Open Carry Homeless Activism

What does “open carry” communicate?
To carry a gun is obtaining a position of power. It is not a bad thing in and of itself. If a person is carrying gun in the midst of a gun-carrying culture, then it means very little, like a hunter with a rack of guns in the back of his truck. But when few people are carrying guns out in the open, then it means something different. It is a power which the carrier demands respect (like a police officer or a security guard) or a person who is trying to communicate fear and distance (like a gangster). A gun in that culture (like Portland) is a threat, an agent of fear. 

This isn’t a problem if the “good guys” carry guns. When those we trust carry guns then we feel safe because we know that the people who are there to support us have power. But if the “bad guys” carry guns, then it becomes a threat, stirring fear into those who see the carriers as “bad guys.” Generally, those who carry guns see themselves as “good guys” so they carry guns to protect the “good” people from the “bad guys.” 

The problem of dividing the world into “good” and “bad” people is that humanity is weak. The “good” can do bad actions and the “bad” can sometimes stand for the good. And there is disagreements, because of the tendency to divide. These people, with these characteristics, are “bad” (Republicans, police, wealthy), and people with these characteristics are “good” (homeless, fellow activists, environmentalists). In reality, though, people aren’t so easy to divide. And when there is an emotionally divisive situation, there can easily be “good” or “bad” on both sides, just looking at different facts to support their position. And if everyone is willing to do violence, or threaten the other side, then everyone is only one hairsbreadth from being “bad”—i.e., killing the innocent.

The Emotionally Divisive Situation
Emotions run high when we talk about homelessness. This is due to the emotional assumptions made about the homeless. Dr. Susan Fiske, in her study on various social groups, determined that the homeless, far more than any other social group, fits the “disgust” category. This means, she said, that the typical American sees the homeless as “a pile of garbage.” 

So when the typical American sees a homeless person in their neighborhood, they have two typical emotional responses: disgust and fear. Disgust, because the homeless live such a different lifestyle than what the housed usually feels is acceptable, and fear because they don’t understand how a person can live that way and there are stories of drug use and criminal activity. These are assumptions that must be battled through education and through them meeting and knowing the homeless. That is a long path, but necessary.

In the meantime, we live in a society in which most Americans see the homeless as “bad guys”. They are the criminals who are invading their neighborhood, and until they have the opportunity to spend time with the homeless, this attitude will continue. Because humanity, for the most part, does not emote from rational actions, but rather we come up with reasons for our emotions after the assumptions have been made.

The homeless, meanwhile, are oppressed unfairly because these attitudes exist. Because they are seen as “piles of garbage” the government keeps moving them from place to place because this is what you do with garbage. Because of the emotional response of fear, there is the assumption that the homeless are criminals and so the police are called to deal with them. And all activity of the homeless—sleeping, sitting, panhandling—rather than being seen as actions of the poor, are seen as actions of criminals. Thus the homeless are arrested, abused and generally oppressed. Their possessions are taken because it is illegal for them to have them on public property.

This leads to a cold war between the homeless and those who enforce the fears of the typical American. The homeless are convinced that the police—the enforcers of the American fear—are evil. They also have mixed feelings about neighbors, many of whom call the police. The neighbors see the homeless as evil and needing to be jailed or moved. Because they fear to approach the homeless themselves, they use the police or security people to be buffers.

We have a situation in which the housed see the homeless as “bad guys” and the homeless see the police and some housed neighbors as “bad guys”.

The Result of “Open Carry” Activism
If activists supporting the homeless, or the homeless themselves, begin to openly display guns, then the threat becomes open and clear. The ones whom Americans most fear then have a real threat, and the cold war will turn into a hot war. We have seen this already. In 2010 Jack Collins was killed after attempting suicide because he was carrying a knife out of a bathroom, not hearing the police tell him to put the knife down. If the homeless carry threatening objects, they will die and the community will praise the ones who killed them.

The path of violence is first assumption, then anger, then threat, then violence. Open carry isn’t violence, it is threat. And in the hands of those whom the community fear, it will lead to violence and death.

If homeless activists carry guns, then both sides feel justified to use the weapons when there is a severe enough threat. We must realize that both sides already feel threatened. To bring weapons into this already tense situation is inviting a hot war with losses on both sides. This is not only a dangerous lack of concern about human life, but it is completely unnecessary.

