The Attack On Echo Park

Today we talk about the brutal sweep of Echo Park Lake with two members of Echo Park Lake Community as well as Jamie Loftus, Jon Peltz and Kate Gallagher from KnockLA.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Worst Year Ever a production of I Heart
Radio Together Everything, So don't don't Welcome to Worst Year Ever.

(00:21):
That was Cody playing his version of free Bird, which
I believe is the original before those those fucking hacks
stole his song. Check out the demos. They're out there.
They're out there, much older than anyone thinks. Well, it's
also he has access to a time machine. Oh right,

(00:42):
that's what That's what the solo sounds like. The rest
of the episode will be nothing like this, UM promise.
So as I'm guessing, I don't know, probably at least
half of the people listening are aware of some ship
has been going down in Echo Park, Los Angeles, site
of probably the best warren Zevon song, or at least

(01:05):
the second best, and also site of a large encampment
UH where unhoused people had built a community UM and
we're trying to take care of each other in the
wake of the state's repeated failures UM, both as a
result of COVID and as a result of the fact
that the state's continuously fails to help those people in

(01:26):
any meaningful way. And it was shut down brutally UM
by a massive police response that was partly inspired by
a desire for local politicians to be able to say
that they, you know, cleaned up the park and all
that kind of ship. Anyway, we've got, we've we've brought,
we've got some people who were there, um some people
who were there and can kind of represent a couple

(01:46):
of different um um communities who were present at the
Echo Park action, if you want to call it that. Uh.
And most of today's episode is going to be an
interview with several of them um talking about what they
experienced and their feelings. And then after it were going
to come back and we're gonna kind of give our
thoughts on the matter because we didn't just want to
be monologueing during their time. Yeah, good job on the intro, Robert,

(02:09):
thank you. You facilitated the whole interview, so I love that.
And Katie Oh Cody played freebird, so I could we
all contribute? Everyone contributed, all right, we'll see you guys
after the interview. So we are joined today by Jamie Loftus,

(02:30):
John Peltz, and Kate Gallagher from Knock l A, as
well as I'm in and Queen, who are both former
residents of Echo Park Lake. Thank you so much for
joining us today. Guys, we really really really appreciate it.
Thank you for having us. Yeah. So we're gonna get
into a lot of stuff, and I want you guys
to do most of the talking. But I just wanted

(02:52):
to start by giving a little bit of an overview,
uh for those of us listening who aren't from Los Angeles. UM.
Echo Park Lake is located in Echo Park, which is
in the central the east side of Los Angeles, and
it's kind of a cross section of neighborhoods. The property
there uh is very expensive. UH. It's a cool area,

(03:15):
trendy area. It's also heavily gentrified, and there's a vast
history of gentrification and UM housing discrimination and all sorts
of other issues that have happened there. UM. It's also
near downtown. UH. Even before the pandemic, UH, this area
has had uh a rapidly expanding housing crisis. UH. But

(03:37):
it's gotten uh much bigger since the pandemic UM and
the encamp the the lake has expanded and developed into
almost a commune like society. UH. And until last week,
that is when UH, I'm sorry, I'm reading my notes
in a bad way. Reset that Daniel. Until last week

(03:57):
when Los Angeles City Council Member Mitch O'Farrell ordered it's
shut down under the guise of park improvements. Uh, but
let's be real, that's not actually what's at issue here.
And they put up a fence, you know, to keep
people out. Hundreds of people protested, but the police has
showed up in force repeatedly to arrest and dismantle the homes.

(04:21):
Uh that that had been created. Um So, guys, that's
just a very broad overview. You all know much more
about this than I do. Uh, can you talk to
me about We'll start with with um Mitchell Ferrell and
and the closing down of the space and the you know,
the protests. What's been happening. Well, I guess um, I've

(04:44):
never heard of a park renovation and taking a military occupation.
How many of you all were there Thursday or Wednesday?
I was not, are you guys? Weren't there? All right?
And basically it was it was an armed occupation on
a peaceful protest. It was just like the first night,
the second night, hundreds of police officers, enough firepower to

(05:07):
take over like a country. Like the whole thing was weird,
you know, Yeah, definitely very shady. Um. I'm talking about
like I lived, and I lived right across basically the bathrooms,
like the one of the main and there was no notice,
there was no there was nothing there in the time

(05:28):
when they I hasn't used the restroom like I took
three in the morning, which is when I saw the paper.
Um that morning of that we were that we were
being um displaced. Um. It was dated at nine o'clock
at night. They didn't they put it like at two
in the morning or whatever. And you're gonna tell me
that you can mope at two in the morning being

(05:49):
dated in time and stamped at nine pm. That wasn't there.
We would have seen it. And not only that, but
on the paper it said it said itself it's at
ten thirty. We were getting report sept Police were trying
to enter at seven thirty. So, I mean, I understand
that from what I understand, it's a chain of command.
Something is either broken or something is not right with

(06:11):
that chain of command because people are not getting the
message message a message across. One of the things that
we've struggled up most in anything is the communication. There
is no communication. There is not even communication from the
leaders to the basic police officers to the police guard.
One says this, another says this, But at the end
of the day, you can't hide the fact that they
did this under the darker night build It took them

(06:33):
three or four hours to build up that whole fence
around that park. There was a lock on the what
how are we supposed to leave if they bottle necked us?
And then the yeah, we could, we could have gone
under the fence, but what so they could say that
We're like, we're trespassing. We're doing something they wanted us
to do, something illegal, and yet we're not in like
the Coach Carter movie here where there's a lock on
the on the gate, on the door. They put a

(06:55):
lock on that gate. We weren't even what we're gonna
do exit the park, going underneath the fence, having twenty
armed officers with swat gear pointing at us. We couldn't
even our supporters couldn't even get to us because and
he would not metro, He would not even dignify, dignify

(07:17):
the fact that he could come out. I live in
the tents building. I lived there for thirty years, so
that I've seen that community from that balcony. I grew
up there. Never since I came from Mexico, I stayed there.
I saw my community coming together. I saw it didn't
matter what race you were. I saw it didn't matter
what gender or religion, where you belong to, what you

(07:37):
look like. You could be the Gothic person in the world.
You could be the most Mexican person in the world.
You could be the most you know, American person in
the world. We don't judge. We the Echo Park in
the Sanctuary for the Constitutional Rights, which is speak your mind,
be free and have the basic necessities of a human being.
Can can I clarify? So they they fenced people in. Yeah,

(08:01):
we were. We woke up in an open air prison
like and they did it fast and like it was
it was our mistake because okay, here's what happened. When
Wednesday hit and they came last night or on that
night of Wednesday, we had the road blocked off and
we were fighting off the police. But it was getting
real bad. It was like twelve o'clock at night one am.
We had started from seven am, so it's been a

(08:22):
long day. Captain Lopez, the commanding officer on the scene,
told us we have from ten o'clock that night until
ten o'clock the next night. So we're like, okay, we
won the night, let's end it. For escalates to violence
because it was real close to cops are getting like
they were just ready to start shooting and beaton and people. Yeah,
and they did. They broke a guy's arm, and so

(08:44):
we were telling everybody go home. We won the night.
We won the night, and one of the more hardcore
protesters who dealt with l APD said, no, they're lying,
let's stop that fence. But we made the call. Well
I made the call. It was my mistake, really, but
it was a lesson learned to never negotiate with the
with the police right now because we are in the
state of ten or their terrorists. And he said, don't
trust them, let's go stop the fence. I thought, knowing

(09:05):
the way the city usually works slowly, that they built
that one section of the fence, then they'll build the
un some days to fight back. Fucking four hours of
sleep later, woke up in an open air prison. Horrifying keeping.
You know, we haven't really had because at the end
of the at the end of the night, when everything
was said and then I think there was a total
of ten of us left. Um, you know, we I think.

