIGHT)

Pre-1940’s: The area of 2nd and D St. houses black working class alley communities.

1973: Mitch Snyder joins CCNV.

1976: Mitch Snyder and CCNV transform a vacant house in Columbia Heights into an emergency shelter.

1978: City officials take control of the Columbia Heights house and tear it down due to health code violations.

Thanksgiving Day, 1981: CCNV establishes “Reaganville” across from the White House, recalling the “Hoovervilles” of the Great Depression.

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27,

Witnesses to History:

7

COVER STORY

Activists redefined America’s response to homelessness Sitting in an office in an old church near Dupont Circle on a recent morning, Jerry Jones and Michael Stoops looked over the stack of curling photographs; images of the dramatic protests that helped alert the world to America’s homeless crisis.

At the center of most the pictures was the enigmatic Mitch Snyder. As Jones, Stoops and other members of the Community for Creative Non-Violence fasted, prayed and took over federal buildings to bring attention to America’s homeless crisis, Snyder was there, leading and inspiring them.

Decades have passed. Jones and Stoops gone on with their homeless advocacy, now at the National Coalition for the Homeless. Snyder is gone. But his life left a lasting imprint upon his old friends, and the anti-poverty movement as a whole.

And the crumbling CCNV shelter he risked his life to open remains a monument to his work.

Snyder mounted a series of desperate fasts in order to get the administration of President Ronald Reagan to turn over the huge abandoned federal college building and to provide the millions of dollars needed to make the sprawling, decrepit place habitable.

But his last fast nearly finished him. As Snyder hovered near death, he was assured by US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler that President Reagan had pledged to fund the shelter renovations. Then Snyder was taken to the hospital by ambulance. That was in November, 1984.

Jones: “There was a series of fasts, three fasts, but Mitch Snyder fasted for 52 days culminating around the election session so it got nationally a lot of attention. It was actually an amazing story.

Ronald Reagan, not at all sympathetic to poor people, capitulated and agreed to give the shelter to CCNV.” Stoops: “When Mitch did the 52 day fast, one of the go-betweens between CCNV and the Reagan administration was none other than Susan Baker, who was the wife of the former Secretary of State James Baker. She was on our side and she was going back and forth.”

The original plan, Jones said, was for the activists of CCNV to win the building from the federal government and and then

turn it over to a religious group to run as a shelter. But eventually it became clear that the CCNV itself would need to run the huge and sprawling shelter and feed its more than 1,000 residents.

Jones: “None of us were salaried, our clothes were from the clothing room, the food was from donations like everyone else in the building. So it was a very diverse, eclectic community and it became up to when Mitch died, that was the group of people that were operating the shelter.”

And beyond running the shelter, CCNV leaders went on fighting for change on a local and national level. They found allies in DC voters as well as celebrities and lawmakers.

In 1984, Washington DC voters passed Initiative 17, establishing a right to shelter in the District, the nation’s first statutory right-to-shelter law.

In February of 1987, the refurbished CCNV shelter opened and was hailed as the nation’s largest shelter and a model for cities across the country.

Jones: “It took about $14.5 million dollars to renovate the building. When I moved in, when the rest of the community moved in...it was a very modern, immaculate facility.”

But activists kept working.

Stoops: “In March of 1987 we organized the Great American Sleep-Out. We had 13 members of Congress sleep outside for the night including (Connecticut Congressman) Stewart McKinney, the Republican who died shortly thereafter. We had (actor) Dennis Quaid, we had (then-D.C. Mayor) Marion Barry and one of his girlfriends. We had Congressman Joe Kennedy and his first wife Sarah, came and slept outside. And I always get to tell people that I slept with 13 members of Congress and a bunch of celebrities all during the same night. So that got a ton of media coverage.”

Later in 1987, Congress passed, and President Reagan signed the McKinneyVento Homeless Assistance Act,a federal law providing federal funds for shelter programs nationwide.

Homeless activists wanted more. In the fall of 1989, Snyder and other organizers from the coalition Housing Now! mounted what was billed as the largest demonstration ever on behalf of the nation’s estimated 3-million plus homeless people.

Rock stars including Stevie Wonder and the band Jefferson Airplane played. Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King spoke. Movie stars marched on the Capitol along with homeless people.

But in early July, 1990, Snyder took his own life. There were many reasons that may have contributed to the desperation of the act, Jones and Stoops said. Alliances among homeless activists were fracturing.

The District had just repealed Initiative 17. It would take another hard fight to get the right-to shelter law reinstated. There were personal problems as well.

Jones: “Well Mitch was clinically depressed in his last year. People who were close to him just didn’t pick up on it....

“There was a lot of courage... a willingness to put everything on the line.” -Carol Fennelly Stoops: “ I was shocked when I got the call from Robert Hayes asking if I had heard what had happened to Mitch. And I never would have guessed that Mitch would have taken his own life, because I thought he was so committed to the movement that he would see the value of him being around for year after year. I always wonder if Mitch was alive today would he be an outcast, would he be as prominent as he was in the 1980’s, he would probably be somewhere in between.”

After Snyder’s death Carol Fennelly went on running the shelter for four more years. When she was replaced with a new director in 1994, many saw her departure as the end of an era for CCNV: a shift away from the radical idealism that created the shelter toward the day-to-day efforts of helping homeless individuals move on with their lives. Fennelly turned her talents to founding a new nonprofit called Hope House, where she has been for the past 15 years. The organization is dedicated to helping the families of prisoners maintain bonds with loved ones, through visits, summer camps and reading projects. In June, she was honored at the White House with a Champion of Change Award. Taking a few minutes to reflect back on her early days with CCNV in a telephone interview Fennelly said she

January 1984: Members of CCNV begin to occupy the Federal City Shelter, but the government threatens to evict them after the winter is over.

believes those vanished times were unique and that some of the power of the movement died with Snyder. She said she did not think the chemistry of those days can be easily replicated.

Fennelly: ”First, Mitch is gone. And Mitch was a real visionary and collectively I think we had wonderfully creative energy at CCNV, and that energy that birthed the movement in many ways is gone. People may hold a few banners and signs and maybe get arrested from time to time, but that creative energy just isn’t there. I think it was just a magic time. We had Ronald Reagan as president cutting programs; we had an increase in homelessness.

