Protest at homeless memorial event grew out of July council meeting

Presenter: A homeless advocate explains why protesters turned their backs on Eugene’s mayor during the homeless persons’ memorial and candlelight vigil Dec. 21. From BareFoot Defenders, Jetty Etty:

Jetty Etty: I went to the Black Thistle / White Bird event, last year’s event, and it was really great, it was beautiful, it was touching. There was a lot of unhoused folks there. It was my first time ever being at one of these.

[00:00:23] And all year, as I was out on the streets, and every time I learned about a new death, I have a list that I keep track of, and I’ve been trying to track down, like, all the information I could about that person and this list just keeps growing. And it’s heart-wrenching and it’s really, really, it’s like as soon as you meet somebody and then you have to add their name to that list, it messes you up for, you know, a while.

[00:00:51] Some of them still really hurt. And the fact that there is a place where we can do that was really incredible and I was really looking forward to being able to honor those lives.

[00:01:03] Presenter: The morning of the vigil she read an article that said Mayor Lucy Vinis would be participating. Jetty Etty:

[00:01:10] Jetty Etty: As soon as I saw that, I was like, ‘No, this is so messed up.’ I hold her, like, accountable for a lot of these deaths, especially the ones that happened after July 22 when a group of people went in to the city council meeting to be like, ‘Please listen to us. This is so inhumane. We just went through five very devastating sweeps. Please help us.’ And she arrested us.

[00:01:34] Presenter: Here is a clip from that city council meeting July 22. Mayor Lucy Vinis:

[00:01:39] Mayor Lucy Vinis: And as a reminder, we have a few rules in the room, no flags, signs, loud or disruptive language, noise, or any conduct that obstructs the business of council. We’re seeking to create a quiet, respectful space so that everyone can speak and be heard and feel safe doing so.

[00:01:59] Presenter: During public comment later in the meeting, Robert Jackson.

[00:02:02] Robert Jackson: …The skyrocketing demand for lithium, cobalt, and other rare earth metals is leading to environmental devastation. Mining operations cause deforestation, water contamination, and soil damage.

[00:02:12] Demonstrators (chanting): Stop the sweeps and death on the streets!

[00:02:48] Presenter: When the meeting resumed, Mayor Lucy Vinis.

[00:02:51] Mayor Lucy Vinis: Well, I’m reconvening the meeting. We went into recess because as I announced in the beginning, that kind of protest vote is not allowed in this chamber and if people don’t listen, then we don’t listen to them.

[00:03:04] Presenter: That was Mayor Lucy Vinis July 22, saying if people don’t listen, we don’t listen to them.

[00:03:10] Reflecting on her reaction Dec. 21, when she learned that Mayor Vinis would be reading the victims’ names, Jetty Etty:

[00:03:18] Jetty Etty: If Lucy would have listened to us on July 22, and she would have helped us try to figure out a spot for these people to go and a safe place for these people to be, then they would still be here. You know, two of those lives that were lost after July 22 were people who got hit by cars because they were going to a new camp that was not in a safe spot.

[00:03:38] And those people, their death is on her hands. Those souls are on her hands, in my opinion. I feel like she got to read her victims’ names. And it felt very wrong, and my first reaction was like, ‘I’m going to go, and I’m going to yell, and I’m not going to let her have a word, like, no one’s going to hear her voice.’ And I was like, ‘No, dude, you do not want to go to jail again, especially before Christmas, when you’ve got to take care of your kids and be a family man.’

[00:04:03] So I calmed myself down, and I thought, like, really clearly, what would make a statement and not get me arrested. And that was like: I’m going to turn my back on her. She walked away from us when we were speaking to her. And she literally said, ‘If you don’t listen to us, we don’t listen to you.’ So I asked people to come and turn their backs on her and not listen to her.