(09:29):
I mean, I can speak for myself, but I've seen
the hard work that this Matt has done for the community,
you know, next to I'm honored to be next to
him because I was I was native there, but to
see someone that wasn't native but made it your home.
That's what about it is we really loved each other.
They can't see with all the lies they're saying. And
I didn't get to say this and a lot of

(09:50):
the Outlets podcast, so it's more intimate, but like they
don't get to speak on what our love was and
what it looked like. We were a community transient in
nature of people who didn't know each other, and we
genuinely loved each other and genuinely made it work, And
they don't get to speak on what that looked like
or the ups and downs, because there's always ups and downs. Yeah,

(10:11):
well that's hitting me, guys, This is uh horrifying story.
I want to talk about the police response. Um in
a little bit for right now, Can you tell me
a little bit more about the community that you guys
built there, because everything I've read about it has been
truly beautiful. And you're right. There are a lot of
talking points that people like to use, oh, you know,
drug use or crime, but that's not the case here.

(10:34):
What you had was a community of a supportive community
where from what I understand, there was like food sharing
and and you know, stations for charging, you know, a
place for a lot of people to finally feel a
little bit of safety when you know, government and the
communities do not look out for each other. And so

(10:55):
many people have been put in this position over the
last couple of years. UM, So I would love for
you to enlighten us and to spell some of the
myths that people have about um what is possible. So
basically what Echo Park was is that we asked the
city um for bathrooms. They wouldn't give us any So UM,

(11:16):
we built it as a community. We built it. There
was a set and there was one set that we
improvised whatever. Because one thing that Echo Park you have
to understand about Eco Park is that we're prideful in
our nature. We're prideful in our community. So you won't
give it to us. There's people out there that said, Okay,
if I need it, someone else needs it. If I

(11:38):
needed someone else is gonna help me build it because
they're gonna use it. And that's how it went on.
The city wouldn't give any really funding to the to
the park. There hasn't been any imprograms or nothing. We
need a kitchen. We built a kitchen. As a community
m hm. As a community. Yeah, it didn't matter, but
what the you know what community falls short of a family.

(11:58):
We were a family. We are a family. You got
to meet family members and not even some blood family
wouldn't even give what what we gave for each other. Um.
So we had bathrooms no, no, no, we had showers,
We had a kitchen. Um. We had a charging station
where it wasn't there was no charge and even if

(12:20):
you didn't have a cable, you know it happens where
you know they would do it for you, taking responsibility
and you know, trusting them. They trust you. We trusted
each other. That's what it was. It was the trust,
the bridge that we all made because of the circumstances
that life had brought us to that park. Now you
mentioned drugs, Yes, of course, I'm not gonna sit here
and be a hypocrite and be a liar. Yes of course,

(12:41):
Like in every park, like for the past two years now,
which progressively got worse because of the pandemic, has encampment's
has homelessness. Has this in every system and every group,
there's gonna be bad apples, politicians, the ones that are corrupt,
you know, and every Apple system might be perfect, but
the people are not. But one fourth of that population

(13:04):
in the park that we're there even before all of
us got there, doesn't defy all of us. You have
hard working people, you have women, you have family, you
have children, children that are there that didn't choose this life,
that were your neighbors. They were your neighbors ones. But
because maybe they weren't circumstances circumstances either because legally they
couldn't because economically they couldn't have family members. I myself

(13:29):
buried three people in a time span of two weeks
because of the consequences of the coronavirus' sorry two months ago.
And you know I have six six daughters, so you
never know what the circumstances do. Not defy someone's situation,
You should judge. What they did was they used Echo
Park as a pond. I'm gonna use this to come
and buff my shirt up and say I did this

(13:50):
for the city. You want to do something for the city,
go down two blocks to the bridge, go down two
blocks anywhere around Echo Park. Then you're gonna find people
that actually meet the home and do that and maybe
maybe you can get like a cookie. But you went
an equal part. That's thievery. That's illegal and it's a

(14:10):
humane Yeah. Yeah, you made a lot of a lot
of really great points there. I mean drug use especially. Yeah, there,
that's a reality. It's a problem. It's a problem for
a lot of people, not just the on housed. Um.
But if you want to unpack why it's prevalent, there's

(14:31):
a whole lot of other things that we can do
and talk about, um as to unpack what that means.
But it should not be used as a cudgel or
a point of judgment. UM. And I agree with you,
go ahead, yeah, yeah, because I'm tired of beyond house
being blamed for issues that all of us face, like
for example, of hoarding. Hoarding is not an unhoused or

(14:54):
homeless condition. It's a human condition, and that's just a fact.
And if hoarding is defined by owning too many material possessions,
any one of you in your apartment has three times
more material possessions than an unhoused person does. You just
have space to make it look nice, and you can
hide it with your walls, But just looking at some
of your backgrounds is more than any of my neighbors

(15:15):
had yet. Work called holders and trashy. Drug addiction. This
is a human epidemic and problem, and you're right. If
we're gonna tackle it, we need to switch it to
the pharmaceuticals, into the greed and corruption allowing it. Because
if a doctor is pumping out this medicine, and this
medicine got you addicted, now you're addicted to all these things,
and fettan all came from the doctors, and fetton all

(15:35):
is a huge issue on these streets, but in these
houses as well. And that's the thing, Like, I'm tired
of me and my neighbors getting blamed for stuff that
affects all of us. Drug addiction isn't nearly every American home.
Hoarding isn't nearly every American home, you know what I mean.
So this is a larger systemic issue keeping it hidden,
they're just trying to divide us by blaming it on

(15:56):
the poor, and that's annoying and as far as the community.
It's like, it's so funny. You know. First, let me
just say, this community is not the structures, it's the people.
It's heart in mind. If the heart and mind is
on the same page, we understand that we love each
other and cal any type stuff, then we're a community.
They can tear down those structures. We can build that
stuff right up again. Uh. And it's funny because people

(16:19):
look at what was an Echo Park and they're like,
so genius the fun You guys didn't provide showers. We
built showers because people need showers every day. People need
you know, stop eating hot food when you're poor. You
know what I mean? This one no rocket science. It
was just Hey, nobody's thinking about people. And that's what
love and care is is thinking about people. Like she said,

(16:40):
do I need this? Okay? That means you need it? Okay,
we need it and the city that should be their job.
That should be Pharaol's job. His job should be the
cutest thing in the world, sitting back going what do
my constituents need? And instead he's selfish and corrupt like
many of them are, which is why this movement is
larger than just Echo Park or the Young house. It's
all of us. It's the public wale versus the will

(17:02):
of the few. Yeah, thank you. That was really well said.
I just wanted to add one thing, um addiction. They're
pushing people to be criminals. They are pushing people to
be criminals because when you take the little thing that
that person has left, what do you some people that's it,
that could be their snapping point, that could be the
breaking point. You know. We talked to Avender this morning.