“There were coalitions of interesting people and interesting times, that converged to create very creative action and vision and change...There was a lot of courage. There was altruism at its best. There was a willingness to put everything on the line. People think that social change should happen next week.

And the only way to create change is by putting everything on the table, the opposition has everything; all the money, all the power. You need to be willing to make those kinds of sacrifices.”

In some ways, Fennelly said she sees hope in today’s wider awareness of homelessness. And while the Occupy movement that grew out of the recession did not start out to be about homelessness, it ended up addressing it.

Fennelly: “Everybody has walks for the homeless now, nobody had those in 1976.

And we still do those kinds of things. In terms of the Occupy movement, that was more focused on middle America, the 98 percent of America that isn’t homeless.

It turned into something more about poverty, but it didn’t start out that way.”

Fennelly also said she believes the city needs to make sure the CCNV shelter is saved. And she warned advocates, including shelter residents to literally hold their ground.

Fennelly:” Obviously there’s a need for it or people would be out on the streets. I mean if the place wasn’t full every night there wouldn’t be a need for it. So I think they need to step up and do the right thing and do whatever repairs need to be done, CCNV needs to hold onto that parking lot. Don’t give up the parking lot!”

1987: Reagan signs the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, creating more federal funding for homelessness.

November 5, 1984: Mitch Snyder ends his 51 day fast the day before the election, and Reagan agrees to CCNV’s demands for Federal funding of renovation for the 2nd and D St. shelter.

Exploring the Future Mission of the Shelter Called CCNV What promises to be impassioned public conversation about the future of the historic Federal City Shelter began this summer with a hearing led by City Councilmember Jim Graham.

Homeless men and women, the leaders of advocacy groups and nonprofits and city officials gathered to reflect back upon the meaning of the vast shelter which has served Washington’s homeless for nearly four decades.

And they looked ahead to the 2016 expiration of a federal requirement that the sprawling facility be used for homeless services.

They found both crisis and opportunity in the fact that the 200,000 square foot District-owned building, which is badly in need of repair, is located on a valuable piece of real estate at 2nd and D Streets NW. The building is often simply called CCNV, for the Community for Creative Non-Violence, the activist group that took it over for use as a shelter in late 1983.

The place actually houses three separate shelter programs, offering beds for more than 1,300 men and women. It also provides space for programs that help the homeless: Unity Health Care, Clean and Sober Streets and DC Central Kitchens.

At the hearing, speakers stressed the importance of ensuring the future of those programs and services. But some suggested a new facility or facilities might better serve the homeless, offering permanent supportive housing instead of emergency shelter beds, for example. The new place or places could be built either at the current site, or on a large adjacent parking lot that is owned by CCNV, or somewhere else in the city. What follows are some of the observations made at the hearing on the future of CCNV: Councilmember Jim Graham spoke of a visit to the building. He described its deteriorating conditions and areas with signs warning of asbestos.

“I was surprised to see an area with skull and crossbones.”

Yet the mission of the facility remains important, Graham noted.

“There’s something very noble happening in this building, something so precious.

Yet the building is worn out. It’s not that

what’s going on there is worn out, it’s that the building needs to be revitalized with a better physical environment” “I was thinking about the word recovery, and you know the key part of the word recovery, is recover. To get something back.

And the more we can provide the kind of physical environment for people to get something back, in terms of substance abuse, in terms of mental health, in terms of poverty, or illiteracy, whatever the issue is if we can recover the original potential of what people are bound, everybody has something to contribute.”

Homeless activist Eric Sheptock, a shelter resident and chairman of the grassroots group SHARC (for Shelter Housing and Respectful Change) observed that the facility houses “slightly less than one-fifth of D.C.’s homeless community” but with future planning, the property could be used to end homelessness. “…..In January 2007 we counted 5,757 homeless people; in 2012; 6,954 people and in 2013; 6,859 people - a measly 1.4 percent decrease in the last year and and only after a 20 percent increase over the previous five. This project is a prime opportunity to reverse this trend of failure to take a sizeable chunk out of DCs homeless population and to create a paradigm shift. Who knows?

The far-reaching implications of this effort may even reverse the trend of poor people being displaced and priced out of the city.”

Sheptock also cautioned against pressures to have the shelter shut down.

“We know that our neighbors on all sides ...have complaints about the homeless and would love to see the shelter closed... But saying, “not in my backyard” or “NIMBY” does nothing to help the people who are being pushed out...At the end of the day, pushing someone out of your backyard pushes them into someone else’s backyard. Lets solve the problem this time, rather than sweeping it under someone else’s rug.” .

City Councilmember Marion Barry took a dim view of current anti-poverty efforts in the city, saying, “This city doesn’t have intentions of ending poverty…we ship poverty around…we need to go from dependency to self-sufficiency.”

To Sheptock, Barry said: “You are in the business of making sure that people have

equal rights for human dignity and that human rights are protected in the District of Columbia, and right now that’s not the case for most of the homeless people. I’m the first to admit it. Mr. Graham would admit it.”

Then Barry asked whether a shelter the size of CCNV is too big and wondered whether smaller shelters would work better.

Rico Harris, the executive director of the CCNV shelter noted that the road to improving the building had been “a very slow process. An extremely slow process.

But there is dialogue, and conversations, and inspections” “We, as an organization have been trying to keep the Mitch Snyder legacy going. Mitch Snyder’s dream, Mitch Snyder’s idea, was to have a model shelter downtown with all the services involved. He brought in a lot of partners and the result of these partners and these partnerships are sitting at the panel with me and we’re talking thirty years later. He felt like the homeless could take care of the homeless.

I myself am homeless, I live at the CCNV, and we feel like we’re on the frontlines, we have the experiences, we have the challenges we’ve overcome.”

And Harris went on to stress the continuing need for emergency shelter services.

“If there’s a consensus in the District government to do something else with this building it’s very important that you do something with 1,300 people that live in that building… they should keep on the front burner at all costs what to do with 1,300 lives.”

“At least now... they have a bed and a locker and an opportunity to rejoin mainstream society. An opportunity to go out and use the services of the city to get that done…And it looks like a hard task for a homeless person, standing in long lines for housing, standing in long lines for unemployment, standing in long lines for medical help. more of that needs to be created in the city but you close the shelter down and they don’t even get that opportunity.”

