Last night, @TheoHen95302259, a Black unhoused man, was silenced by the "Friends of Echo Park Lake", an astroturf group of white property owners who are working closely w @MitchOFarrell + LAPD to criminalize and displace the majority BIPOC unhoused community at EP Lake (THREAD)

The FoEPL claim to be for 'compassionate' solutions, but spent the majority of their zoom call talking about how LAPD can remove the unhoused residents at EPL. They said @MitchOFarrell +LAPD want to quietly criminalize the community so that there isn't a "public protest problem"

When @TheoHen95302259 spoke up to express his concern with their focus on criminalization and lack of anyone on the call with lived experience, the white real estate director who was facilitating the meeting muted him and said this call was for "the neighborhood group"

Just like a Business Improvement District (BID), the FoEPL are proud capitalists focused on displacement as a tool of gentrification which they have vested interest in. They do not represent the community. They do not care about addressing the root causes of homelessness.

It is no surprise that @MitchOFarrell holds regular meetings with this group, while ignoring the unhoused community who reached out multiple times in hopes of having a dialogue about actual solutions - including this statement they put out last March: https://medium.com/@streetwatchla/unhoused-community-of-echo-park-lake-on-mitch-ofarrell-s-new-shelter-plans-coronavirus-e2fbdcf23f7d

If @MitchOFarrell and FoEPL think are going to "discreetly" displace the unhoused community at EPL without offering a variety of safe housing options for folks who live there - like all these VACANT HOTEL+MOTEL rooms - they are in for a rude awakening. #HousekeysNotHandcuffs

Our community power and love is so much stronger than their cold, white real estate hate. The powerful voices of people like @WeTheUnhoused @TheoHen95302259 will be heard loud and clear until there is justice. #HouseKeysNotHandcuffs #ServicesNotSweeps #SeizeTheHotels

Please support and check out @TheoHen95302259 's incredible podcast @WeTheUnhoused new episode here: https://soundcloud.com/user-369990655/episode-40-santa-cruz-drowning-our-unhoused-lives-and-rights-away