(17:25):
She has schizophrenia. She um, she's having to sell her
her art in a corner. And and she was safe
in the park. She wasn't bugging anyone. She was in
the in the grass, she wasn't bugging anyone. On the contrary,
anyone needed directions help, she was more than happy. Now
what I saw from two weeks ago, she's nervous, her state,

(17:45):
her ambience and changed. They the repercussions that this is
gonna have is tremendous. Not only that, but I'm gonna
say I had a car accident four months ago. What
they said was here you have a lifetime first prescripture
for oxycoding, oxycodon and morphine. And I said, I don't
want it. And yet I was a resident at the park.

(18:06):
They're pushing people to be drug at it, pushing people
and this is gonna help you, This is gonna know
that that's not gonna help me. You're pushing pills down
my throat and getting paid for every pill I take.
The government is paying thirty bucks, but you're getting fifteen
out of it. As as as a pharmacist, as a
person that you invented it in a very brand Yeah, yeah,

(18:28):
I mean absolutely, Um queen, you had mentioned, uh, go
to the other places, like there's other areas and offer
them a space. I think that you're referencing Project Turnkey.
Is that you mean like, well, yeah, so that's what
I wanted to get into, is to why that's not

(18:50):
a good option. But you know what, there are people
I could tell you, and I've been very much adamant
about this. This program is and will help some people
because gonna lie, some people need the structure, some people
need the time of way and just like detox from
life from whatever. There's older people, elderly people in the park.

(19:10):
They have to have that attention. But the reason, um,
and I didn't take it, I wouldn't take it and
I was one of like maybe six or ten that
didn't end up out of the whole park. We didn't
take it because it's conditioned. Anything that the government is
trying to offer right now is conditioned. We're not prisoners
of war, slavery and died a long time ago. The
Holocaust camps ended a long time ago, the Mexican Revolution,

(19:34):
prisoner ended a long time ago. Yeah, we're a family,
were bred and we're a brother, we're a sister, were
we're the kind that you know, we're a family. It's
just a family, a big family. Like I'll speak on
it real quick, Project room. Here's the thing. It's all lies. Okay.

(19:54):
First of all, we'll talk about the conditions and then
I'll go real quick into the lives. Unless you wanted
to say quick, no, I was just that's what I
was hoping. It's just to establish what it is, you know. Okay.
So basically what we're saying is they're offering up the hotel,
uh during the pandemic, during COVID. So like any other
government program, it's not permanent, right, It's highly temporary. Just

(20:14):
refused to think beyond a day or a month. They
can't see long term. Uh, it's highly conditioned. It's got curfused.
From seven to seven. You can't go into your own room.
They have to check you in. Every time you leave,
you get COVID tested, like you're a decrepit creature catching COVID.
Every time you leave. The lobbies filled with like police,
some people in hazmats suit. The point is is the
way it treats you in terms of your self, agency

(20:36):
and dignity. It's not there. And a lot of my
own house neighbors are finding that when they've signed up
for a nice five star hotel, they end up at
the Salvation at the Salvation Army, or when they sign
up for a super nice hotel hotels fully booked, they
go forty minutes somewhere far away and guess how long
the reservation is? Two weeks. Yeah, we had something stable
in Echo Park. Okay, that was our shelter. The CDC

(21:00):
at shelter in place the city lash Urban Alchemy said
fuck you, and we were left alone. And we built
something stable, something secure where you weren't gonna move in
the next three months, where you knew and you had
that stability, just like y'all have in your apartments, you know.
But now they're in this false program. Oga, one of
my neighbors. She was told to join because that last day,
there are those last few days, they were just trying

(21:21):
to get everyone out. They were selling it. They were
selling it, they were selling it. I've done cells, I've
done door to door cells. They were pitching and selling
this thing and people were finding opposite truths. Oga was
told to sleep on the sidewalk for a night because
they ran out of space. What you told you took
her from her tent and told her she could have
a spot. Then she went to Project a house key

(21:42):
or some new ships and it was a honkey Projects
home key and it was a lie. There was four
people in the highly condition. She was only allowed to
leave from twelve to four. How is that adequate alternative
to your freedom outside? You know, last some of the
tents it was like New York City apartments. All right,
we're not don't take charity or pity on this. It's

(22:02):
just understand we're living outside that these are not adequate alternatives. Yeah,
and and as you guys mentioned the fact one that
said it's two weeks or just the fact that it's
dependent on COVID, Well, you're at the whim of somebody
else's choices, and then you might get a notice in
the middle of the night like had happened before you know,

(22:23):
you're you're out. And so then you're looking for a
place in a shelter where there's a lot of a
lot of abuse in shelters, and there's a lot of
different circumstances. But as a female, and I'm going to
speak as a female, you know, men are men, that
we're gonna say men are men. But when you're a
female and you're like in this like like um, homeless
in the situation as it is, um, it's very dangerous,

(22:45):
it's very dangerous. And I can honestly tell you I
could sleep at night it might knowing I would be
okay because I had my neighbors, not like any other
part you know, But it's it's conditioned and I they lied.
First of all, They preyed on people's hopes, on their needs.
They prayed, they preyed on their needs, They preyed on

(23:07):
their instability, They preyed on the fact that they were tired.
Because the people that were there that at the end
of the last day, we were tired. I'm barely getting
my voice back but we were tired. To people that
were in the front line, we were tired. And basically
they pitched it to them. However, if they had to
pitch like thirty lines, they did it. And people either
waited for two hours in the parking lot to be

(23:28):
told that there was no more room, that they had
to have a waiting list, and or that they would
be pushed out. Mitchell fire pushed out everybody from the
park outside his district. Has no one noticed this? Everyone
was sent to Downey, everybody was sent to Norwalk, to
all these like different places, but not in his not
in his district. Why because he's scared of the people

(23:48):
coming together. I mean said something really good. Um that
basically got me thinking, Yeah, we're gonna be like antipe families.
Because ants might be some ant colonies. Um A's maybe, Mom,
but they carry ten times away and they built and
there our family. They will build that change link, that
change link, they will make that link with everybody. And
that's what we have. We have basically a bunch of UM.