“The getting back to mainstream society process is not one size fit all” Then Julia Lightfoot, executive director of Clean and Sober Streets spoke of how

1988: PBS airs Promises to Keep a documentary about Mitch Snyder and CCNV’s struggle for control of the Federal City Shelter.

July 4, 1990: Mitch Snyder commits suicide amidst growing pressures and the beginning homeless backlash.

CCNV has shaped her life and many other lives. Her nonprofit, which is located in the shelter, has provided free recovery services to thousands of men and women since 1987.

“I was at school in Minnesota and Mitch Snyder came and spoke and I thought he was very charismatic and I thought well let me go out and work with the homeless for the summer and I’ll go back and finish school and that was 1987...

“I did the fasting, I lived up on Emerson St. With Mitch and Carol and also Mary Ellen Hombs and Harold Moss. They were a dynamic crew. I mean they could move mountains and they did. It was an incredible thing to watch. It was an incredible thing to be a part of. And Mitch really, he was a full-blown activist but he also recognized a need for services in that building.

“He was afraid of the government, he didn’t want the attachments to money and all that but he also had sense enough to know we need services in that building.

When I came that summer, he said, you wanna set up the detox? And, Ok! I figured maybe a year...

“The other thing that was powerful about those years was you knew there wasn’t any money. I don’t want to turn any money down but what I do know is you can move mountains, provide incredible services, with very little.”

“The program and the community evolved around what worked and what didn’t based on how the client, how the resident was doing.. it evolved around community, which is what CCNV does” After listening to some of the testimony, Graham, who chairs the council’s human services committee, proposed emergency legislation establishing a task force to determine the future of the downtown shelter. The bill, passed on July 10th, recognized the composition of the task force along with a timeline for proposing recommendations.

The members of the task force will be announced Aug 20. The group will have six months to make the recommendations to the city council and D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray regarding the future of the shelter.

And in the spirit of CCNV, homeless advocates are organizing to ensure they have a voice in what happens next.

2008: Mayor Fenty closes Franklin School Shelter, continuing the removal of emergency shelters from the downtown area.

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

9

COVER STORY

Mary Ellen Hombs and Mitch Snyder published an article in the April 1983 edition of the Christian Agitator which listed the reasons the authorss felt the 1980s saw such an increase in the intensity of the homelessness crisis. PHOTO COUTESY OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS.

Jerry Jones and Michael Stoops of the National Coalition for the Homeless sit in front of a stack of newspaper clippings, photos, and legal pamplets built up from years of fighting for the 2nd and D street property. Both men worked with Mitch Snyder in the late 1980s, but their fight for homeless advocacy continues to the present.

PHOTO BY ERIC FALQUERO

Michael Stoops and Mitch Snyder in Washington (above). The cover of the transcript of the court hearing for CCNV’s occupation of the Capital (left). This pamphlet for Referendum 005 outlined the reasons to save Initiative 17, the right to emergency shelter. The Housing Now! campaign, broucher featured to the left, aimed to guarantee this right (right).

ALL COURTESY OF NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

November 2011: Occupy DC Protesters take over Franklin School and hang a banner reading “Public Property Under Community Control.”

2016: The covenant between CCNV and the Federal Government over the use of the Federal City Shelter will end, after 30 years.

2021: The District is officially allowed to sell the parking lots behind the property on 2nd and D St (also property of CCNV).

COVER STORY

What Do We Want? Change!

By Reginald Black Vendor “Da’ Street Reportin Artist

When you start looking around, you notice equal signs are everywhere. Now when I see an equal sign it makes me think: should there be some sort of right when it comes to housing the homeless?

“Promises to Keep” is the title of a documentary film that tells the story of the battle for the FedWATCH THE eral City Shelter. As DOCUMENTARY I watched the prohttp://theccnv. gram, I began to see org/history.htm that human rights -- particularly when they are related to housing -- face many challenges.

I n t h e 1 9 8 0 ’s , when homelessness was on the rise, activist Mitch Snyder, a leader of the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), decided to raise public consciousness. But he had to overcome some major resistance in getting people to understand the problem as the human tragedy it was. Jerry Jones, now executive director for the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), worked with Snyder in those days. He remembers the attitudes the CCNV had to overcome.

“The issue of homelessness became a public nuisance issue in the eyes of the public. There had been a lot of sympathy and public will to address the problem … then, as the public recognized that this was going to be a major aspect

of urban life, folks got desensitized to seeing people living outdoors, got tired of people panhandling.”

But through marches and protests, Snyder, Jones and other advocates within CCNV emerged as key players in what became a movement for the homeless, and for housing as a human right.

They scored a major victory on Nov. 6, 1984 when Initiative 17 (I-17) became law in the District. It was the first bill in the country to guarantee the right to overnight shelter. Even though it was hailed as a breakthrough, advocates had originally hoped for more.

“We were looking at a right to housing law, when we passed I-17, but realized that we wouldn’t get that … so we changed it to right to shelter,” said Carol Fennelly, who served at Snyder’s right hand as the spokeswoman of CCNV. And after the law was passed, there were major problems with implementation.

“The city did a really crappy job of making I-17 work,” said Fennelly. “As a result we were able to sue the city repeatedly, and they lost repeatedly.” In 1989, after a long trial, Superior Court Judge Harriet Taylor found the city in clear violation of the law, ruling that the shelters were “virtual hell-holes.”

But instead of fixing the shelters, the city council amended I-17, gutting the right to shelter law in mid-1990. Mitch Snyder committed suicide in July of that year. His fellow advocates fought back. Michael Stoops, who had protested and slept on the sidewalks with Snyder to raise awareness thought h ome l e ss ad vocates would win back the law, in Snyder’s memory.

But their attempt to reverse the repeal of the right-to-shelter law failed when Referendum 005 lost in the general e l e c t i o n . “ We lost,” Stoops recalled.

They kept working. But some of the magic was gone. The homeless advocacy movement has changed dramatically since then, Robert Warren and Eugene Sanford discussing the Right to Hous- he said. ing campaign proposal.

