A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Aaone Enose
My proud ego is yelling revenge,
But I know forgiveness is the best!
I don’t want to jeopardize good things I’ve accomplished,
Lord please remove this devil from my ear that’s evil and toxic!
I forgive my sister who stabbed me in San Francisco with a knife,
I’m just grateful Lord that you didn’t allow her to take my life!
by Leslie Dreyer
The biggest thief and abuser in San Francisco, by far, is the City itself. Mayor London Breed’s administration—including the Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC), the police department, and the Department of Public Works—enacts violence against unhoused folks daily by sweeping encampments.
Photo montage by Leslie Dreyer
Stolen Belonging, a project of the Coalition on Homelessness,
https://www.stolenbelonging.org
TJ Johnston and Leslie Dreyer conducted this interview for the Stolen Belonging Project. It was recorded by Jin Zhu.
Photo by Jin Zhu of interviewee’s hands and her official City and County of San Francisco DPW badge.
For the past two decades, San Francisco’s Department of Public Works (DPW) has largely ignored incidents of their employees committing acts of abuse,
https://www.stolenbelonging.org
With encampment sweeps in San Francisco becoming as common a sight as street dwellings themselves, some things are easily observed: large Public Works trucks pulling up, police officers enforcing the operations and unhoused residents scrambling to hold onto what’s left of their possessions that isn’t already thrown in the trucks.
Video still of Diana Valentine by Jin Zhu
What’s less visible are the traumatic effects unsheltered San Franciscans suffer long after the streets are cleared of sidewalk habitation.
Interview with Lisa Mahmoud by the Stolen Belonging Team, Bayview District, San Francisco
https://www.stolenbelonging.org
San Francisco resident Lisa Mahmoud gestures as if she’s holding one of the most beloved and irreplaceable items stolen from her in the sweeps: a basket woven by her grandmother who has passed. Photo by Leslie Dreyer
My name is Lisa Mahmoud. I was born in Ethiopia but I came here when I was five.
