WEBVTT - Stopping the Sweeps in Dallas 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:09.040 Hey, it's it could happen here a podcast about usually 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.559 bad things happening, all the bad things that are happening everywhere, 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.840 but occasionally about good things happening and people doing cool 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:18.439 stuff to make a better world. And this Lucky You, 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:20.720 Lucky all of Us happens to be one of the 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.040 latter kinds of episodes when we talk about good things happening. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.480 UH with me in the studio, which is more of 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.680 an a femoral concept than a physical studio because there's 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.080 a plague going on. Is James Stout and Garrison Davis 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:40.720 co hosting the podcast Hello fellas, Greetings now today. The 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.839 thing that we're talking about, UM, we we had about 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.720 a week or so two weeks ago, represent a couple 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.600 of representatives from the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.320 in Dallas, Texas come in UH and they had been 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.640 providing armed security at a couple of different Dallas area 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.800 protests against Christian nationalists. UM. I do recommend checking out 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.960 those episodes. This week, we have one representative from that 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:05.800 organization back on and what we'll be talking about is 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.520 there have been a series of attempted sweeps in Dallas 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.120 at a homeless camp UM and if you're not familiar 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.520 with the concept. Basically, people who are experiencing homelessness set 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.720 up encampments in order to live with some degree of 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.600 comfort and have you know, their stuff with them. Um. 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:28.040 These are generally in places like parks, under overpasses, that 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.520 kind of situation, and periodically the city will come through 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.040 and sweep them. The city's language is always very much 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:37.280 focused towards we're trying to help them, you know, get 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.800 into some sort of situation where they can find help. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.160 But what usually winds up happening is the city takes 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.319 a bunch of people's stuff and throws it in the trash, 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:51.000 often before extreme weather events. UM. It's a really gnarly 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.120 thing to experience, and activists in a number of cities 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.600 have experimented with different tactics to try and stop and 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.640 delay sweeps. And what we've had happening lately over the 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.760 last week in Dallas is representatives of the Elm Fork 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:09.360 John Brown Gun Club have been showing up armed alongside 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.600 activists with say it with your Chest Dallas, and the 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.400 kind of thing that's been spreading on Twitter is of 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.040 course the fact that activists have shown up with guns 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.120 to stop the sweeps, and the Dallas Police have not 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:22.440 shown up to do the sweeps. The thing that often 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.840 gets missed in this kind of Twitter level discourse, although 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.440 is covered in a pretty good Dallas Morning News article 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.239 on the subject, is that there have also been activists, 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:32.880 as I said, from the Say It with Your Chest movement, 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.440 who have been showing up to help people, to provide 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.320 laundry service, transportation, food and water. And essentially what they've 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.360 been doing is trying to help people get things together 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:46.520 and organized to move to a new location, um, in 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.640 a manner that allows them to do so with like 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.239 dignity and comfort and not get their stuff thrown out 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.799 by the city or experienced violence from the police while 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.600 it's happening. So, UM, that is the broad situation. I'm 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.079 not gonna say anymore, my elf. I want to introduce 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.720 Danny from Say with Your Chest Dallas and Bubble from 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:05.839 the um Fort John Brown Gun Club. Thank you both 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.960 for being on the show, Thanks for having me, Thank 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.760 you for having us. Um was that a broadly accurate 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:17.520 summary of events? Um? Yeah, for the for the most part, 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.960 the city has actually been sweeping several They're they're cracking 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:27.359 down on houselessness, right now very very aggressive. And so 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.720 it's not just that one camp that we were defending 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.480 the other day, but um, the monday before we were 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:38.600 defending another camp. And UM, I've never seen this many 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:41.520 sweeps happen at one time, and I've been doing this 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.200 for a little over two years now. I want to 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.680 actually go a little bit into how your organization formed, 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:48.680 But before that, do you have any kind of can 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:53.120 you posit why the city has suddenly ramped up sweeps 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:59.640 so aggressively in Dallas so uh, normally talking to the 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.080 rest of the I've never I've never seen it happen 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.240 like multiple times in a week. Usually they'll do one 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.960 uh way a little bit, we'll hear a nose a 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.640 couples later or something, but multiple in a week at 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:17.120 different spots is definitely, UM, definitely new to us. UM 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.039 As for why, the typical reasons are like, you know, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.120 the state there comes up in October, so they'll try 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.680 to sweep then, UM, or they'll do it UM usually 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:32.360 like a housing development UM and things like that, where 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.000 like the land is brought up or you know something. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:40.960 But recently, UM, the motivations have been a little bit 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:49.920 more unclear with the aggression Um, it's kind of the 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.719 the city in terms of how they execute sweeps. It 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:58.760 used to be that code compliance could not touch people's belongings. 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:06.600 Reason certainly it has shifted to take everything, throw away everything. Um. 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.240 But yeah, we still don't know why it happening yet. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.920 It is certainly like part of a nationwide trend because 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.200 we're having the same things happen in Portland increasingly. And 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.440 obviously Portland and Dallas aren't the only cities where sweeps 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.359 have been ramped up. Um. And of course you also 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:25.919 have Oh gosh, I I just ran across the article 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.520 today that like there's discussion in certain cities about like, yes, 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.880 somewhere in Florida about like putting houseless people in like 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.440 essentially an island compound and whatnot, like basically like a 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.640 concentration camp. Right. Yeah, that's been also mentioned by people 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.040 affiliated with like the Portland City Council in the Mayor's office. 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:51.760 It's like essentially getting a concentrated collection of homeless people 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.000 in one closed off area. And you're like, ha, I wonder, 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.640 I wonder what they mean by that. Yeah, it's it's unsettling. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.760 So I'm curious because obviously I think what y'all are 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.240 doing in Dallas right now is extremely important and you've 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.320 been having a lot of success so far. I wanted 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.640 to talk a little bit about how your organization because 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.800 we we chatted with the John Brown Gun Club folks 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.040 a couple of weeks ago about how they started organizing. 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:20.760 How did say it with your chest get off the ground? Um, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.719 so that was interesting. Stay with your Chest originally started 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.600 along with a lot of orcs and Mutually Works in Dallas. UM. 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.560 After George Floyd was more murdered back in June of 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:35.920 m we started. Um. I was in Playo at the time, 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.560 which is like a suburb that's where I grew up. 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:45.360 Oh really, yeah, I wasn't playing at the time, and uh, 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:49.120 you know, I, me and my friends were kind of 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.560 like these suburban people can turn off their TVs and 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:54.159 not really have to worry about the protest going on 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.120 downtown and things like that. So we would protest on 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.200 street corners and just yell at you know, white people 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:05.039 in their Mercedes and you know, make them uncomfortable on purpose. Um. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.360 Then we started linking up with other Mutual Aid organs 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.800 in Dallas, and you know it was just shifting food, 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.720 trying to carry that stuff up north. Um and then 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:18.160 uh then we um, well I started going to Camp 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:27.040 Randa UM, which was like a probably the first and 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:33.000 like it was a very solid example of a self 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:37.120 sustaining houseless encampment where people we're just allowed to be 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.520 and left alone. We're helping people a lot of them 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.960 and recovery and things like that, and um, everyone looked 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.760 out for each other. It was a really great community 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:49.360 before the that was such a rare project. UM. Not 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.200 to derail it too much, but I want to tell 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:56.280 you guys about Camp Randa. Yeah, like that'ally organized on 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:01.720 houses camp. The organizers outside organizers where there everyday helping. 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.280 The camp itself was organized amongst themselves. They had political 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.280 theory meetings, they had community meetings to solve issues and 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:14.240 resolve inter personal problems, sucking rad um and it stayed 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.720 together for nine months. It was it lasted for a minute, 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.920 I know it was approximate it was over six I believe, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:28.680 but it lasted for a while at one location and 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.640 then it had to move and then um the next 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.240 location we ended up moving all the people to. They 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:37.800 stayed there first all ten months before um the city 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.920 sold the land and like some under the table deal 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.439 and showed up and swept everybody. It reminds me quite 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:46.920 a bit of a place I I worked out in 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.800 Seattle for a while, Nicholsville, which was a plot of land, 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.560 a couple of acres large where houseless people had set 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.800 up basically built like a tiny home village for themselves. 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.840 They provided solar power, um, they had arranged their own 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:05.480 like trash pick up. Um. It was safe and uh, 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.320 very well organized and very comfortable, like an actual fairly 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.040 high standard of living UM, good level like good good 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:16.199 wastewater treatment and all that kind of stuff. Um. Which 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.880 existed for a couple of years before the city came 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.800 in and swept it and destroyed everybody's houses and forced them, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:27.760 you know into again kind of a series of camping situations. UM. Yeah, 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.600 which is you know, you get these It's it's very 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:33.160 frustrating because there's this understanding that like, well, we want 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.000 them in, and part of the understanding you get from 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.000 a number of cities is like, well, we do want 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.240 them in one place, and we want them in something 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.560 that's more permanent than you know, a bunch of tents. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.719 But if they set that up on their own and 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.160 have autonomy and have the ability to like exist with 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.200 any kind of personal freedom. Then we don't want that, 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.840 and we will send armed men and to break it up. Yeah, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.040 Like the city is like, oh yeah, well I don't. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:06.400 I genuinely do not think of Dallas wants to house people. UM. 0:10:06.440 --> 0:10:09.600 Otherwise the Office of Homeless Solutions simply would not exist 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:15.079 and they wouldn't have a way to just have money 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:18.680 sitting around UM, and all those people would lose their jobs, 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:22.440 you know, because it's not housing people. You know, people 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.640 are like, how do you do that? It's not hard, 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:29.560 it's not difficult. The city is spending what two billion dollars. 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.160 I'm renovating the Convention Center that could house every house 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.720 this person in Dallas for years, you know. But but 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.240 then we wouldn't be able to have all of the 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.800 wonderful things. Someone who lived in Dallas fifteen years. I 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.920 can remember one, maybe even two times when I went 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:51.760 to the convention Center. What would we do? I think? 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.920 Maybe one time? What's wrong with it to where we had? 0:10:55.960 --> 0:11:01.920 Like it's Dallas prioritizes developers or anything else, and that 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:06.400 is more than UM a parent in how they treat 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:13.920 the house's population. UM. They're definitely because it's like my 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:15.959 my problem, right, Okay, if the city, the city is 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.120 gonna do sweeps, that's something that I can't really necessarily 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.760 stop them from doing on my own, but we can 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.800 and alleviate some of the effects of you know, um, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.440 but when this is sweeping people in the heat like that, 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.400 we're in the cold, elderly just aid people. It's like, 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:39.520 y'all really are just telling them to die and the 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.800 least you could do. And I've emailed Marcy Jackson, who's 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:50.559 the community outreach chair for OHS, you know, She's been like, well, 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.880 they can go to the shelter. It's it's about it's 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.800 within three miles. Now, I'm like, you you're gonna walk 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.440 three You're telling somebody who's elder than they able to 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.960 walk three miles in a hundred and seven degree heat 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:07.199 to get to a cooling station that is only open 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:12.160 to like five Well, uh, there's a lot of cognitive 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:24.240 distance in the city. Just for a little bit of 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:26.840 reference too, because like we have cooling stations and stuff 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.079 up in Portland and you have similar problems. One thing 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.240 that is a benefit to folks in a place like 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.280 Oregon is that after five six pm when like this 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.800 cooling stations start to cool down. It actually does cool 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.360 down here, Like it gets cool at night even when 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.080 it's a hundred outside. That doesn't happen in Dallas during 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:49.560 the Yeah, I've literally had it be triple digits at 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:55.040 midnight and Dallas, Texas, like that's the place it is. No, 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.760 so you're still it's still a threat to life and 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.000 limb even when the sun's not beating down on you. Yeah, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.000 sometimes I was calling shelters. I know, certainly, like here 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:05.959 we have a bunch of issues with shelters and cooling 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.000 shelters and stuff like you don't have privacy, You can't 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.320 bring your pets. They want you to look all your 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:15.080 possessions up somewhere else. There are like a number of 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.120 other things that really limit people's ability to feel safe accessing. 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:19.760 I don't know if it's the same there, but like 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.400 it's not that there's necessarily a place where someone would 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:24.040 feel safe and I'm not going there. It's when I 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.840 made that clear, pets are a big issue. And this 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.120 is something that again when I was at Nicholsville, people 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.240 would point out that, like folks would accuse them of 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.839 being like abusive because they had a cat or a dog, 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.440 you know, that was living with them in the encampment. 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.760 And they'd be like, well, number one, like it's okay 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:42.440 for me to live this way, but it's not okay 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.880 for like a cat or a dog. And also just 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.120 like do I not deserve companionship and love in my life? 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:50.840 Like this is what this animal is one of the 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.280 is one of the things that helps keep me. And 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:54.880 I talked to a number of folks who got back 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:56.840 into housing who were like, if we had not had 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.160 our cat with us, like I don't know that we 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.560 would have made it, but because just having that animal 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.439 with us like helped, Like that's it's for the same reason. 