January 6, 2019 was the final day of Akron’s tent city. It began on January 7, 2017 when the Metroparks kicked out a small group of people to make way for the Freedom Trail.
Cruel destruction after cruel destruction.
I’ve been thinking a lot about China’s destruction of Tibet and how the Dalai Lama and Buddhists now live in exile in India. I feel a little bit like India. I continue to give a small number of homeless people a home because they have nowhere else to go. Some of the people I currently shelter are people that were never housed in the destruction of our tent village in 2019.
I continue to do this work under the threat of some sort of legal action. I simply cannot stop this work knowing that we shun and turn our backs on people with no money, no resources and significant issues like mental health, physical health and addiction.
I’m not here to tell you a story of tragedy. This is a story of hope.
Over the years I have grown unafraid of the cruel hand of a thoughtless system. I have learned that the system is much more delicate and fragile than it wants you to know. It has very little ability to truly control the people. Once we become unafraid of it, its power is gone.
I will not stop. The harder they pressure me the stronger I become. This is how metal is made. This is how diamonds are made. People are made the same way.
Today I welcome the system’s cruelty. In fact, I’ve become thankful for it. I cannot be destroyed. I only become stronger.
The truth is that the people have all the power. We always have and we always will. The system is an illusion meant to control us. We know what is right and what is wrong. Homelessness in the richest country in the world is wrong. It is 16° as I write this message. And there are men women and children living on the streets of Akron Ohio all while there are private citizens who are willing to shelter these people entirely on private land with private money. We want nothing from the government other than to leave us alone and allow us to do this work.
This inhumanity and torture of American citizens at the hands of a heartless system must end.
This is the notice I received as reported by the Beacon Journal in December 2018.
Akron sent out a notice of violation/order to comply on Thursday, giving Sage Lewis LLC 30 days to close and remove the homeless tent city on Broad Street in the Middlebury neighborhood. The notice from the city's Department of Planning & Urban Development, dated Dec. 6, says campgrounds are not allowed to operate in a residential use district.
“Discontinue the illegal use(s) and/or violations(s) of this property within 30 days of the date of this letter,” the notice says in part. “Cease all use of the premises as a campground and permanently remove all tents, equipment, and miscellaneous material related to the illegal use of the premises as a campground.”
Failure to comply with the notice will result in further legal action by Akron, the city said in a news release.
Paid For By The People for Sage Lewis