“People were PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK willing to risk

their lives. Today our movement has become so professional that people’s idea of working on the homelessness cause is going to some conference at a fancy hotel where there’s no homeless people at all, so it really has changed. There’s some good to professionalism, I don’t disagree with that, [but] I think it is not working at ending homelessness in this country,” said Stoops.

In 2005, the city’s Homeless Services Reform Act was signed into law. It requires the District to provide shelter to individuals and families in severe weather. But just like in the old days, there have been battles over implementation.

Earlier this year, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless released a report recounting some of the challenges families confronted getting beds last winter.

The title of the report speaks volumes: “Should D.C. Residents Need a Lawyer to Access Emergency Shelter? Report on Violations of the Legal and Human Right to Shelter in the First Half of Winter Season: 2012-2013.”

For five years I have been selling Street Sense and working as an independent advocate for the homeless. Now that I have unfortunately returned to homelessness, I joined People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC) and serve as its sergeant at arms.

I have become convinced there is a human right to housing and I am part of a new generation that ­­can learn from the successes and mistakes of the past to push for legal recognition of housing as a human right.

Through my work at PFFC I have gotten to know others who feel the same way, including Robert Warren. He decided that homeless services in Washington need to change when he saw the struggles at the shelter where he was staying: 801 East.

That was when he got involved with PFFC and began doing outreach work.

“We actually had seven vets and were able to get the help they need,” Warren said. He started attending meetings of the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness. Then, in 2010 he attended a talk that further focused his advocacy.

“A presenter from the United Nations talked about housing being a human right and that prompted me to start advocating to make housing a human right in the District of Columbia,” Warren said.

He sees himself as picking up where Mitch Snyder left off. Warren has proposed a one-quarter rule for affordable housing in which the federal government, the local government, and the individual would each pay 25 percent of the rent, and the property managers or landlords

would take a 25 percent cut.

“I thought about everyone having some skin in the game,” Warren said, “I think the federal government should allot district residents who earn $0 – $40,000 a year a way to a obtain housing.”

I feel hopeful when I think about Warren and his rule.

I also see how I can be more involved in the struggle for human rights. I believe that the whole world should find the best way to provide for everyone, whether they need a little, no help or constant care. There needs to be a system that will give D.C.’s historical population a boost when it comes to housing.

With nearly 70,000 names on the city waiting list for affordable housing, it is essential we do something.

I worry that current officials are more interested in gentrification than in ending homelessness or recognizing a human right to housing. But just as in the old days, when Mitch Snyder and his friends in CCNV faced an unsympathetic Reagan Administration, I believe we can win change.

It is time for us to unite and say “What do we want? Housing! When do we want it? Now! “ We are part of this city, its culture, its history and are its future. Until that is recognized, we, the citizens of the District of Columbia, will not stop until we accomplish our goal.

In doing interviews for the CCNV project, I asked Carol Fennelly for some advice about going forward.

She recommended patience, and working incrementally.

“It’s almost impossible to get there in one leap and because the movement stopped at that leap in the last 20 years,” she said. “You’re gonna have to basically start all over again.”

Also read “Keep the Promise,” from Reginald Black.

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

OPINION

ERIC ON SPORTS: American Heroes Pt. 1

Greening the City

Eric Thompson-Bey, Vendor

When we talk about great American athletes, we talk about Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr and Mohammed Ali. Yes, they all were great American athletes, but we also have great athletes who were great Americans.

This may sound confusing to some people, but to me there is a difference.

In this article as well as my next, I’ll be writing about American athletes that sacrificed for their country.

This first American’s death was full of corruption and cover-up. While following the story of Pat Tillman’s death, I thought, how could he give up a professional career in football to enlist in the U.S. Army, which was currently at war?

How many professional athletes would do that? That’s the difference between great American athletes and great Americans.

Pat Tillman was born on November 6, 1976 in Fremont, California. He was the oldest of three brothers. He excelled at football in high school, where he helped

By Cynthia Mewborn, Vendor, C=MB2 lead his team to the championship.

He then went to Arizona State University on a football scholarship and played linebacker. He was the 1997 Pacific Athletic Conference’s 10th defensive player of the year. He was also good in the classroom, where he had a 3.85 GPA. In 1997 he helped his team go undefeated and make it to the Rose Bowl. In the 1998 NFL draft, Tillman was drafted in the 7th round by the Arizona Cardinals as a safety.

He was an NFL All-Pro in the year 200 and finished his NFL career with 238 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries in 60 games. He played for the Cardinals from 1998 - 2001. He turned down a 3-year contract worth $3.6 million to enlist in the U.S. Army in 2002. That’s what makes this story so special to me.

In May of 2002, Tillman and his brother enlisted and served side-by-side. He was sent to Afghanistan in April 2004. In a little over two years he went from the football

field to the battlefield. It was first reported that Tillman was killed by enemy combatants in an apparent ambush. After his burial, the Department of Defense and United States Congress did an investigation and ruled his death was by friendly fire.

It was also reported that in the days following his death, Army investigators knew that he was killed by friendly fire.

The investigation also reported that members of his unit burned his body armour and uniform to cover up that fact. Several soldiers were punished for their actions.

Tillman’s comrades were also ordered to lie to his family about his death. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. His jersey number 42 was retired by Arizona State, as was his number 40 by the Arizona Cardinals.

When we talk about great American athletes, we can go deeper than what they did as athletes. What about the sacrifices they made for others. Pat Tillman is an American hero.

History Taught the Right Way

By Jeffery McNeil, Vendor

At the end of the second world war, Detroit was the envy of modern civilization, the model city known as the Arsenal of Democracy. Detroit was the innovator of mass production, the creator of the middle class and the pioneer of racial equality. Today Detroit is synonymous with deterioration and blight.

Detroit’s problems were like a slow moving disease that originated after the post war boom. World War II created the greatest public works projects in American history and lifted citizens out of the Great Depression. The war elevated women and minorities and was the precursor to the civil rights movement.

With Europe and Asia ravaged by war, America was the lone superpower, and U.S. corporations were raking it in. However, American dominance was short lived, as bruised and bloodied Russia began to emerge as an economic and technological alternative to capitalism. By the end of the post-war decade the Soviets had built a hydrogen bomb and the ideology of socialism became a threat to free markets.