(24:10):
I always tell my kids and I showed them this,
this wording. I said, I'm the dirt beneath your feet
And she said, Mom, how can you say that I'm
not dirt, I must said, And I said, what do
you eat on a day? She had an apple? I
was like, what are you eating? She said, an apple?
Where did it come from the earth. Anyone on this
planet is a seed. I am the dirt beneath your feet.

(24:32):
If you know how to plant it, it will grow
into something so beautiful that you won't even you you
won't even recognize it a year later, or two years later,
or even five days later. And I told my daughter,
I'm the dirt beneath beneath your feet. If you're capable
to look down on me and now see the potential
that you have from that dirt, then you maxed out
your intelligence. You've maxed out your time here. You're just

(24:53):
a walking dead person. But um, And then I told
her that from now on, everything we have is the land.
We are children of the earth. We're fighting for that
piece of land because it's our earth, it's our home,
it's our stability. Yeah, that's beautiful. And I'll tell you
one another story quick. Yeah, my guy Kennedy, he was
living out with us in the park right before he

(25:16):
joined one of these programs. And this is why these
programs First off, the intention behind what you do dictates
how come out. So when it's run by corrupt cronies
who only care about that government stipend, then the care
you get isn't there. They use nice names like the
Care Act, their hotel room for keys, but the care,
the love, the healing that comes from love and care,
that's not there. So what we had in the park,

(25:37):
So Kenneth left the park round black Hair Talkative most
is one of these bullshit programs. They only let him
out three hours Monday and three hours Tuesday. The rest
of the time they kept him alone inside. Gives a
funk about a TV. That's not what we were made for.
That's not what this species is. So Kenneth comes back
dinner pale, gray hair, teeth jangle and not knowing how

(26:01):
to talk, and he was just he was just messed up.
That's not how he left our camp. That's not how
he left our camp. I mean, yeah, you're you're When
I look at sort of what what the city is
saying about this, the way they framed it is like
we're trying to put these people in housing situations. And
there were you know, protesters who were misinformed trying to
stop that, um, and I it's the It seems like

(26:23):
every time I've seen this happen, people do get like
the state has places for people, but they're usually like
you said, they're they're not comfortable, they're not dignified, um,
and they're they're atomizing right. Like, even if you could
argue the physical structure is better than camping, there's not
a community in the same way. And that's that's what

(26:45):
people want more than the part. Yeah, the building, it's
it's institutionalized to be like a prison reform. They're trying
to institutionalize you to be a robot, so you won't
ask and you'll be thankful for that little bit of
food that they gave you throughout the Yeah, keep trying
to condition You're trying to condition you to basically you
should be thankful for what they're giving you. I'm sorry, No,

(27:09):
we had something, we have it and now what they're doing,
and I'm totally correct. You thought you were going to
get weak inferior um ignoring people know, you woke up warriors,
you woke up scholars, you woke up fighters, you woke
up mothers, you woke up daughters. You woke up a
community that goes now far more than just like a
park and will be the heart. But now any encampment, anything,

(27:33):
any person that's ever like suffered persecution or been wrongfully
done by the system, or any person in higher power,
this is your chance. Yeah, thank you guys. I think
we should also talk about the police response to the
protests as uh this has unfolded. And thank you uh, John,

(27:54):
Kate and Jamie for your patients and for joining us
for this conversation. But I would love to you guys
have been on the ground doing some of the reporting
UM and covering what's happened. And I believe John and
Kate were you were you both arrested? Is that what happened?
Can you talk to us a bit about what happened
or a lot, however much you want to talk about
what all for coming out? Then thank you so much.

(28:16):
Before I talked about that, I'd also just like to
add that one thing I never hear people talk about
UM about these encampments is that a lot of the
people in them work, and we cover and if you
have a business and you have a a lot of
the times you have tools, you have property, and there's
you know, there's another story. Age and where we talked
to a guy who sold these accustomed bikes, and you

(28:38):
can't carry those things into like a project reseration because
there'sign enough storage. So I just want to add that. Yeah,
that's a really really important point. Um. And you guys
had referenced some another person who had been you know,
selling art or what have you, and now that source
of income has gone. Yeah almah, Yeah she should win

(28:58):
my favorite press. They told us that we're gonna picture
and catalog and story everything. I'm sorry, but I went
back to that park after two days. There's no way
in human health they got enough people to catalog all
that stuff and put it away in storage. So you're
telling me that she said no, No, he said that
they were gonna geo spot locate each tent. You knew

(29:20):
exactly where. I'm telling you. I know people that lost
hundreds of u either. And not only that, but the
sentimental value. They cleaned that park up so fast, and
they didn't care if they're able to just get that
and throw it away. We're not. We're not disposable. Not. Yeah,

(29:41):
thank you guys so much. And you're right. Half of
the people in the park do work. You see their
camp in their tents empty because they work. They just
can't make because either they were lowered hours or they
were you know, put to rest or whatever. They couldn't
pay that right, but they still work. They're clean. Just
because you're homeless doesn't mean you're dirty, does Newior Equiminal
book clean community. That's why we built a shower. They

(30:04):
tried to make us dirty there. The mayor defunded, defunded
during COVID defunded the shelters, so there was no showering
at the shelters. During COVID funded the care units, so
there was twenty four local care units each have four showers.
There's twenty four times four do than that. He had
them sitting in a parking lot and he had the
one come for a few months. It solid three or
four months during the middle of COVID. There was only

(30:26):
one shower a day. So that's why we built it.
And after our first shower that we built the first
day of building it, Mitchell o'farroll had all the water
fountains cut on the homeless side but not the other side.
So this is the reality of how petty it got.
And yet we still made it work. Why because these
corrupt people left us alone. If they just leave us alone,

(30:46):
community aid and mutual support, round game, street watch, mutual
support and aid, we can build it. We just don't
need a city, didn't. Is that actually reminded me, um,
that i'd seen this? Was it? About a year ago
the residents of of Echo Park Lake had proposed a
community contracts UH to the city to say, like, you know,

(31:09):
we'll keep the place clean, will be respectful of the neighborhood.
UH in return, can you stop harassing us? And that
that held for sort of for a little while, but
now it's over. Um. I want to be clear, we
tried all these proposals and they're they're What we're dealing
with is wicked people who are comfortable with lying, and
as a people, as a public, we now need to

(31:30):
accept that and move forward with a different way of coach,
you know what I mean? Like, you can't keep thinking
we need to negotiate or talk with them, or you know,
get the right person in office. No, what we need
to do is wake up public voice, and public voice
only wakes up through unification. We have to get together
because it's the same enemy. I can honestly tell you.
Also like being because his office is right underneath where

