Category: Activism
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The Last Tent Standing: A Protest, a Privilege, and a Nation’s Divide
Reflections on class, privilege, and the hidden biases that shape our society. It’s 6:50am on Friday, November 1, 2024. It’s 45 degrees. I’m the last tent standing. I’m the last anything standing, really. They brought trucks and bobcats and cleaned everything that wasn’t bolted down on 4 separate properties. That was surprising. All I ever…
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PRESS RELEASE: Winter Safe Sleeping Space Protest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sage Lewis Phone: 330-416-7519 Email: [email protected] Advocate Begins Indefinite Camp-Out Protest Against Homeless Displacement in Akron AKRON, OH 10/30/2024 — Starting tonight, Sage Lewis, founder of Houseless Movement Charity, will begin an indefinite camp-out protest next to 85 Kent Place, Akron, in direct response to the City of Akron’s notice to…
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Supporter’s Guide: Help Amplify the Fight for Winter Shelter in Akron
Ways to Help On-Site Documentation Tips Important Details to Document Sharing on Social Media Ready-to-Use Posts (modify as needed) Twitter/X Templates: URGENT: Akron advocates are fighting for winter homeless shelter at 85 Kent Place. City plans to remove survival gear as temperatures drop. Witness needed. #AkronHousing #HumanRights Last winter, an Akron resident lost toes to…
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When the World Turns Away: Choosing to Stand in a Society that Won’t
A personal reflection on rage, humanity, and the cost of caring I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to overcome my rage. The world is just so wrong sometimes. Did I tell you that my friend Hurricane got hit by a school bus? It destroyed his cart, his front bicycle wheel and his guitar.…
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The Art of Staying Alive in a World That Makes No Sense
A personal journey through despair, anger, and meaning in the face of life’s absurdities I think about killing myself all the time. Albert Camus writes: “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” I…
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The Great Trash Can Caper: When Helping Others Becomes a Municipal Offense
Today’s example of bureaucratic overreach and the challenges of urban compassion Have you ever looked out your front window to see the city packing up all your trash cans? I suspect maybe not. (It’s happened to me on more than one occasion.) This was the picture from the front of my house a few minutes…
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The City Of Akron Called To See How Our Homeless Friends Are Doing
I got a nice call from the City of Akron yesterday. They wanted to check up on our homeless friends, see how they were doing, and offer their services to do anything they could to help. Well… I suppose that’s one way to look at it. Here’s the message they texted me: Here we go…
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When the Enemy is Me: A Radical Approach to Empathy
The beginning of the HBO Watchmen series starts with a reenactment of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The Tulsa race massacre was a two-day-long white supremacist terrorist massacre that took place between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, some of whom had been appointed as deputies and armed by city…
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Joan Trumpauer Mulholland – A Symbol Of Hope
I’m a little embarrassed to say that I had never heard of Joan before yesterday. She was trending on Reddit yesterday. She is an American civil rights activist who was active in the 1960s. She was one of the Freedom Riders who was arrested in Jackson, Mississippi in 1961, and was confined for two months…
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I Found Hope Yesterday
It is said that Community, Purpose, and Hope are the pillars of a “happy” life. (Don’t get me started on the word happy. I’ve been fighting with it my whole life. But that’s for another time.) I have been lucky enough to find Community and Purpose. And for that, I have the Houseless community to…
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And Now I’ve Been Banned From Nextdoor
I’m not going to lie. Getting banned from all these social media channels has done wonders for my mental health. I think I had an unhealthy relationship with all of them. Sage’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Now I’ve been…
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A Freighter Full Of Hope
Something I don’t currently talk much about (because there is so much else to discuss) is my deep love of technology. I am currently obsessed with AI and what it means for the future of humanity. Here is an image I created with an AI image creator called Midjourney. The prompt I gave it was:…
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Akron: You are radicalizing your Black community.
Here’s a picture of me and Imokhai Okolo. It was taken in mid-March of this year. Imokhai has been betrayed by his city. Jayland Walker was murdered in extreme cold blood with 94 bullets all meant for his unarmed body. The city of Akron did something similar to Imokhai. They looked to destroy his character.…
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SATM Podcast 119: April 20 2023 – where we are with Jayland Walker today
Sage Against The Machine Podcast Episode 119.I tried to be understanding and empathetic of the police. They chose to makes us hate them. Here are the links I referenced in this show: If you have missed any shows they are now archived in a podcast. You can check them out on my blog. Or you…
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We Must Love Our Police Officers
The more radical I become in my activism the more extreme my positions of love become. I often like to tell you to love pedophiles. I do that because I know it’s the hardest challenge of love for many of you (unless of course you have a loved one that is a pedophile, like I…
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Who Cares?
This is the memorial that was created near where Jayland Walker was shot and killed. It’s at East Wilbeth and South Main. I took this picture at a very peaceful protest last night. I kept coming back to this little tree. I’d take pictures from different angles. Like in hopes that it would tell me…
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Will You Play Well With Others?
I was out talking to voters yesterday and a woman asked me this question: “Will you play well with others?” That’s a really good question. It represents a deep understanding of who I am. I really appreciated the question. She is wondering if I will be able to work with other members of city council…
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WARD 8 COMMUNITY ALLIANCE
This is the big project I want to work on for the next 4 years as the Ward 8 City Council Person. I’m calling it the Ward 8 Community Alliance. Here’s what it looks like: The foundational building blocks of this idea is the Block Club concept. I feel like a Ward leader is probably…
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Jayland Walker Was Murdered By 8 Akron Police Officers
Not killed. Murdered. I know this for a fact simply by the admission of Chief Mylett. I have heard him say on several occasions that an officer must be able to account for every single bullet that leaves the barrel of his gun. As soon as the threat is eliminated they must stop firing. By…
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AKRON CAN BE THE HERO SUFFERING PEOPLE NEED.
I’m really excited about the abortion access amendment groups are trying to get on the November ballot in Ohio. The proposed amendment would provide that every “individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including abortion. On top of that there is an Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative that I think…