Monday, January 15
Martin Luther King Jr. has lesson for skid row
Whenever I hear the very poignant speech when Martin Luther King Jr. Marched on Washington and I hear those words free at last "thank god almighty we are free at last" , it is very difficult for me not to weep. Yes ,I said it :weep .I don't watch or listen to it too many times because it touches me that deep , from the deepest wells of my soul I weep because the drug trade has enslaved the neighbors , many of them here in skid row. I weep because I know we continue to do so much awful things to each other around the world. I listen to the words of the speech and here him call attention to the creative suffering that was perpetrated back in those days and I think of the skid row which was created where unnecessary suffering was made to be created here. Where many people have died needlessly from infections, from abandonment , left to die from their own cravings for these hard drugs , the sick and the weak to be preyed upon by the dealers and the sexual predators , to be thrown into the streets by hospitals who think they will be safe here. This is why I weep. I weep also for the good things , in gratitude knowing that yes, SRO Housing Corporation which was spun off by the CRA and created by a union leader who promised the people on the streets , if they would stop burning the wood in San Julian Park they would create housing. . A housing developer that has cleaned up the neighborhood little by little , day by day , year by year. And then Skid Row Housing Trust which was created by ALICE Callahan ,who did not early on care if the streets were clean or not but has changed and have become good neighbors because the residents of skid row have demanded it, Alice being the person who stopped the razing of all of these hotels in the 70's and where the tenants in SRO Housing Corporation were the real pioneers in being the residents of Downtown, Skid Row Housing Trust became the reinforcements, then Tom Gilmore came along and brought in the cavalry. You may call me crazy. But it is true , where we cried to the heavens for relief , where we cried for justice from the sidewalks and in our rooms , where we called for the treatment of this as a community like any other that deserves city services such as street cleaners , police who will treat even those who are on the streets as residents deserving of protection and the dope dealers to be seen as an enemy which need to be removed from our neighborhood. Yes, without the lofts ,NO one was hearing us. Now they are.
When other politicians would ignore this place. Jan Perry took it on the first year she was elected. We have been heard. But like my father used to say in spanish _ el qiuen no habla , dios no lo oye; God can't hear you if you don't speak .
I pine for the day when we here can sing the words " free at last , free at last thank God almighty we are free at last." To live in a place witnessing the people enslaved by these drugs and their addictions one weeps and one fights. I fear no man. Love makes us to do these things .
And the award goes to: Los Angeles Mission
From time to time we here at the Central City East Blogger recognize those non-profits who change policy that cause them great risk. Last year it was the Union Rescue mission for stepping out of it's comfort zone and reporting that they are not a hospital and just dumping sick people out into the streets at their front door was not cool.
This time it is the Los Angeles Mission . With the Guidance of Herb Smith their lobby is now open to folks who can't make it in time to get in any other programs or miss the Winter Shelter busses to other shelters. So the award goes to : you guessed it _ LA MISSION. great timing too.... It is cold out there. I look forward to the next report next report on Herb Smith's blog about how many people were in the lobby this week.