(31:52):
I used to live on top. He even even to
the people there that lived the residents. He gave us
such a hard time back when I was living there. Um.
I've been a resident of the park for about three
to four months now, basically since my accident. Um. But
when I was living there, he tried to enforce parking
rules for people that have been there for longest, for

(32:12):
the longest, a certain price for this parking permit. But
if you but but if you wanted it rushed, it
would be this much more. And when you would go
ask a different person, they knew with no such feat.
So it's like he was he was trying to like basically,
make the wealthier more wealthier, and the poor can just
go and die off on this zone. But we're not born,
we're not born in the people that are. Um. It's

(32:36):
not a prime welcome together everything, Okay, John Kate, tell
us about what happened to you guys last week. So, Um,

(32:56):
on last Wednesday night, March twenty, that's the night and
the fences went up all over Echo Park, UM in
the middle of the night. By the next morning, there
were still people in the park, UM and there was
a visual plan for five pm UM for protesters to
kind of show up and show their support outside of

(33:17):
council Member Mitchell Ferrell's office. UM. And by that point,
the police had pretty much blocked off all of the
roads surrounding Echo Park. UM put up like barricades. There
were officers like blocking off roads. UM. So it was
impossible for everyone at that vigil to actually get into
the park or even get near it. UM. At one point,

(33:38):
the people who were inside the park UM did like
an Instagram live event and UM we all watched that
and listen to them. UM, things are very chill, calm. UM.
By about what's seven thirty, it seemed like the event
was about to be over. UM. There were still hundreds
of people there, but it was kind of it felt
like it was winding down. UM. And then the police

(34:01):
declared an unlawful assembly because there was like one guy
with a strobe light okay at the police UM, and
so they declared it an unlawful assembly and UM ordered
everyone to disperse. At that point, UM, there were maybe
one or two hundred people kind of lined up facing

(34:21):
a skirmish line of police. I feel like, UM, we
should make clear that neither me nor Kate heard this
dispersal order because so so yeah, we get back to
the skirmish line. There's this visual and there's a skirmish line.
There two like kind of separate parts of this of
this night and the skirmish line with with people sort

(34:41):
of yeah, there was there are one or two people
like flashing lights at the cops or whatever, like store
bought you know, like flashlights or something, and there was
this police truck with these speakers and it's just like,
you know, it sounds like a like a bad cartoons,
like it's it's it's it's just this crappy speaker system minutes,
you know, extremely loud with the protesters. So I believe

(35:03):
that that was how the order was um issued. But
me and Kay, we're like, you know, we're checking, you know,
we're checking Twitter, and like we have people on like
you know, messaging apps and reaching out to us. It's
kind of update us and what's going on at that point.
That's really how we heard that there even was this
first order. Like we didn't, we didn't hear it there.
And I'm sure, like you know, there's other people who

(35:24):
are just protesters are not covering the event, and they
probably don't have that that that you know, they're not
like obsessively checking their phones. Uh, they have no way
to know that there's a dispersal order. And so we
heard that it's just dispersal order. Yeah, probably around like
seven forty whatever. And nobody left, Like there's other you know,
major journalists with like you know, giant cameras with us,

(35:46):
and um, there's legal observers there. Nobody you know, moved
a muscle and so we're all sort of still just
hanging there at the skirmish line. Um, things aren't like
in terms of the protesters, they're not really getting they're
not getting were intense. Nothing's happening. Um. And yeah, so eventually, uh,

(36:07):
at some point where it's we're still in this line,
in the skirmish line, and we're sort of smushed up
against uh this fence with a bunch of other journalists
and whoever, legal servers and whatnot. And at some point
an officer takes out a megaphone and says, if you're
a member of the media or a member of the
National Legal Guild, lawyer Gould, I always forget that, um,

(36:33):
yeah the guild. Yeah, that was your time. Now was
your time to leave? What? Yeah, that's not why they're there. Yeah, Robert,
you've got experienced when when the police tell you that
it's time for press and legal observers to leave, that
is a sign that you are direly needed there. Um

(36:54):
like yeah, that's that's I mean something similar, not somewhat similar,
happened and Portland recently where there was a protest some
people broke a window. Police kettled, which is where they
kind of surround on all sides the crowd, and they
they offered press away out pressent legal said that you
could leave if you wanted to, will make it And
it was you know, um, people who stayed, we're going

(37:17):
to get their photos taken and get searched. And it
was this whole thing, But it was it was immediately
clear to the people I knew who were there who
were pressed that like, well, when they when they tell
you you should go, that's when you're most needed to
be there. Yeah, exactly, So we didn't leave. Good for you. Yeah,
probably like maybe five or ten minutes after we heard

(37:38):
that order over the megaphone. Um, we were The protest
was all in this little section of a street where
the police were blocking off one intersection. The other intersection
was still free, so the protesters are kind of trying
to move backwards to get to that second intersection so
that we don't get kettled. Um. But all of a sudden,
this second line of cops runs out of an alley

(38:00):
and blocks us all off. And there's probably one or
two hundred people in this kettle, and um, there's press,
there's legal observers, and the police aren't letting anyone out.
They decided they were just going to arrest all of us. Yeah,
and and and and it was very clear what the
protesters were doing too, because they had we like one

(38:22):
or two people that were just you know, yelling at
the top of their lungs. They're going, we're all going
to move back now so we don't get kettled. And
there was sort of this like retreat from the cops
that was lasting like a bit before the second line
of cop should up to kettle. And they showed up like, um,
I remember, and this is on one of my videos,

(38:42):
they should have like the they were like these bags
on the floor, and they should they like ran in
and they kicked the bags, and so one of the
protesters like they were they showed up like real hot. Yeah.
At one point us well me being we went in
in in the on the inner of the park, on
the inside, and do you remember that one time when
we saw that there was this one person I got arrested.

(39:03):
They were dragging him by his limbs. Yeah, they had
knocked him out like he was unconscious. You had cops
carrying him on both limbs. And you know, we have
always from the inside we heard, we heard that there
were protesters literally that got arrested with their hand ups,
sitting down with their hand up. You know, the police
went there for one thing. They had one thing in
mind and one mission, and they were trying to enforce it.

(39:26):
They were trying to their authoritative power. I mean, they
were being bullies. They were being using their power as
a superior person in the community. I learned a long
time ago. I don't care if your cop, I don't
care if you're a judge, I don't care if your
the pope. I'm gonna ask you questions because you're are
human just like the rest of us. And one thing
I have emphasized is that we get it and we

(39:47):
try to like let them know we know you're on
the job. But you know, if we're not going to
be violent towards you, why would you be violent towards us.
We stayed at the end. We had to, you know,
for purpose, because it's like so many people, Um, I'm in,
I'm I'm very very proud of, like proud and honored
to say that he got arrested. He got arrested. He
was Him and Dave were the last two in that part.