Devastated by war, France and Great Britain saw their empires crumble with uprisings in India, Indochina and Greece.

When civil war broke out in Greece, President Truman called on Congress to take action and they responded by delivering $400 million in military aid and financial assistance to Greece. The Truman Doctrine was followed by The Marshall Plan, which gave way to the industrial military complex. There was a policy of police actions where our country wrote checks and supplied military assistance to countries many Americans could not find on a map, countries like Malaysia, Laos and Korea,

11

along with our former foes Italy, Germany and Japan.

The post- war period also began our romance with ”black gold” as the United States began to court corrupt dictators from the Middle east. To ensure capitalism’s reign, Britain, France and the United States formed The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations to rebuild war torn countries or supply them arms and troops if they feared a communist takeover.

While America was using everything at its disposal to bail out the free world, attitudes towards the working class on the homefront were the opposite. The war had been good for Detroit and its automobile companies. General Motors executive Charles E Wilson’s 1945 salary was $459,014, when the average full time employee earned $2,190. Now that the war was over, Charles Wilson wanted to cut workers’ wages almost 30% .

By 1946 labor relations had deteriorated and 4.6 million workers went on strike from various industries. When the dust settled, 4,985 work stoppages had occurred and the estimated cost of lost work days was $116 million,dollars (est 1.4 billion today.)

Walter Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers (UAW), exemplified the radicalism of the labor movement. Although auto workers fared better than most workers, Reuther demanded more. He wanted labor to run the shops and control production and he demanded that companies open their accounts. Although many companies were losing contracts due to military cutbacks, Reuther demanded higher wages and pensions. The executives despised Ruether and

called him a communist. Many businesses colluded in their dealings with labor.

By 1948 many unions gave up or capitulated by agreeing to Cost Of Living Agreement (COLA) clauses in annual contracts.

This meant wages would be adjusted to the rate of inflation. Although this meant an upward trajectory for wages, it reduced labor’s leverage when it came to negotiating for higher salaries, stripping unions most of their power.

Increased wages created better living conditions, but there were unintended consequences that challenged the nation in later decades: salary increases for workers and legacy costs that came from labor negotiations were priced into the products that went to market.

When global competition appeared, U.S. companies built plants in business friendly states that had right to work laws, where they didn’t have to pay the high salaries and pensions that industries such as steel and automobiles had agreed to.

An arms race began and the intense labor battles hurt small companies that couldn’t compete with the lucrative financial packages the large employers bestowed. Those who couldn’t organize such as women and minorities were either intimidated or discouraged from demanding higher salaries.

The rising tide did not lift all boats, as union worker rose upward the unprotected and unskilled became more impoverished, which eventually created social and cultural gulfs which widened and eventually erupted in rebellions in cities such as Detroit.

These issues I will address in later editions.

In past years, some of you may have bought a Christmas tree at the Old City garden retail center at 9th and N St. NW. Well, the urban garden center was recently reborn as a nonprofit called Old City Farm and Guild. It has a new home at 925 Rhode Island Ave., NW in front of the unused Shaw Jr. High School.

The new space has allowed the center to expand its offerings to include perennials and drought-tolerant native plants.

“They’re better for the soil and last longer,” explains garden farm director Frank Asher.

The garden farm is also expanding its mission to provide a range of educational programs and community activities focused on gardening, nutrition and sustaining the environment.

In an additional bit of good news Asher said he is interested in training homeless individuals who would be interested in learning more about gardening which could lead to possible a permanent position in the future.

Old City sells a variety of annuals, perennials, vegetables and herbs and is open from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Old City also has an on-call arborist who is on duty from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

The store sells an assortment of soil that includes compost, compost mixes with top soil, and four types of mulch. In addition, you can buy a range of rocks or pebbles, natural bug repellents, hanging flower baskets and beautiful pottery. In the past they have rented out their space for an assortment of events and hope to expand to host weddings.

Old City also holds community events.

On June 23, it hosted a fundraiser to support a program to promote skateboarding for children who have been victimized by war.

If you happen to be in the area or are looking in starting a garden or up grading you garden Old City Farm & Guild is a great place in getting started. They have a variety of herbs, Indian grasses and fruiting and flowering bushes.

And with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner this is a perfect place to pick up any additional items you might need. Nature isn’t just here providing live for all of us who live on this planet. Keep in mind that nature is also here to teach those who are willing to learning just how incredible it really is.. Remember, if we don’t take care of this planet we’ll all be homelessness.

So whatever your garden needs stop by Old City Farm & Guild today, you’ll find the staff friendly and very knowledgeable and the surroundings sublime! Check it out for yourself, Happy Spring, Summer, Fall and winter too you all ….Perhaps I’ll see you there!!!!

The Street Sense Writers’ Group is led by two writing professionals and meets every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The group’s goal is to develop ideas and collaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

One Robert Warren, Vendor One life, in this blink of life One day, it’s true will come to all One stand, one must take with a sword of justice One word, then the air no one will breathe One mercy, for which ones will receive One look of paradise, praise the Lord for all who believe One deed will be done for only that one One looking back to the finish not knowing when did it start One word to ponder, change, and the lie One day maybe holding one’s coffee cup, looking at one’s flat screen We’ll have the answer to this One Earth, what one’s life on it all means.

ILLUSTRATION BY TYLER HARCHELROAD

An Introduction to Harold T. Bomar

By Harold T. Bomar, Vendor

Either Me or You

By Gwynette Smith, Vendor Seems like I always seem to see you You look at me; I’m feeling you.

If we got together, The times could be fine, Enjoying each other a lot of the time.

Love for most people should be what to do, But it often ends-up with either me or you.

Hello Street Sense readers. My name is Harold. I’m a relatively new Street Sense vendor. I’m 27 years old and recently moved to the DC area. I’m looking forward to getting to know you. I came from Omaha, Nebraska. Traveling brought me to DC. There are a lot of interesting things in

DC, and I want to bring stories about that to you in the form of Q & A’s. Topics that interest me are art, music, and journalism. I’m always looking for good ideas of people to talk to, so let me know if you have a good idea. You can catch me on G Street downtown.

Like comfort and warmth that the other is there.

Want you to feel free to be who you are, We should be close, even when we’re apart.

I want to also try my own wings, And even, at times, do crazy, fun things.

