Home starts at the hearth – and the city of Portland won’t stop violently destroying the only hearth some have.
It is burrowing season, and getting colder. My cat is bonelessly draped in my lap, eyes closed in contentment, and feeling completely safe. I will never stop fighting for the chance for everyone to feel like that, completely safe and at home.
The City Council just voted down Order 68 in a vote of 6-3, which would have allowed camping in certain areas until April, putting a pause on the monstrous practice of sweeping encampments.
Sweeping obliterates the only home and community these people have. Without any community, and scattering these folks to the wind, alone, where help can’t find them, how can we ever hope to mend this? Perfect gets in the way of good. These folks need a home, a roof over their heads. Not sweeping the encampments would have been the good. But the council just voted to keep destroying the only home these folks have.
How can anyone feel safe in a city that commits such violence towards its citizens regularly? But I will never stop fighting. Everyone belongs. Everyone deserves to feel safe — as safe and nurtured and needed as the cat on my lap.
Dylan Gallagher
Portland
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