(40:10):
Got arrested the next morning, like ten. Yeah, But like
from our perspective, the night before, I remember we were
live streaming it and at one point we were just
trying to like it was. It was a cute thing,
you know, there was just a few like that they
had their model. There was hundreds of y'all, and we
were trying to do chance. But then it turned real
real fast, and like squadrons were moving in on y'all,

(40:32):
like twenty with ten ten formations hoo hook. And I
remember live streaming to y'all, be careful, they're coming, they're coming,
they're coming, And like the night before, on Wednesday night,
they kettled everybody in. There was a point where we
were thinking of telling the protesters to leave because Wednesday
night We had a strategy. Those willing to get arrested,
we get arrested, and the rest would comply and leave.
And we were ready to implement that strategy, but they

(40:54):
boxed all corners inch or for anyone to leave. So
then it was like, oh, ship, what game are they
trying to play? And it just got chaotic from there.
It sounds like a it's really intense response for people
that just want to improve the park. And at the
end it was just six You're telling me that you
needed all those all those choppers, all that movement when

(41:18):
you have if you really want to get rid of
homeless homelessness, go throughout the city. But you focused at
the park for a reason because you thought they were
going to be weak people. And that week, the last
ten people were two women over the age of sixty five,
was a man over the age of sixty five, was
a married couple in their forties. Like that's who you
were dancing, Dave love that man? Like who were you

(41:40):
kicking out? Like what what in your mind were you
you know, like kicking out like it was people with
nowhere to go, you were kicking out? Yeah, we had
one supporter that because and one supporter who stayed to
night with us trapped and opening. We had asked, you know,
if you guys want to support prior to that, I'm
come and pitch your ten. If you have home, doesn't
matter because, like I said, the point being now at now,

(42:00):
it's not just about the homeless and Ector Park. It
transcended to a lot of different points. And what we're
gonna get across right now is we all need to
be united. We all need to come together. We all
our family, and we all at different points or in
different circumstances, different ways, but we're all facing the same
problems with the same people. We need to just all

(42:21):
come together and realize that. Now it doesn't matter if
I'm Mexicana, if I'm Chicana, if I'm it doesn't matter,
because what when you're hungry, there is no language for that,
There is no borders for that. You're hungry, and anyone
in any city, in any language couldn't say, I'm hungry,
give me food. When it's about to rain and you

(42:43):
don't got a tent, there's no language for that. You
just don't got a tent. And the thing about the
police is last night we did a vigil a peaceful
vigil around the park more than the loss of the park.
And when we got to miss his office just to
plant the candles, we told everybody, don't congregate, just leave.
So what happened afterwards was just some people were hanging
it out here and there, which we can do as
citizens not breaking the law, we can hang out with

(43:04):
each other. Instead we were met with a police chopped
there right down low with its light on us and
a drone watching us. We're basically in a police state
at this point. The trying to turn turn to I
have seen many people talk about the expense of this
to the city. Um, if I was better, I would

(43:26):
have that number in front of me, but it looks
like I don't. But it was a lot. I don't
know if I wanted either of you, Jamie or John Kate,
if you knew that figure off at some point I
think it was around but by the end of Thursday
at least it was around three quarters of uh million dollars.
But to have everyone come in, um, I'm not sure

(43:48):
exactly what the numbers were with cops on Thursday night,
but on Wednesday night there were four hundred police officers
brought into the area and for people who don't live
in the area and aren't familiar with the area, it
couldn't be more public and out in the open. I mean,
there there were situations on on Thursday where you would
see people, you know, getting arrested in front of like

(44:11):
a vegan restaurant where people are eating outside. Like it's
extremely dystopian the way that this was um folding out.
And uh, there were cops brought in from as far
as I heard, San Pedro, which is over twenty five
miles away from here, so cops that don't know the area.
There were six helicopters Wednesday night flying overhead, communicating with

(44:32):
each other, not doing anything really just being there to
intimidate and to and to spread fear um. And so yeah,
the amount of city funds that went into preventing a
peaceful assembly to advocate for for a house, neighbors and
just for this community to continue to exist. Uh, I mean,

(44:53):
just imagine how much could have been actually done with
orders and a million dollars only that, but not about
like we had choppers. Since we woke up that morning,
there was one or two choppers circling all day, playing sirens,
trying to like mess with their minds. You know, it
was an all day so add that to all that
had been done that day in the day prior, all

(45:15):
the cops that came out, because there was at least
two three cops patrolling that you know that part for
the past week basically or coming. But you know, it's
like throughout the whole week it was intimidation, intimidation and fear.
Also have their own videographers covering the protests as well,
Like we were, we were being filmed the entire time
by these two cops that have these Yeah, thanks all

(45:38):
about to say police biographer, So you know, I know,
I know they'm Gon and Queen and have talked about
it before. How they said up, you know, they didn't.
There was not a lot of planning about the round
this event. But it seems like, uh, there was quite
a bit funny. M uh, Robert, it looked like you
had something unless that moment is past, you know, It's

(45:59):
just it's it's the situation that that always exists, which
is that the threat to the police into the state
is not the encampment itself, um or even the protests.
It's the possibility that they will gain widespread public sympathy, right,
and that grows the longer these kind of things go on. Um.

(46:20):
What they don't want is for this to turn into
something that it brings increasing numbers of people out across
the city, because that actually creates a problem for the
politicians who are you know, they're a big part of
why this is cleared out is because it's somebody has
hinged their campaign promises on that, you know, Um, and
it's a it's a situation where it is in the police.

(46:42):
The goal of the police is to make this so
frightening and uncomfortable and damaging to be a part of
that they kill it quickly before it can spread into
something that can cause like significant problems for them that
can affect them and their budget at the ballot box,
like the protests last yeared it Like, that's why the

(47:03):
forces being deployed in this way. It's it's unreasonable if
you think of it as they're trying to stop this
specific protests at Echo Park, But it makes a lot
of sense if you think of it as any any
protests that has the potential to gain widespread sympathy is
dangerous for them, and so they're the the tactic they
have taken because they're the kind of people who become

(47:24):
l A p D officers. Is to deploy overwhelming force
against the start of this in the hopes that they
scare everybody from continuing to come out and do this.
Like that's that's how that's how a police state works,
you know. Yeah, you guys are all right about that. Yeah,
that was just to that point. There was an article
in the l A. Times just a few days before. Um,

(47:46):
the paper then reported that this this was sort of
going to go down this sweep and which was you know,
Joe Ferrell said was a lie. But just for that report,
the l. A. Times had like this beautiful story about
a wedding that happened inside of Echo Park. Um, just
this incredibly positive portrayal of the community inside the park.