Love for most people should be what to do, But if often ends-up with either me or you.

There are a lot of things that two people could share.

Kudos to Those Doing Right in Health Care

By Angie Whitehurst, Vendor

The Department of Public Health has new insurers; Ameri Health, MedStar and Trusted. I hope the changes were made in the best interest of the many end users, people like me, who need health insurance to thrive and survive. The end users had no choice in the change. No information on the insurers, who they are, who runs them, why they were selected or

how we could choose them was available.

Kudos to: (1) The Department of Health employees who helped steer individuals through rough waters of change. Thanks for re-sending letters to everyone concerned and a survey form to get our input on the current change. Hopefully, it will make the next change better.

(2) The Internal Medicine Department of GW Faculty Associates, who did something to help keep the doors and access open with “collaboration, compassion and care”.

Thanks to Trusted Insurance who worked with each individual client to ease all the necessary but unwanted red tape.

And, kudos to: (3) Council Member Muriel Bowser’s staff who listened to our concerns and followed through.

My Unborn Child

By Stephen Thomas, Vendor

I finally saw an image of my unborn child. It captured my heart, seeing it curled up inside my girlfriend, Cha Juanna L. Payne’s stomach. This has been a blessing from God. Every day I thank Him for my greatest blessing. It has been five months since my child’s mother told me we were having a baby.

I was shocked because I never thought I could have a child. I’m really looking

forward to meeting my child. I found out we are having a boy. I really look forward to raising him. I feel he is going to bring the best out of me. I hope to find a good job, doing some type of trade. I just ask for all my supporters up around Eastern Market and downtown to help me out as I seek to find a career doing what I love most – working hard.

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

w

FICTION

BEFORE THE RAIN PT 28: I Believe We Can Fly

By Chris Shaw, “The Cowboy Poet” With his yellow tux jacket and dented Lincoln Town Car to match, a more persnickety savior could never be found, “I need a twosome to help me wid dice at Atlantic City. Ever played Caesar’s?”

“Nope,” grunted a much-bruised Loomis and Lyndsey.

“Good,” chortled Enderth. “Let’s get on the road.” He grasped the wheel, shaft emblazoned with an 1879 Morgan silver dollar and all.

So down the alley the ice wagon flew, to paraphrase Bo Diddley, as Egerth’s limo, with Eg at the wheel, lightning-bolted the Garden State, past Toms River, East Egg Harbor Verona, Ventnor ‘til they reached the outskirts of Margate city, which was the happy home of a most curious architectural monstrosity that had survived umpteen hurricanes, and would undoubtedly weather thru many yet to come.

We’re now referring to old Lucy The Elephant, a creaky board structure patched with plaster and tin, and forming roughly the profile of a sickly Indian pachyderm.

They had ground to a scrunching halt,

since Eberth sprung a flat-luckily he was good at gettin’ out the trusty jack n’ spare; he was hard at work while Lyndsey and Loomis, now arm in arm, strolled over to Lucy and peered up into her right hind leg.

Lyndsey gazed into her Akashic hand tattoo, which now glowed a peculiar henna-lavender shade.

“Uh-oh, Loomie, I’m picking up on a real strong vibe. Up in the right eye of this critter--er-BUILDING they call “Lucy of Margate,” is an Akashic seer and practitioner, and you need the tattoo,TOO!” Lyndsey pulled him into the elephant’s leg and up a rusty winding stair. They entered an amber-lit enclosure, with muted flute sounds and a heavy aroma of patchouli oil. Inver, a cloaked and masked mystic, salaamed his way to their feet.

“Let me get the tattooing kit,” he murmured, as if expecting their visit.

Inver worked like a whirling dervish, which is jake, because he actually was a devotee of said belief system. As he “Akk’th’”-ed, and “Quallith”-ed, Lyndsey soothed her man and muttered rhythmically, softly, until the arabesque tattoo had been inked successfully into reader’s

palm. Then they heard a rattling, and a shouting below.

Egerth had fixed his ride, and they bowed and bid adieu to their Akashic enabler.

Now came the winking skyline of A.C., and the intrepid trio scampered the choogling, honking, tootling fairways of the Claridge gaming floor, going clean out from $88,000-” That’s right, screamed Loomis, “EIGHTY-EIGHT GRAND!!!”--until their whirlwind ride ended (without any adult entertainment at all, if one could believe it)-- at the Delaware Memorial Bridge Toll

Plaza. “I’m so sorry, kids,” blubbered Egerth. “It’s a curse, somebody I cannot say has worked a mojo on me that if I cross the Delaware, then I should die!”

That said, the old man chugged off, the Cinderella Lincoln coach now openly betraying her broken and sputtering muffler.

Normally at this juncture, Loomis, and maybe even Lyndsey as well, would be whimpering “Whuddo we do THIS TIME?”, but now the Akashics were in full swing, and help impended im-MEDIATELY! Lyndsey and Loomis made their way to the first cable of the Delaware Bridge’s mighty tower and began to climb. “Is this a dream or are we really doing this?!” crowed Loom, as the winds buffeted them from on high.“I Be-Lieve We Can Fly...!” he sang.

“We must continue on,” shouted Lyndsey. “We will prevail!!”

Tottering past a flashing sign proclaiming, “WIND CONDITIONS, USE EXTREME CARE!!”, Lyndsey and Loomis made their way to the truck plaza on the right apron of the bridge campus.

Lyndsey and Loomis found a burlap drop, laid in a king-sized tub, and zoned out, not letting the door hit them as they pulled it shut behind them.

(To Be Continued)

The Mysterious Masonic Ring

Celestial Subterranea Pt 3

By John “Mick” Matthews, Vendor

The people were petrified. Suddenly, an object that soared out of the hive with the luminescence of a shooting star entered into a downward trajectory at a terrifyingly fast speed and velocity toward the mountain ridges beyond the city. But instead of the loud kaboom that could be expected from a meteor crash, there was only a “pfft” from the distance, like that heard by disappointed fireworks spectators.

