So, after I wrote my blog about how the City and Non-profits are thinking about dealing with the homeless, I decided that I had better go check out Brittingham Park myself. I was familiar with the car campers, but not the Brittingham Park situation. I’ve only been there two times, and here has been my experience.
Thursday, August 9th around 12:30 in the afternoon. It was hot and muggy and overcast. I drove around the outskirts of the park, it was nearly desserted. I parked my car and decided to walk over to the bike path and walk along the bike path. I had on a pair of flat flip-flops and navigating the goose poop was quite disgusting. There was a group of about 20 – 25 mostly african american men of a wide variety of ages at the shelter. They were sitting around in smaller groups talking, some of them were goofing around, some sat there rather somberly. They were essentially just hanging out. I didn’t see any sign of rowdy drunk behavior, or not even drinking that I could tell, but I was trying not to stare too much and it was shortly after noon. I kept walking down the bike path. No one really even noticed me, I wasn’t harassed and I didn’t feel threatened. That is, until I spotted the little memorial that they had for the person who recently died there. I was sort of focused on the memorial and looking at it and not paying attention to my surroundings when suddenly my path was blocked and I heard a horrible hissing noise. It was the largest goose in the area and it wasn’t going to let me pass. I laughed, turned around, and walked back to my car. I decided I should come back another time.
Saturday, August 11th, around 7:30 in the evening. It was a nicer day than Thursday. The park was alot more active. About 30 to 40 fisherman lined various parts of the park. People were playing frisbee and catch off on their own and there was a volleyball game in progress. There were more like 40 – 45 people, 95% people of color, now around the parking lot and in the shelter. I sort of did the same routine, minus the goose. I got out of my car, left my window unrolled and didn’t lock it. I navigated my way through the goose poop, wishing I had remembered to wear a different pair of shoes and wandered along the path. Again, no one really noticed me or approached me or talked to me. No one stole the change out of my car. One table of four black guys looked at me kind of curiously, but I didn’t feel threatened. I saw two bike riders, one white guy walking on the path and a younger white couple walking their dog. The black guy on the bike met my eyes when I looked at him and he greeted me. The white guy on the bike diverted his eyes away from me when I looked at him. Neither the young couple nor the other walker would look me in the eyes and they didn’t greet me. There was one guy sleeping on a bench. Another bench had a well worn blanket tossed over it but there was no one there. The most surprising thing to me this time was that the people in shelter were not all men. There were also women with 5 – 8 little kids (less than 10 years old) running around (barefoot in the goose poop!) It looked like, for all outward appearances, that it could have been a family picnic in the park. Again, I didn’t feel threatened or unwelcome. I walked back to my car and drove away.
I plan to go back, talk to a homeless outreach worker I know, talk with City Staff who work with the homelessness programs and try to get more information from the police. However, this letter written to the Cap Times yesterday tells me an awful lot.
All People Have The Right To Use Brittingham Park
The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: A7
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
This column was written collaboratively by the people of Brittingham Park, Thao and Nancy Nguyen of Freedom Inc., and Cindy Breunig and Kristen Petroshius of Groundwork.We are the mostly black and homeless people who often use Brittingham Park and its shelter. We are the Southeast Asian youths, elders, women, men and children who have used Brittingham Park for celebrations, sports, fishing and relaxation over the last 27 years. We are white community members working for racial justice some of us live in the neighborhood, and all of us have used Brittingham Park regularly for recreation and for important events such as immigrant rights political gatherings and Madison PRIDE events.
Together, we unite in response to allegations made by neighbors about the people who often use the Brittingham Park shelter, and express our concerns about the call for a fence around the shelter and increased police presence.
People from all walks of life should have the freedom to walk, eat, sleep, gather and socialize at this park without fear of harassment from the police, other park patrons and property owners who are seemingly more concerned with the loss of property value than they are with the loss of a life.
We are against unfair racial profiling and the continuously discriminatory practices of removing specific community members from the park instead of looking more critically at the situation at hand. The people of Brittingham Park are real human beings, not people to fear or lock up because white people don’t want to feel guilty when they see the violence of poverty and racism inflicted on people of color by this society. Instead of policing us and spending money to lock us up, why don’t you use that money in more productive ways: Help us find jobs, make more affordable housing and shelter available or create a warming center so that we will not freeze to death in the winter?
Until Madison can make sure that all our residents have a safe space to sleep, food to eat, medical care and affordable transportation, leave the people in Brittingham Park alone. It is a public park and we all have a right to be there.
Together we are asking all of us as a community to look deeply into the situation and recognize our fears. It means searching for the root causes of poverty and homelessness, and looking honestly at how we as a community have not found a comprehensive or dignified way to solve these problems.
We are asking you to listen to and prioritize the voices of the poor, homeless and mostly black people who are residents of Brittingham Park. We are asking you to recognize us as neighborhood residents equal to the homeowners. We are asking you to put our experiences central in the defining of what the problem is, and in the creation of solutions. We are asking you to question the kind of mentality that allows black, poor and homeless community members to be seen as people to be feared, disposed of and eliminated. We are asking you not to use the death of a human being who was black, poor, homeless and transgendered to further perpetuate oppression and pain, and instead use it as a motivation to engage in the honest and painful path to build a more humane, just and dignified community.
In memory of Miss Alene, we all have a right to the park. As human beings, we all have a right to LIVE.