(48:08):
And I think, um, you were definitely starting to see that,
uh in terms of you know, just these major publications
are are publishing, um, you know, very positive portrayals of
the park, and I think, um, the city may have
started to get upset about that. Yeah, well they were
planning this for a while. There's no way you do
this without planning it for a while. Uh, we just

(48:30):
thought they wouldn't move this past We thought we still
had two more months of COVID protection. You know, it's
still COVID, so he broke the COVID TDC guidelines. We
really didn't think this will happened this best. So my
next question is what what's next? What's what's next? Steps?
Do you have them at this point? Um, further protests, vigils,

(48:53):
anything that on our where radar that we should be
aware of. Go fund means, anything that we can support.
How can we support you guys in this? Let me
be clear about what's coming in the future. This is
gonna take all of us. It's it's exactly like Robert said, Um,
what they fear is a movement that we're that's growing,

(49:14):
and that's what we're doing because the reality is we
are in a police state, and that's what they showed.
You can keep it hidden if you're content or if
you're apathetic and you're just living your own life. You
can keep it hidden if you're only focused and tunnel
vision on your own life. But when people come together,
the city has shown their response, which means this is

(49:34):
it's like you said, Robert, this has happened many times before,
many many times before. Any time they think the protests
might get public sympathy on a larger scale, they want
to shut it down. With the difference, and the steps
moving forward is that this won't get shut down, that
this is actually uniting the groups, and that is our
steps forwards, and that is what's happening with hardly any effort.

(49:55):
People are waking up to the fact that we need
to unify. That our enemy is this same because it's
the same Mayor Garcetti, and it's the same l a
p D chief. More so, we're facing these same institutions organizations,
So why split differences right now? Our enemy is common
and they have shown that they choose to listen to
the few over the many. And that's what this is about.

(50:17):
This is no longer about the young housing Echo Park.
It's about the housing crisis that they're causing because they're
making it way too impossible to live a life. I mean,
more people are closer to homeland to being homeless than
they are to having a million dollar mansion. They're making
it impossible to live. And what we have to do
the best way you can support us, the best way.

(50:39):
Don't let time do what time does. Time heals wounds
and it also makes forget. Don't let that happen day
in and day out. We have to grow this movement
and maintain our public will. Why we mentioned the analogy
of ant colony is we for now all need to
be on the same page that the city and its
corruption and that the l a p D Are a

(51:00):
common enemy. The best support you can do is show
up to actions when we have actions, and we all
need to come together aunt colin like, become an ant
colony and mob up on them. That's the only way
they're gonna listen power structures, listen to money, or they
listen to a unified public will. And for some reason,
this is the moment decease, for some reason where the
people on the forefront, for some reason, we're gonna be

(51:22):
the ones that start this thing. And it's already happening.
So on Instagram, I know. Um if you guys want
to follow, it's up. Oh if you go to um uh,
if you go to Echo Park, rise up on Instagram,
or if you go type in our go fund me.
The community they destroyed, you see, God blesses in many ways.
They took a lake. We're gaining, We're gaining a mountain

(51:42):
by won't go into detail, but when everything comes through,
we're gonna try again to build this community. Is that
the fact, the fact about what we've learned with Occupy
l A and what we've now learned with Echo Park
is that the power structures when community and love starts
to even a little bit work shut that shipped down.
So we're gonna build community because that's what we are.

(52:04):
We're humans. We are a community, so it just has
to be built. But we have to unify against the
fact that the big brother is stepping on us and
shutting us down. We're in a police state officially, this
is not cool. Um. Yeah. And then just you know,
keeping in touch um with with the Instagram page and
park rise up on Instagram and me page is there too, right,

(52:25):
just Google, go fund me, Echo Park you'll find it. Yeah.
We we will be sharing that um on our social
media feeds as well. If you guys can can do it,
just your presence, um uh in the Echo Park rise
up the Instagram, I'll drop, I'll see if I can
like post or something my my Instagram. You'll have my
my contact info. And if that contact info info, like

(52:47):
I said, you know, it's like um. And then also
someone that couldn't be here, which is Wall Street. He's
a dreamer. He dreamers, so he's also like he has
to do something very important. But he wanted me to
let you guys know that. You know, this united everything,
everything that they try to give us as bread comes
and even when Trump didn't want to redo the Dream
of Act, we all came together just like that. We

(53:09):
will all come together again. But now everybody, and he
told me, he's like, now we're all dreamers. We're all
going to be dreaming, and we are and our dreams
will come true. Stay righteously angry. Don't let that go away.
Don't let and don't let anger like talk keep spreading
the toxicity in our our our in our community, in

(53:30):
our hearts, and our families and our friends. Because when
our friends are worried, when our families are worried, we're worried.
So it's just, you know, let us just be at
peace and let us be human and let us live. Yeah,
we want to live. You guys have made so many
beautiful points. This is very impactful. I am grateful that

(53:50):
you have taken the time to speak with us. I
really really really appreciate it and to our listeners. Yeah,
I'm just gonna say to our listeners in different cities,
I would also encourage you to start paying attention and
learning what's happening in your own in your own town
and uh you know, in your own communities and reaching
out and seeing what you can do to help contribute

(54:11):
to this movement. Yeah, because I feel I no. Note,
like if Mitch whose backyard is Echo Park and doing
the best, his office literally is on Sunset and the
park is a block over. This is your backyard, Dude,
you just took away the key point of Echo Park.
We're not no ganging junction no more. We're gonna restore

(54:32):
the name of Echo Park. But it won't be by you.
It will be by you leaving that office and like
hitting the road. But you know, just to to tell
you guys know that we're not giving up. We're not
We're not giving up, and we're um. This is an
opportunity that has been long overdue for a lot of
Like like I said, everybody knows my point in Mexican
and then as a family community now we're a family.

(54:54):
Now we're a community now, you know, and just your presence,
your presence, there's numbers and numbers or strength. We need
to show them that they need to be health accountable
for everything that they're doing and the consequences of what
they did will have repercussions from here to a year. Yeah. Yeah,
um yeah, thank you so much, and thank you to

(55:15):
Jamie John Kate, all of you guys for joining us today. Um, everybody. Yeah,
I really appreciate it together everything, So don't don't do
all right. That was Gangster's Paradise, another song originally created

(55:38):
by Cody Um and then shamelessly stolen again. Demos are online,
the demos are out there spending but um, so yeah,
that was a hell of a hell of a conversation. Yeah,
and we try to, you know, mostly just kind of
let them give their experiences and their thoughts. Um. I

(56:01):
have trouble with this stuff. I think I'm a little
bit I don't know. I don't want to I don't
want to keep using the phrase black pilled. But I
have trouble being optimistic about things like this. After last summer,
and you know, some of it's that, Um, I watched
a tremendous amount of promise and like hopeful energy in Portland. Um,
and it you know, it's not that it didn't. It

(56:21):
accomplished a number of things, including there's a hell of
a lot of people who were kind of neutral on
the police beforehand who are not anymore, even if you know,
for whatever reason, they can't really afford to take the
risk of continuing to come out. Um. But I it's
also been this process of like watching the state. They

