SANTA CRUZ, CA. 10/25/22, 9 AM — Phase 7 of the 8-phase Benchlands camp evictions commences: three squad cars and five cops arrive as campers frantically remove their belongings. A woman sets up a boombox on her parked bicycle and blasts music. A cop shuts it off. She yells at the cop, turns it back on, and moves it, continuing to quickly move her stuff out to the side of the adjacent walkway, a paved two-lane bicycle path. Three UCSC student journalists arrive to video document the scene. Eight cops set up an “Area Closed No Entry” sign and hang the familiar plastic yellow “Crime Scene Do Not Cross” ribbon to block campers from taking their stuff out. The cops wander through the Phase 7 section and remove some things from the other side of the footbridge, near seven large waiting dumpsters. Twenty bicyclists, a uniformed club of sorts, sail down the walkway, dodging campers and their piles of stuff. A few bureaucrats show up, survey the chaos, and leave; also present are a number of supporters of the Benchlanders. A half dozen press and photographers take positions on the footbridge as city workers below begin dismantling the tents, breaking the poles. The cops are on good behavior, no doubt because of the attention.
A lone 40-something Latina sets up a food service station at the foot of the bridge. A wagon holds a large pot of soup enclosed in a padded pot warmer. Next to it is a card table from which she serves the soup in paper bowls, deftly placing a few ping-pong ball-sized new potatoes cooked in their skins into each bowl, then ladels in the nutritious soup, laden with vegetables and a little rice. For meat eaters, she adds a chunk of chicken. News of the soup spreads. “Food!” was the cry, and hungry campers quickly began to gather around the Latina. Her name was Elena. I thanked her and said, “God bless you.” Making eye contact, smiling, she responded, “God bless you.” The meal was simple yet sumptuous — balanced, nutritious and filling. She served the diverse “great unwashed” unreservedly. Through a Spanish-speaking camper, Sandy asked her why she was doing this. She said, “The Bible says that the Lord Jesus tells us to share what we have with others.” Buddhism teaches that the prerequisite for obtaining Enlightenment is the recognition of the intrinsic unity of all living beings. With that in mind, Elena was most certainly knocking on heaven’s door.
When the pot was emptied she packed her gear into the wagon and moved her things out of the park as the dreaded forklift moved in below, crushing tents and campers’ belongings, throwing up clouds of dust, scooping up and depositing the debris into a waiting dumpster as the cameras on the footbridge rolled. A young woman hurriedly walked past them, sobbing.
Gloria A Lightheart was herself homeless for over seven years. Now living in subsidized housing, she continues to fight for the rights of the houseless.
