"Welcome to the New Word Order"

In honor of the launch of Nickelsville yesterday by "the group that is not SHARE/WHEEL," here's Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine doing The Ghost of Tom Joad. Tom Joad, of course, is the protagonist in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. This song has always made me a bit weepy, but these days it hits home hard. Watch Bruce's face light up when Morello shreds the lead at the end. Beautiful.

The red ink scrawl across Morello's guitar, by the way, says "ARM THE HOMELESS."

Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
But where it's headed everybody knows
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad

I'll Be There

This clip from Director John Ford's 1940 Grapes of Wrath still resonates. Tom Joad's goodbye speech. Different time. Same sentiment.

You know what I've been thinkin' about?
'bout Casey. 'bout what he said, what he done.
'bout how he died. And I remember all of it.
I've been thinking about us too.
'bout our people livin' like pigs and good rich land layin' fallow.
With maybe one guy with a million acres
and a hundred thousand farmers starvin.'
And' I been wonderin' if all our folkses got together and yelled ...

Maybe it's like Casey says. Fellow ain't got a soul of his own.
Just a little piece of a big soul.
The one big soul that belongs to everybody.
I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere.
Wherever you can look.
Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.
Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there.
I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad.
I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry
and they know supper's ready.
And when people are eatin' the stuff they raise,
Livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there too.

Grapes of Wrath

"I figgered about the Holy Sperit and the Jesus road. I figgered, `Why do we got to hang it on God or Jesus? Maybe,' I figgered, `maybe it's all men an' all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit - the human sperit - the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of."

— Jim Casey, Grapes of Wrath

The Minutes of the January 28 hearing on homeless encampments are up on the Human Services website, and you should read them. They're not just accurate. They're poetry. Someone cared.

Or maybe someone thinks that if we feel heard and affirmed we won't notice so much that we're being ignored.

On March 13, The Real Change Organizing Project wants to make sure that anyone who goes downtown will see and hear about the campsite clearances issue. We need lots of people. We want 200 of you to camp with us at City Hall to get the Mayor clear on our message as well. And that would be this:

Help. Don't Harass: The 2008 One Night Count found more than 2,600 persons surviving outside in greater Seattle on a winter night when emergency shelters were full. Meanwhile, the Mayor's Office continues to pursue a policy of demolishing homeless people's encampments and throwing away their property without providing any alternative shelter. It is inhumane and immoral to punish people for living outside when there is not enough shelter or affordable housing to meet the need. We call on Mayor Nickels to stop all non-emergency sweeps immediately and expand housing and services instead of criminalizing survival.

You can sign onto the statement at the Real Change website.

Meanwhile, much smoke has been blown, but as far as we can tell little has changed in City practice. The new policy is a kinder, gentler gloves off approach, but with a legal framework. Head of Human Services Pat McInturff is telling anyone who will listen that advocates concerns are being addressed, but if that's true, she hasn't told us. The only thing we ever get comes comes by way of Public Disclosure Request.

A March 13 Day of Action pledge form is on the Real Change website. There you will find details and where to go for more information. There will be public visibility shifts throughout the downtown during peak traffic. There will be an evening meal at City Hall served by religious leaders. There will be an overnight encampment. Our goal for that is 200 people. Then, Friday morning, there is one big final visibility push before the tents come down.

We need people. Lots of them. If you think that criminalizing survival has something to do with compassion or ending homelessness, then stay home. But if you think the City needs to listen to the poor and start talking about real solutions to the misery on our streets instead of hiding behind their damn Ten Year Plan, this is the time to come out and make yourself heard. Go to the website. Pledge your action.