(56:43):
always win, at least in the immediate term, you know,
because they have they have so much, they have the weapons,
they have the institutional support. They will crack down and
eventually people will stop coming out. You know, it gets
to be too much. You can only take so much violence.
Like I think I have a higher tolerance for that
than a lot of people. But like I'm I'm I'm

(57:05):
tired of going out. I'm tired of just seeing people
getting the ship beat out of them and arrested and stuff.
It was almost easier, it was almost easier, you know,
the journalists and Eco Parker got arrested. It was easier
when I was worried every night about getting arrested. Um
in some ways, because at least then you're not you
don't feel like separate from this group of people who
are getting arrested and beaten, and I don't know. I

(57:26):
have enormous respect for anyone who does this. I think
what they're doing is important. I hope that they get
more people out. I hope it spreads to the rest
of the city. I just have so much fucking trouble
being an optimist about this stuff these days. Yeah, it's
really hard, um. And I've iscialate because I feel that
probably not as keenly as you, because you've spent so
much time on the ground, um at these actions over

(57:49):
the past year especially, and you've seen so much. I
also do feel I'm blown away by what they've built.
And I shouldn't be, because it's common sense, you know,
but with but without any help or assistance, and it
really was, and in the hostile environment during this time,

(58:11):
and and you know, it's so frustrating and heartbreaking to
see that torn away and and and no options to
be given uh in its place. I am blown away
by by what they were able to build. I'm um.
I am encouraged by the number of people that care
enough to pay attention and to show up. I feel

(58:32):
like Mitchell Ferrell is going to have a hard time
getting reelected. UM. I would hope anyway. Uh, and so
things like that, UM give me some amount of positivity.
But yeah, it's it's really hard. It's really hard to
know what to say or do next. Uh, to be
tangilely that is tangible. You know, this whole year, you

(58:54):
know l A and the work. We didn't have a
chance to actually talk with Jamie during this UM. She
helped us letate getting people here together, and she's been
writing and covering this UM. But you know, people like Jamie,
different organizers have spent this entire past year mobilizing Los
Angeles UH to be a support system for on house neighbors,

(59:15):
you know, when it's hot, organizing water drives when it's cold,
organizing you know, drap blankets and and and coats and
other things and bringing people tents and it's really it's
really fucking beautiful and it shouldn't be like that. Yeah,
you know, I it reminds me a lot. I've spent
a decent amount of time in homeless or houseless announced encampments.

(59:37):
You know, there's a number of different terms of people
use UM over the years. The one that sticks out
most to me the two those two one of them
was East Jesus Well there in general, just slab city
in southern California, which has stayed around a lot longer
because it's not land anyone else once and because it's
out off the beaten path. It's remote. It's remote, and

(59:58):
it's it's a mix of actually, like some of it
is kind of on house folks, some of it is
just like old people in trade. Some of it's like
kind of heavy folks. It's it's an interesting community. UM.
I also spent a lot of time in Nicholsville, UM,
which was a houseless in cambin in Seattle that there
was like there was this chunk of open land that
they had they had built semi permanent dwellings onto UM.

(01:00:21):
So some of them were tense. Some of them were
like little bitty log cabins, almost tiny houses, and they
had they'd set up a power system, they'd set up
like internet for themselves. UM, They'd set up like they
had cooking rotations. There were a number of people who
because of their time in Nicholsville, had been able to
get kind of get their life together, I guess again
enough to get like stable work, save up money, get

(01:00:43):
an apartment, and like those people had become part of
like an extended community who donated time and money in
order to help keep it going, and it was, of
course um. It was of course destroyed UM in the
same way these things normally are because people complained about
the encampment being there, um, which is kind of what
always happens, you know. It's uh, yeah, I don't know.

(01:01:07):
I don't want to be like I don't want to
be super depressed about all this stuff, um, in part
because this is just not a great week for me.
But it is hard for me to be super optimistic.
You see, so many people do such such cool things
and put in so much more, so much more work
and care than for example, anyone who will ever work
with the l a p D will do one anything

(01:01:29):
in their entire career, and it gets destroyed by guys
who are getting double their hourly pay to UM to
hit people with batons. Well, we show up here every
week and we talk about things. It's really hard to
not end an episode for me anyway with something positive
or some sort of call to action or like this

(01:01:50):
is a thing we can do, But it's sometimes that's
you know, we know the things that we can do,
will it change anything? The different Calum sation UM, and
that's okay. Sometimes we just have to be honest about
what it is that's happening. I guess if I was
going to give any advice to the community that I

(01:02:11):
hope is going to continue to form and build in
Los Angeles, it would be to stay the funk off
Twitter for anything but like very very basic UM dissemination
of information about events UM. Because that's one of the
things we've seen in Portland. That is part of why
things are I don't know our part it has been

(01:02:34):
a problem for the community in Portland that formed around
the protest last year, is that like you get all
these people who are traumatized by UM, the police and
by their experiences UM, and then for whatever reason they're
not able to go out. Is often or just like
the movement kind of things slowed down, there's less protests
and they just start tearing each other apart on Twitter

(01:02:55):
one way or the other. UM. And that's like, you know,
I just stay off Twitter if you can. It's not
going to help. It's yeah, yeah, it's it's not just
for activists, but by god, is it for activists? Please
don't don't get on Twitter. It's such a good place

(01:03:15):
to organize, but it also ruins everything. Yeah, I mean,
it's just the way kind of digital communities work, like it,
um it is. It rewards a specific kind of toxic
calling out behavior, and like some of that's necessary obviously,
like anytime you get a big movement of activists, there
will be predators who kind of try to get in there,
and that's useful to be able to call them out

(01:03:38):
on a large scale, but it also leads just like
people who have beef with each other doing it and
in ways that make it impossible to organize in the
same way and just bum everybody out and it's just
stay off Twitter, all right. I think that does it
for us. This week, as I mentioned, we will be
sharing um their go fund me and the social media

(01:04:01):
accounts um Echo, Park, Rise Up I believe they said
on Instagram. But we'll be linking to that and um
that's the end of my centity. I still want to
do it. I still want to do it. I still
want to bring it around to something positive. It's good,
it's positive. Is people love listening to Their positivity was

(01:04:24):
very positive. Their positivity was very positive, and I hope,
I hope that I'm just a broken asshole and that
UM there. Yeah, and then they're they the fact that
they created that and they still there. They plan on
continuing that, um, and they're not going to let these
events keep that movement down. UM. I found it inspiring.

(01:04:46):
Um yes it should be. Yeah, alright, positivity achieved that
they really are. And and that's Cody play us out. Um,
this is um, this is wonder Wall. Wonder Wall here
for you. Wow, wonder Wall. Another Cody Johnston original. Everything

(01:05:13):
so everything, so dumb. It's again I tried. Worst Year
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