Editor’s note: This article is excerpted from an interview done by Mic Crenshaw with Ibrahim Mubarik. Mubarik who is a founding member of Pitch A Tent, a mass direct action of civil disobedience which takes place annually in June in Portland, Oregon.
PORTLAND, OR —. Pitch-A-Tent is an direct action by the houseless advocate organization R2S (Right 2 Survive). R2S became aware of an ordinance passed by the city officials that allows people to erect tents on public sidewalks a day before the Rose Festival parade, while the unhoused community cannot as a means of survival. We the houseless community, R2S and other human rights organizations, believe that this is a criminalization of our human rights. R2S have been doing this for seven years. Each year it has attracted more and more people to this important direct action.
Right 2 Survive came to the conclusion that we need to educate the unhoused and the housed about this. So we had some brainstorming meetings and came up with, ‘if they allow people to put up tents then we will be the first to put tents down and have a direct action, an educational/ informational event about houselessness’. We would invite keynote speakers, local and nationwide activists, entertainers, musicians, vocalists, have open mic, poetry reading, radical videos. We gave out hot and cold food, hygiene packages and, most important, we gave a houseless person a good safe and fun night of community and rest. First year we did this event we took over 2 ½ blocks, last year it was 10 blocks, This year HUMMM!
The impact of Pitch-A-Tent was astronomical. It gave the houseless community a sense of hope, that they could partake in a public affair without being banned or told to move along. More important was that we listened to the unhoused community on what their needs and wants were.
Pitch-A-Tent goals were to educate:
1) the houseless communities on how to fight for their rights;
2 ) How to form safe peer-led communities of houseless people; 3) that they should start going to city hall to speak to the decision makers about how they are being treated and criminalized for exercising their human rights (getting sleep, praying in public, need of showers, public restrooms, etc.etc); 4) to connect communities and build relationships.
The importance that the entertainment part brings to Pitch-A-Tent is that the unhoused people were something before they became houseless, it’s a half and half thang where the unhoused get to showcase their talents along with the housed, and really you cannot, I reiterate you can not, tell who is housed or unhoused. The entertainment field leads me to believe that there is no social status criminalization in this business. It’s free expression, and their message is in their music, art, and performance!!!
Mic Crenshaw is a cultural activist, emcee and Political Director of Hip Hop Congress.