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:09.200 Everybody has animals, right, Like every single houseless person that 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.959 has a pet, has a service animal, has a that 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.440 is a service animal. As far as I'm concerned, would 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.000 you separate somebody who is disabled from their wheelchair or 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.560 would you separate somebody from there like their service animal, 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.000 their dog that they need, you know, And it's like 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.320 when you're out there, Um, I know that a lot 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.760 of people have dogs for comfort, but also dogs are protection, 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:38.000 they are security in such a dangerous environment, um, where 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.480 people are always you know, like it's just it's just 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.880 it is unfathomable how much trauma UM goes into being houseless, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:54.480 especially in Dallas, in places like dala. UM. So I'd 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.280 like to ask you a little bit, so you have 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.360 been Is this kind of the first collaboration this last 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.760 week or so, let's say it with your chest has 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.040 had with the the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club. 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.920 Had you guys been working together prior to this? Uh? Yeah, yeah, 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.280 Like we UM originally met members of Elm Fork when 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:18.920 UM Camp Ronda first started, uh back in UM and 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.440 we were collaborating on like getting people's supplies, UM tents 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.480 and things like that. I would run laundry UM with 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:31.960 my org uh and like yeah, we were. We just 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.120 you know, always collaborated to make sure like the people 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:37.560 could get what they need if somebody had supplied somebody 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.840 able to show up and we couldn't, you know, UM 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.680 just working together. Yeah, And I'm curious, UM, could you 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.040 kind of walk us through sort of how what you 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.200 see is the benefit of having folks who are visibly 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.680 armed UM for this kind of for these kind of actions, 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.280 Like how did how did number one sweep defense tend 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.760 to work? Before y'all were doing that, and how has 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.240 that altered kind of the way in which you're seeing 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:12.760 this activism like take effect UM as far as I know, 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:16.760 people from members of ELM four because they have always 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:21.000 shown up with UM firearms in some capacity, whether it's 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:26.040 concealed or open, but UM there was a noticeable difference 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.280 with the open carry UM. I know that back in 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:33.000 February when one of our other camps was getting swept 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.240 UM and they showed up like afterwards, we had a 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:40.200 meeting with the director of UM HOMEO Solutions, Christine Crosley. 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:49.120 She sucks UM and uh. She was like, people were like, 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.880 we were hearing reports of people that were openly armed, 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.200 and we want to we really care about the safety 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.960 of like the unhoused residents out there. And I was like, 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.280 they were more afraid of the ops then of the 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.480 five people out here with with rifles. And that's that's something. 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.520 It's like, if you're going to show up with twelve 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:15.239 dudes with guns, what's the problem with some of us 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.480 showing up with like a little something just in case? 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.200 You know, the state should not be the only one 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.920 to have access to firearms. That is very dangerous. UM 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:30.280 but also I don't mean that in a to a 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.879 kind of way. If that makes sensitive. Yeah, that does 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.280 kind of bring up an interesting point, which is if 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.399 you're showing as you're showing up kind of in this 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.560 capacity with both activists to kind of help folks with 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.920 their stuff, with with laundry and other needs, but also 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:47.320 people who are are carrying are fifteens and wearing plate carriers. 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.920 I imagine there's like a degree to which you are 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.600 trying to give people a heads up before, just so 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.960 they don't be like, oh, suddenly there's spokes with guns. 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.239 What's going on? Right? Can you kind of walk us 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:01.040 through the community outreach explaining sort of like how you 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:03.880 how you actually go about letting people know what's going 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.000 to be happening and stuff and and what the folks 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:13.200 showing up are doing well when it comes to sweeps, um, 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.920 And normally I focus a lot on just making sure 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:23.520 that people are okay and defending them. UM. When I 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:28.640 I do not necessarily like ask for work to show 0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:31.080 up with guns. I'm just more like I assume if 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:32.840 y'all are going to be there, they are going to 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:40.359 be um, you know, and sometimes there was usually the 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.520 residents are like the residents have some of the residents 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:49.080 have firearms themselves, you know, so they're like, well aware, Um, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.280 there are some cases where like people will get a 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:53.680 little bit anxious about it, and you know, we kind 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.960 of have to be like, if you really don't want 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.680 the guns here, then that's fine, we can move them. