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The City of Aberdeen, Washington recently attempted to evict the residents of a homeless encampment near the Chehalis River, home to nearly a hundred people and located there for over 30 years. In a city with a population of 16,800 people, over 1,000 people in Aberdeen are unhoused. Due to the organizing work of Chaplains on the Harbor and their allies in Aberdeen, a federal judge in Tacoma granted a 30-day stay, or hold, on the city’s plan to clear people from the riverfront homeless camp, which otherwise would have happened within the week.
The attempt to clear the encampment in Aberdeen is part of a widespread and intensifying attempt by the powers that be to end poverty by criminalizing the poor. In Denver earlier this month the city voted down a “right to survive” bill that would have, among other things, overturned laws that make it illegal to sit, eat, or lay down in the central business district. In California, the court dissolved a temporary restraining order against the City of Santa Cruz to prevent the eviction of the Hero’s/Ross Camp in Santa Cruz. The encampment was evicted a few days later. The California Homeless Union has vowed to continue organizing across the state.
There are 11 million unhoused people in the US and 140 million poor or low-income people, but they are beginning to come together and fight back. Leaders in Aberdeen with Chaplains on the Harbor have long been a part of this movement and they are a source of inspiration and strength to many of us in the Kairos network. The above statement from Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Willie Baptist is a declaration of our support for Chaplains on the Harbor in Aberdeen and others across the country organizing against continued violence toward the homeless, and for the work of building a movement to end poverty, led by the poor.
*Note: Rev. Liz states in the video that Chaplains on the Harbor won an injunction — in fact, what was issued by the judge was a thirty day stay on eviction while the city works with the plaintiffs to identify a suitable and legal place for camp residents to move. Technically this was not issued as as a restraining order, but the judge ordered it with indication of serious judicial consequences if the city does not follow through.
Help Chaplains on the Harbor send a ten-person delegation from Grays Harbor County to Washington, DC for the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress in June!