Thread by @EvanMMinton, I don’t know if people know that I moved to the Sacramento [...]

I don’t know if people know that I moved to the Sacramento area 16 years ago. I moved here because my sister was experiencing a major health crisis. I had just gotten off of Senator Barbara Boxer’s reelection campaign and, so, was the only family member without a job. It was up

to me to take care of my sister. I remember helping to feed her, I remember wrapping my body around hers from behind to steady her balance as she tried to make it down the hallway...

The feminist movement was my home. Since I had started a National Women for Organization (NOW)

task force at my college campus in conservative Riverside (and gotten public pushback for it) and was involved in both CA NOW and had interned at NOW in Washington DC, shortly after I arrived, I looked for NOW in Sacramento. I was glad to have found it. When capacity allowed, I

became the Sacramento National Organization Co-President. We did so much! This included:
- conducting self-defense trainings in the streets after a series of sexual assaults
- coordinating and volunteering as clinic escorts (shielding women past protestors as they were seeking

abortion services at both the Women’s Health Specialists and Planned Parenthood)
- putting on an extremely large news-making, populated “I heart consentual sex” campaign where we educated Sacramentans about what consentual sex actually is and isn’t.

I remember in 2008, when we

were facing Prop 4 (the parental notification for minors seeking abortion initiative), the Heather Fargo/Kevin Johnson Mayoral Race/, and Prop 8 (the CA ban on same-sex marraige initiative). The Sac NOW team made a multi-prong coordinated effort. During this time, we worked our

asses off on the Heather Fargo for Mayor campaign when Kevin Johnson ran against her. We were told by Heather Fargo’s campaign manager, after her loss, that “as it turns out, the only organization with balls in this town was the National Organization for Women”. I’m sure I was

the volunteer on that campaign (and on several other campaigns throughout the years) that logged the most volunteer hours.

On Prop 4, we hustled! Every night, on the phones, I would tell the voter, “of course your daughter would tell you if she was pregnant, do you think your

neighbor’s daughter would tell your neighbor?”. I remember canvassing Oak Park, going door to door essentially asking voters to support not having their daughter talk to them if she needed an abortion. I remember voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods telling me they weren’t

going to vote because the system “didn’t count Black votes”. These were hard conversations. In the end, I was surprised, but shouldn’t have been to have received a prize for being the Sacramento volunteer who volunteered the most hours.

And when Prop 8 was defeated, we picked

up the pieces. I was a volunteer lead for the effort to “change hearts and minds”. I’d conduct hours and hours of trainings, where we’d talk to people who lived in areas who voted overwhelmingly in favor of banning same-sex marriage about ourselves, our lives, and why same sex

marriage was important to us. I had countless personal, one-on-one conversations over the phones and on doorsteps with conservative voters who didn’t agree with me. I then believed myself to be a gay woman and I talked to them about how I was gay, what that felt like, and my

desire to one day get married to a woman and have children and why (I still hope for some of that). You never knew what you were going to encounter as you rang the doorbell!

These are just a couple of my experiences. The list definitely, definitely goes on.

During that time,

I’ve also gone through a couple radical changes in my philosophy, some that have taken place in the course of 8 minutes and 46 second (the length of time the cop knelt on George Floyd’s neck) and some that have taken place over 9 years (becoming the man I am today). Both have

radicalized me in empathy for others. Both won’t allow me to turn my head when others are in pain or suffering.

In regards to what we’ve just experienced with our unhoused neighbors imminent displacement, I have been told that some people are unhappy I’m sticking my neck out.

That’s fine with me. In every conversation and communication with our electeds, I have said or written “If you put forward people-centered solutions, I will support them”. I wanted them to find a solution (they have broad authority under public health orders during this pandemic

and need to spend CARES Act funding by the end of the year, and I’m sure City Attorneys can tell them options in addition to what advocates have proposed). I wanted them to at least pull out all the stops in finding a solution. Or, pull out any stop. If they tried, if they put

effort into it, if they didn’t just shift blame, I could see myself being much more ok with that. The distinct impression I’ve received from our elected leaders, though, is that they would rather I not pay attention to what they are doing. My morals don’t gel that way. So, I have

taken their response and switched tactics.

Advocates and I are now working simply on reducing the harm of our elected leaders’ inaction/lack of a plan for 75 seniors, kids, folks with disabilities, a veteran and others to simply be kicked off of property and disperse into the

community at large. I don’t have to say that a COVID-19 related death has already happened in this camp and it’s hard to say who else has COVID there at this time or that displacing this camp is against Centers for Disease Control guidelines during a pandemic, or our hospitals

are already full with COVID patients. We all already know this.

I thought those reasons would be compelling to our elected officials. What’s most compelling to me is that our unhoused neighbors are members of our human family, suffering untold horrors and they need assistance.

And, that, there but for the grace of god go I.

My own personal experiences include multiple systems failures, incurring human cruelty, and carrying shame about myself for the majority of my life. I know pain. And, so I can't stand aside when anyone is suffering unjustly.

So,

if anyone is upset with me for speaking out? That's ok. I’ll take it. And I’d do it again, and again, and again. And expect more of this from me. I’ve been responding to the community’s needs for years, I’ve been having the difficult conversations for years, you think I’m going

to turn my head now? No way, no how. In fact, I literally cannot do that.

In closing, I just want to, again, say thank you. Thank you to the advocates who work on this ghastly issue every single day. I have seen close-up how City Hall gaslights you. In the mildest of terms,

it’s extremely unhealthy.

Thank you to those who donated money to this effort when we learned that our community members would, indeed, be displaced. (If anyone still wants to give, the need is so deep, my Venmo is @Evan-Minton). Advocates state (and have video evidence) that

these community members’ life belongings get tossed in the garbage. It’s near-freezing temperatures. Shelters are full and warming centers won’t open unless it’s freezing temperatures three days in a row. Donors, without you, more people will die. You stepped up. You helped us

raise $1,745 in less than a week. That’s an incredible amount that will go so far.

I will continue to get involved. I will uphold the confidentiality of others who have gotten involved. I am in deep appreciation of all who are involved. Thank you.

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