Occupy Honolulu Points Finger at City over Deaths, Threatens ‘300 Instant Criminals’

by Sugar Russell, (de)Occupy Honolulu

The City Council is creating bills that would be a devastating blow in the war on the poor. Hundreds of Hawaii Housing and Urban Development (HUD) participants are being evicted due to the Federal Sequester. While these individuals and families face an unthinkable change in their lives, and if Bills 2, 6, and 7 pass into law, then these HUD evictees will be made into instant criminals through no fault of their own. Some of these people will wind up on the streets and may protect themselves by using a tent. The police will be obligated to take their belongings and arrest them for a $30 tent. The fine is up to $1000. What are the chances that a newly houseless single mother can afford that? She may be put into jail for up to a year (costing up to $70,000) and she will lose her job. Once out of jail, she is back on the streets with a criminal history which affects the chances of finding new work, and is in total crisis. The City & County of Honolulu defends these horrific consequences because they do not like a handful of protesters who advocate Housing First.

At the Thomas Square raid on 2/26, city workers walked around a man who was waiting for an ambulance, to tag his walker and tent. He is now in the hospital and dying. Another man’s insulin was taken in a raid at another park and died. Two people committed suicide with the same rope during an eviction at Keaau Beach Park, and they took another man’s prosthetic leg. The City & County of Honolulu criminalizes underprivileged citizens to death because they do not like a handful of protesters who advocate responsible government in providing an adequate, humane housing system.

The City and County of Honolulu do not like the protesters who have successfully brought the issues of houselessness to the forefront. The protesters have built a community with the houseless and defy preconceived notions that all houseless are dangerous. The City & County of Honolulu is bringing a new era of Jim Crow laws against the poorest of the poor. The HUD evictees will have their lives put at risk with Bills 2, 6, and 7. We need a City Council to be more interested in helping the houseless than putting their health and safety at risk because they do not like the handful of protesters who advocate sustainable solutions.

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Related: Sequestration Scare Tactics: Caldwell Administration Threatens Sec 8 Housing Evictions

Nov 2011: Death, Disease plague 'Occupy’ Protests ... and more

Nov 2011: Occupy Honolulu: Waikiki Shooting was “Round One”