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.080 It in the past with this track record, like usually 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:04.800 the city kind of backs off a little bit when 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:10.200 they know that y'all are actutely protected, you know, because um, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.960 the city is the city is a bully. They really 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.919 do like picking on people who the most vulnerable of us, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:22.320 you know. Um, And so lately the guns have been 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:27.520 seeming to have them back off a little bit. I 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.239 know when they pulled up, Like when ELMP pulled up 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.399 and hopped out the car with the rifles, all of 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:35.960 the cops at we squatted up into like a little 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:41.520 a little i don't know, pick circle and they started talking, uh, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.879 and they were genuinely like, what do we do hold 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.880 on me when we haven't? You know? Yeah, And it's 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:49.800 I mean that's kind of the that's kind of the 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.320 story as we're coming into it right now, which is 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:54.480 they were supposed to be a sweep what is it 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:59.000 five days ago now Friday? Yeah, almost a week and 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.119 y'all have been showing up a couple of times in 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.679 that period to help people get there, get things together 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.800 and whatnot and get which is an important the fact 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.960 that you're helping them kind of move and and doing 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:12.159 it more in kind of their own time frame as 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:14.200 opposed to the city shows up and you've got to 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.520 like grab what you can or lose everything. Um. Is 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.320 important because you're also you're not just showing up with 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.040 activists with guns and saying like the city we're not 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.880 going to let any like no one's going to move, 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:29.360 and we're like we're we're drawing a line in the sand, 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.280 which is not would not be a particularly safe call. 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:37.760 I wouldn't think my my main priority out there because 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.520 there's a lot of black and brown bodies out there 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:47.200 and people is making sure they are safe. And Um, 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.879 even before this last one, like a lot of us 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.400 were concerned about the guns because like we didn't want 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:57.240 things to escalate, and we never know with police, sometimes 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:01.600 they get really excited and sometimes they back off. It's 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:06.160 really uh really don't know. UM, So we were also 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.760 taking that into consideration. UM, and I was kind of 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:13.000 like the unfork know, like listen and there's a lot 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:15.320 of black and brown people out here, and you don't 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:22.840 want to escalate anything and you know, put people in danger. UM, 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.320 And it seems like this time the city I didn't 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.760 really want to mess with that. So that's good, but 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.000 it's always important to keep that in mind any time 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:38.960 you have firearms population. And I'm curious, um Bubble, can 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.520 you talk a little bit about the how this kind 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:45.040 of organizing is sort of different than the stuff you've 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:47.439 been doing at at counter protesting events. Like what are 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.240 kind of the different things that y'all are keeping in 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:52.800 mind as you as you make action plans for days 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.040 like this compared to when you know you're showing up 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.240 to at a at a protest to kind of counter 0:21:57.800 --> 0:22:03.280 groups of Proud Boys or whatever. Yeah, it's pretty different, um, 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:09.159 in that when we're doing security for marches or um, 0:22:09.200 --> 0:22:13.719 you know, protecting Pride events. Uh, it's not like a 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:19.720 direct confrontation with so it's it's a bit it's a 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.760 bit different. It's a little bit more high stakes. UM 0:22:22.800 --> 0:22:25.439 when we do stop the sweep things, you know, we 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:27.919 want to we want to push back, but at the 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:31.359 same um, you know, not be the first to cross 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:36.040 any lines. Um. So it is, you know, it is. 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.879 It is a more sensitive situation. I think it requires 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.320 different kind of planning. Um. And of course there's there's 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.000 all these bystanders, there's all the residents there who were 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:48.720 there to help that we don't want to endanger in 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.680 any way. Um, like Danny was saying. I actually had 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.080 um what ended up being a pretty cool conversation with 0:22:56.119 --> 0:22:59.919 a resident afterward. But he was kind of an organizer 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.280 in the camp and he was talking to me and 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:05.840 he said, you know, I don't think we want the guns, like, 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:08.959 we don't want any trouble. And I leaned over to 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.680 him and I whispered to him, Look, we're just here 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:17.600 with guns to try to get the cops to back off. Um. 0:23:17.640 --> 0:23:20.119 I think they're actually backing off now, because we've actually 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:22.280 just heard the cops that we're going to leave. I said, 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.840 I think they're backing off. We're gone, don't worry about it. 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:27.800 And he said, wait, wait, you know, don't leave yet, 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:33.480 Wait till they leave. Um. And now that that's uh, 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:37.840 I am interested, like as the uh, the actual folks 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.320 showing up armed, bubble, do you guys have kind of 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:43.800 a like standard set of responses and stuff that you 0:23:43.840 --> 0:23:45.920 work through ahead of time to kind of explain things 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:47.840 to people and make sure everyone's on the same page 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:52.119 in terms of how they're doing it. Um. Yeah, we 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:54.600 have some of that worked out. That's an evolving thing 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:58.040 where we're trying to standardize. Yeah, work a long time 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:00.720 with a core group of people that knows each other 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:05.040