[00:04:25] Presenter: At the candlelight vigil the evening of Dec. 21, as event organizer Blake Burrell handed the microphone to Mayor Vinis, the protesters went to the back of the meeting space and turned their backs on the mayor, with some holding signs. Then someone threw a bowl of chili.

[00:04:42] Blake Burrell: Mayor Vinis.

[00:04:47] Mayor Lucy Vinis: Thank you. I think I’ll stand over here away from the mess.

[00:05:09] I appreciate the deep anger and frustration that inspired the throwing of a bowl of chili, the folks that are standing with their backs to me. I recognize that we are inadequate in our response, that our response is, falls short and in many cases adds to the trauma and the injury and the pain that people who are living unsheltered experience in our community.

[00:05:36] And I am here as your mayor to hold responsibility and accountability for that and to say that I come here every year wishing that this event were unnecessary because we were serving all of the people who so desperately need our support and our care and our compassion. We fail year after year, but we continue to pursue this. We continue to try, and we must do this work together.

[00:06:05] Turning our backs on one another is not a pathway towards a resolution.

[00:06:10] Presenter: After the event, Jetty Etty.

[00:06:12] Jetty Etty: I had no plans of any, like, chili toss. That was not us. That was somebody who lived on the streets, who was there to pay their respects to their loved ones, their neighbors, their community members, the people they were living on the streets with and surviving with, and they were p***ed off that she was saying their names. And I don’t blame them.

[00:06:34] I’m bummed about the chili, who it hit, that sucks. I feel really, really bad that it hit the unhoused person that was up there speaking. All I want to do is, like, find him and wash his clothes for him. That sucks. But, you know, it just shows—the table flip, that wasn’t us—but it shows the anger, you know? It shows the anger that people have for what’s going on.

[00:06:58] And ever since the summer, the Supreme Court Johnson vs. Grants Pass, it has gotten worse. I got a message even just this morning saying, ‘Hey, Jetty, I’ve been meeting up with this one BareFoot Defender. They do so much for us. We’re so grateful for you. I’ve been homeless for 12 years and I’ve never experienced anything like what’s going on right now. It is brutal.’

[00:07:23] They’re sick out there. They’re cold. It is inhumane. It is cruel. It is unusual. It’s disgusting and the fact that we have people who think they can just come to this, you know, one day out of the year, I’m going to come and I’m going to pretend like I give a (bleep) about you people. Like, come on, man. If that was for homeless people, then Lucy Vinis was not welcome.

[00:07:43] I’ve been to a lot of like celebrations with the unhoused and not a single one of them felt like that. That felt like some gentrification of homeless stuff like, oh, it was weird and it was gross.

[00:07:53] Presenter: Lucy Vinis will soon end her term and, as she did with the chili, move away from the mess. We asked Jetty Etty: Any advice for the next mayor of Eugene?

[00:08:03] Jetty Etty: I would say, listen, there’s a lot of people who are doing good things for the unhoused people, but also I think it’s important to listen to the unhoused people themselves. It’s important to listen to the people who are boots on the ground, going and staying in camps to try to understand it. I go out there to stay so that I can be a megaphone for the people so that we can make true change.

[00:08:24] Listen to the people who are doing the actual, like, in-the-trenches work, you know. We’re doing the work and we’re listening to the people and we can come up with great solutions that are going to be cost-effective, you know?

[00:08:38] Presenter: The city budget shows that Eugene is spending $652,000 for one department to send email, a newsletter, and an annual report to its own employees. What would the BareFoot Defenders be able to do with $652,000? Jetty Etty:

[00:08:56] Jetty Etty: I always say that. I’m always like, ‘Give me the money. I know where to put that money. I know how to make a difference with that money.’

[00:09:01] Presenter: In the last month of her term as mayor, Lucy Vinis says:

[00:09:05] Mayor Lucy Vinis: Turning our backs on one another is not a pathway towards a resolution.

[00:09:10] Presenter: Homeless advocates say if she had understood that in July, some human beings would still be alive in Eugene today.