The black and grey mushroom cloud was a mute and anticlimactic end that left every sky observer wondering “what the hell was that?” But soon after, the hive was flashing with colorful, red square-shaped lights, accompanied by the screeching blare of an emergency alarm, sounding for the the first time in the city’s 115 years of existence and audible to every citizen and slave from the lowest point of the city to its highest peak. The alarm created an air of pandemonium and at a certain point all out panic ensued. Even the Plutocrats and Oligarchs in the hive were scurrying about in their sky-based command center trying to ascertain what had possibly gone wrong or what fuck-up had assailed them.

Deep in the mountains where the crash had occurred, an egg-shaped pod with tripod legs was planted in a 9-foot crater.

It was steaming with residual heat and bore the number 2850. It was obviously one of the many escape pods embedded into the hive.

As the steam cleared, the door of the pod opened vertically. From the elevated exit, an automatic ramp shot out di-

Chapter 5: Walk Softly While Visiting a Big Stick (cont.)

A quick hike around the grounds led us to the Washington Monument Lodge Bookstore. We went in and looked around.

The shelves were lined with books about George Washington and his life. There were books on the Revolution, the Constitution, the Presidency and the city itself.

Of course, there was the obligatory rack of chintzy souvenirs that every Washingtonian knows are overpriced and would most likely break if you breathed on them too hard. No sign of anything Masonic, though.

I grabbed a copy of the Federalist Papers (hadn’t read it in years) and produced my debit card to pay for it. The man behind the counter was African American, with bushy hair, wearing one of those touristy “Washington, D.C.” t-shirts. As I turned to walk out the door, I heard something made of paper drop and hit the floor.

“Excuse me, sir,” the man behind the counter said, “you dropped something.”

He pointed to a white envelope on the floor that wasn’t there 30 seconds ago.

“You must be mistaken,” I responded, “that’s not mine.”

“It would be in your best interest to pick that up, sir,” he said, wiggling his finger in a “come here” motion. It was then that I noticed he was wearing yet another Freemason’s ring. That envelope was what I was here for.

I picked up the envelope and was set to open it when the Mason stopped me.

“Not here, it’s too public. You have to do this on the level.”

“Okay...” I replied, grabbing Kittie by the arm, heading out the door.

As we walked out, a man in his early sixties was walking toward the bookstore.

Something about the cut of his chocolatecolored suit screamed upper-crust British to me. A bowler hat and an ornate walking cane accessorized the suit distinctly.

As we passed him, he tipped his hat to us, holding it by the brim with his thumb and forefinger, with his other three fingers spread, as if giving us a big “OK” sign as he did. I smiled and nodded deeply to him in response. He entered the store while we walked on for a few blocks. As we walked, I couldn’t get my mind off the old gentleman, something about him sending alarm bells ringing.

All of a sudden, Kittie asked, “What day is it?

“I think it’s Thursday.”

“Shit! I gotta go, I’m supposed to be visiting my aunt today.”

“And you just thought of that now?!”

She just shrugged, smiled and said, “Until yesterday, I didn’t think I was gonna make it. Look, meet me at BooksA-Million in Dupont tonight and we’ll see where we go, ok?”

“Alright,” I sighed.

“Ok, seeya,” she said, giving me a peck on the lips before skipping off.

“That was weird,” I mumbled to myself. “I feel like some overpriced museum food,” and headed toward the American History Museum.

(To be continued)

13

By Dele Akerejah, Vendor

agonally toward the ground. A few curious mountain creatures stopped during their night scurrying to take a gander at the “spacecraft,” before hurrying along in their nature games. The door revealed the staggering movement of two silhouettes, one dragging another that appeared to not be conscious.

“Come on, stop delaying u s ! We h a v e to go! By now they have already pinpointed our location and should be surrounding us,” said the helmeted man to his smaller helmeted companion. The unconscious companion soon showed signs of life. The larger companion examined the smaller one, checking heart rate, pulse and so on. He soon took off his own helmet and his companion’s, revealing the handsome rust brown face of a man with an unkempt beard and Afro, resembling a young Cornel West in his mid-twenties. He was drenched with nervous perspiration.

He looked toward the distant sky only to find the anticipated terror of his flight.

“ The

black and grey mushroom cloud was a mute and anticlimactic end that left every sky observer wondering ‘what the hell was that?’ ”

COMICS & GAMES

FAMOUS COMEDIANS

s...

Takes a reces

By Terron Solomon, VendorComedians Street Famous

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improv

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Chris Farley

Bill Cosby

No Respect

Eddie Murphy

standup

Diceman

Chappelle

Diabetic Prisoners Need Special Meals

COMMUNITY SERVICES

By Leonard C. Hyater Jr. Vendor My name is Leonard C. Hyater Jr. I am homeless. I have type II diabetes.

I am writing because I am incarcerated at the D.C. jail, awaiting trial for a parole warrant I received on April 9.

When I came here I was sent to intake. I told the case manager I have type II diabetes and my physician warned me not to eat white bread, white rice, pasta or potatoes because those foods raise my sugar levels. So, why does my tray have foods I am not supposed to eat? I am particularly annoyed about the white bread that appears every day.

The D.C. Department of Corrections Inmates Handbook, Inmates’ Rights #6, says I have the right to ade-

Academy of Hope: 269-6623 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

quate food/nutrition. Does this include a medical diet meal? Also, I get a brown diabetic bag every night, with four slices of white bread and an apple.

I am not a dietician or a physician. But I know diabetics should not be given white bread, pasta or potatoes. And, since I know that rule, Aramark, which provides the food for the jail, should also know that.

When the doctors tested my blood for sugar levels, I told them my doctor warned me not to eat the food that comes on my tray. However, nothing is being done about it, so, I am very angry. The way that I’m being treated is not right. I wish I could afford a lawyer, because I think I might have a viable case.

Housing/Shelter

Clothing

Outreach

Transportation

Education

Legal Assistance

Food

Showers

Medical/Healthcare

Laundry

Employment Assistance DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS HOTLINE 1-888-7WE HELP (1-888-793-4357)

SHELTER HOTLINE: 1–800–535–7252

Thank you.

