I have immediately sent an email to Amy Benjamin (abenjamin@sandiego.gov) if you would like to email her as well. She has an office of director or something under the city like that for "housing and homelessness":

Dear Ms. Benjamin:

I just received an email telling me that my friends whose homes were the side walks in and around the post office were evicted and "banned" from the area as part of a wider eviction of those residents of downtown who live on the streets by the SDPD. I assume that this story is true. I am confused and bewildered and concerned for my friends and their neighborhood.

Tuesday evening people were cold, more angry, and, honestly, many more than usual intoxicated. It was my hope that they be able to set up tents in protection from the weather -- they take up little more room than blankets for sleeping, but protect. Obviously sleeping directly under the sky raises the incidence of severe illness and hospital/emergency room expenses. I deeply appreciated the fact that when tents were set up, the police gave initial warnings rather than tickets. But it seems inhumane, when people have the tents, not to allow them to sleep under them to protect against 45 degree weather, especially since the city council is blocking the winter tent from a place.

Now I don't know what to say. My stomach is literarly in a knot, and I fight illness due to my concern, as anyone would who heard about the forced movement of friends from where they resided. Was last night a shift in police/city policy? Did the cities attorneys look at the manueuver in light of the federal judges ruling? What is the ultimate purpose of the action?

Those whose homes have been on the streets have bodies that necessarily take up space, that they can't make invisible. I recognize the issues that come for the city as a result of their poverty and their bodies and would love to work creatively with you and the city in addressing such things; in the meantime, many who live there are my friends. I have come to love that neighborhood and those who live within it. It is an insane place where I find great sanity among the people, in the most difficult circumstances. Additionaly, as a Christian, I find our Savior in the bodies of the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

I would like very much a prompt reply so that I may be informed, rather than guided by rumor and inuendo.

Please join me in prayer for those whose lives were so disrupted last night, the poorest of the poor in San Diego.

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It hurts very much to have friends so treated; we need to be with them in some ways as they are displaced and shoved around by the coercive authority of the city. If someone in the area can email me who would be willing to be a point person in our remaining with them in their displacement, please do so.

More, Sam Nichols sent an email describing a similar event of spatial control of the poor through state-sanctioned violence that his friends in Palestine have suffered. It's intensity is much higher than even the displacement forced downtown. By the dynamics are similar. The fact that Sam's Christian Peacemaker's Team took the violence into their own bodies is both tragic and beautiful, a witness to faith in God and in Christ the King who will judge all according to their treatment of those who are poor, in need of food and water (Matt 25:31-46). Here is Sam's email:

Hello loved ones,

I wanted to send a brief email about things that have been going on in Tuwani lately.

The 'bare bones' version of the story is that two CPTers got beaten by settlers. They were pushed to the ground and kicked in the ribs; they sustained minor edges, cuts, bruises and rib/head pain. They were walking near a Palestinian family who was walking home, when settlers appeared. They (CPTers) tried to intercept the settlers and took the brunt of the beating.

Here is the CPT release
Here is my blog, where I post some other related things to the incident

Basically, it's been a really hard week. It's really hard to see your friends get beaten up. It's even harder when its not a random mugging for a couple dollars, but when it is because of real hatred, and real evil. The whole thing just feels so evil, so dark, and it's really hard to deal with that.

Going to the hospital with my friend to get stitches because she was pushed down a hill, hit her head on a rock, and then kicked in the ribs until she surrendered her video camera (which showed their faces on film). It's just evil.

Today I read MLK's dexter avenue christmas sermon. He speaks about loving enemies. Some of it was really good to hear and some of it was really hard to hear. I encourage you to read the sermon.

I don't have many profound things to say, just that I (and we) could all use your prayers. Please pray for the Sarah and Laura (who were beaten), the Palestinian family (the Nasser Ali Awad family, who can't walk home with their 3 children in any semblance of safety, the children were crying during the incident), and please pray for the people who carried out this attack.

The world seems really dark right now, so I pray that God's light shines through into this night which is devoid of stars.

Allah bisa'idna (God help us),
Samuel