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

15

STREET SENSE August 14 - 27, 2013

Martha’s Table: 328-6608 2114 14th St, NW marthastable.org

Thrive DC: 737-9311 1525 Newton St, NW thrivedc.org

Covenant House Washington: 610-9600 2001 Mississippi Avenue, SE covenanthousedc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen: 452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave, NW miriamskitchen.org

Unity Health Care: 745-4300 3020 14th St, NW unityhealthcare.org

Calvary Women’s Services: 678-2341 1217 Good Hope Road, SE calvaryservices.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless: 347-8870 1234 Massachusetts Ave, NW dccfh.org

My Sister’s Place: 529-5991 (24-hour hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

The Welcome Table: 347-2635 1317 G St, NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Father McKenna Center: 842-1112 19 Eye St, NW fathermckennacenter.org

N Street Village: 939-2060 1333 N Street, NW nstreetvillage.org

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St, NW | 745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave, SE | 797-3567 whitman-walker.org

Bread for the City: 265-2400 (NW) | 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St, NW | 1640 Good Hope Rd, SE breadforthecity.org

Central Union Mission 745-7118 1350 R Street, NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place: 232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave, NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House: 328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd, NW christhouse.org

Church of the Pilgrims: 387-6612 2201 P St, NW churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach food (1 - 1:30 on Sundays only)

Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place: 364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave, NW cchfp.org

Community Family Life Services: 347-0511 305 E St, NW cflsdc.org

Food and Friends: 269-2277 219 Riggs Rd, NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church: 332-4010 1500 16th St, NW foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities ID (FRIDAY 9-12 ONLY)

Georgetown Ministry Center: 338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave, NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Gospel Rescue Ministries: 842-1731 810 5th St, NW grm.org

Jobs Have Priority: 544-9128 425 Snd St, NW jobshavepriority.org

John Young Center: 639-8569 119 D Street, NW

New York Ave Shelter: 832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave, NE

Open Door Shelter: 639-8093 425 2nd St, NW newhopeministriesdc.org/id3.html

Rachel’s Women’s Center: 682-1005 1222 11th St, NW rachaels.org

Samaritan Inns: 667-8831 2523 14th St, NW samaritaninns.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork: 675-9340 741 8th St, SE sashabruce.org

Subscribe to Street Sense 1 Year: $40 2 Years: $80 3 Years: $120 I want half of my purchase to benefit a vendor directly Vendor Name Vendor Badge # Name

So Others Might Eat (SOME) 797-8806 71 O St, NW some.org

Address Phone

Dear Americans

Blueberry Mountain Breakfast

By Samuel Fullwood, Vendor

By Phillip Howard, Vendor

Dear Americans, We, as Americans, of this proud and powerful nation, whose goal is to live free as a nation, be true to the foundation from which we started (free and equal), we must stop amending the Constitution to fit certain levels of society.

1.

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3.

4.

5.

Commentary to a Black Man

By David Denny, Vendor

This is a commentary we must all face, of the devastation we have caused on our race.

We blame the white man for everything and all, but on our streets we make the call.

We drive by and shoot to kill, and sell all the drugs that make our community ill.

There’s a queue at the morgue for the blacks who are dead, but who really cares? It’s just a crackhead.

Martin Luther’s dream is a vague shadow in a lost yesterday, for all of his efforts this is how we repay.

Can you imagine the tears on his face, from the devastation we have wrought on our own race?

We have brought our poor sisters down in shame, and still we point to the white man as the blame.

But I become puzzled when I try to explain where I saw the white man who sold her cocaine.

I’ve seen her stoop lower than low, I’ve seen them doing things that would sicken a ho’.

For just one blast she’ll sell her ass, in abandoned buildings on broken glass.

She sells her food stamps and leaves her kids unfed, and when she starts geeking she sells her head.

We lower the status of our girlfriend, call ‘em hood rats or project chicks, but this is how we get our kicks.

We subject our own soulmates to this denigrating fate, spurred on by insecurities, arrogance and self-hate.

We have whittled our family structure down to fragments and shreds, while we prance with bravado and swollen heads.

We are the patriarchs of this fallen tribe, we bit the carrot, we took the bribe.

Our future’s stamped on the front page, statistics on our youth not coming of age.

This is a commentary we must all face, of the devastation we have caused our own race.

August 14 - 27, 2013 • Volume 10 • Issue 20

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005

Mail To:

We must recall how our foundation was laid, and what general ideals are in it.

What the future is.

When the future begins.

Where the future starts.

Why is this necessary to be.

America is the only nation that is made up of different nationalities, cultures, and people from all over this planet. When threatened, we can be global masters of destruction. We can also be makers of peace. And though we are front-runners on the spread of democracy, we are still known to categorize people by race and class.

America, when you look beyond your borders it is easy to condemn other countries for the treatment of their own people, their practices and methods. But what is the right thing to do, really? You don’t have to go that far, just stay at home and look at your people (Americans) and the way they are treated. We call ourselves the protectors of the weak. What do you think?

Blessings...

The World Is Round

Like, freshness of a rose, joy of dancing to a song.

Like, the morning sunrise, feeling the wind upon your face.

Like, the cry of a baby, the sweet sound of happiness.

Blessings...

There are all kinds of people in the world With different types of needs.

In traveling through this world remember To be kind, have faith, and love yourself and others.

By Phillip Howard, Vendor

By Jacqueline Turner, Vendor

Poetry

By Carlton “Inkflow” Johnson, Vendor Poetry to me is that well-created play of words, That enlightenment within mysteries.

The entangled story and parable, The pain intertwined in the story line, That feeling of just wanting to be heard.

It’s the emotional, deeply rooted, Heartfelt ageless timeline from one’s point of view.

Poetry to me is the epiphany at the end of the phrase, The phrase that has to be heard, The one every writer can’t let get away.

Poetry to me is that feeling Rolled within an enigma, played out in a parable, That creation of passion, That superbly manipulated wordplay.

Poetry to me is the ink flow boiling within my soul.

It’s creativity I can’t control.

Poetry…

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Remember, buy only from badged vendors and do not give to those panhandling with one paper.

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Gwynette Smith - 8/9 Sarah Collins - 8/23

PHOTO COURTESY OF NORMAN B. LEVENTHAL/FLICKR

2-3 pancakes (with a scoop of butter) hot blueberry syrup (light) or (vanilla ice cream-scoop) 2 eggs 2 slices (scrapple or bacon) 1 small bowl of mixed fruit (cold) 1 cup of coffee or juice (your choice)