The Solution: Community Support
On October 20 of this year, a protest in South Africa make up of black activists were protected by white activists surrounding them. Although the police came with every intent to break up the protest with violence, as they have done before, they did not touch the whites. The whites were of them, while they would have violently attacked the blacks.

Even so, if we want to protect our homeless friends, we do not want or need to have weapons. We need to show that “normal”, “acceptable” members of the community support our homeless friends and welcome them as a normal part of our communicate. This can be done through protests and clean up work parties (which have both community leaders and the homeless) and having community members stand and support the homeless who are threatened.

Paying back threats with threats won’t work. And they aren’t necessary. All we need are people, like those whom we already have, stand with our homeless friends and show that they are a welcome part of our community and we will not accept them being threatened.

Attackers of the Homeless Charged

This article is found at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/twin_brothers_face_charges_in.html

Twin brothers face charges in assaults on homeless
by Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Saturday December 27, 2008, 6:18 PM

Portland detectives say a transient woman in her 50s was pushed down this staircase leading to Colonel Summers Park, off Southeast 18th Avenue, in mid-November after she stood up to two men. James and Michael Johnson have been arrested on assault charges related to attacking homeless people at the park.
On Portland's streets, police say, James and Michael Johnson are known as the "Twin Towers" because the brawny brothers are always together and the sight of them strikes terror among the homeless.

Police said they have linked the 32-year-old twins to five unprovoked assaults against transients, all at Colonel Summers Park in Southeast Portland, where they've become known for their bullying and beatings.

"They're always picking on people who are older and frailer. There's no fair fights here," Portland Detective Kevin Warren said. "For the most part, it's just a beat-down. They're just beating people up because they're thinking they'll get away with it."


James JohnsonOne man sleeping on a bench near the park's gazebo was pounded with his own bicycle, police said. Another homeless man who yelled at the Johnson twins to stop the bicycle clubbing was then stabbed in the leg, police said.

One of the brothers last month threw a woman in her 50s down a flight of stairs at the park after she started to question why the pair kept hurting the homeless. A witness who tried to intervene was then assaulted.

"They seem to be able to do their acts with impunity," Warren said. "I've never seen a couple of guys doing serial assaults like this with no apparent motivation ... which got us motivated to find and locate other victims."


Michael JohnsonA Multnomah County grand jury has indicted the Johnsons on second-degree and third-degree assault charges. Since their arrests Nov. 16, they've each pleaded not guilty to the charges. Since the brothers were taken into custody, other victims have come forward, encouraged by the knowledge their attackers are locked up, police said.

Detectives continue to reach out to the homeless at local shelters and church kitchens to determine whether others have been assaulted.

Marc Jolin, executive director of JOIN, a nonprofit agency that works to help the homeless into housing, said he learned about some of the beatings from staffers.

"People who are homeless are often victims of violence because they are vulnerable," Jolin said. "They're outside. They don't have a lot of resources, and they're not always comfortable going to the police and asking for help."

In fact, many of those assaulted by the Johnsons never called police, but were found by officers some time after the attacks.

Court records show a lengthy criminal history for the brothers, dating to when they were juveniles, and prior alcohol, anger management and domestic violence problems. They haven't had a steady address and have been described as transient at times. They have bounced among friends, listing addresses in Portland, St. Helens and Gresham over the past several years.

According to police reports, shortly after midnight July19, a man sleeping on a bench near the gazebo in Colonel Summers Park awakened to one of the brothers pounding him with his bicycle. The homeless man, Jeffrey Paul Mason, 55, suffered a bloody nose and lost consciousness.

When a fellow transient, Charles Vaughn, 42, tried to come to Mason's aid, one of the brothers turned on Vaughn and stabbed him in the leg, according to police reports.

Vaughn told police he limped off and watched the man who stabbed him return and continue beating Mason. Vaughn tied something around his leg to stanch the bleeding. When the bleeding didn't stop after an hour, he went to a phone booth at Southeast 11th Avenue and Harrison Street to call an ambulance. Vaughn suffered a 2-inch gash on his right thigh and was treated at OHSU Hospital.

Vaughn told officers he usually spends his nights at the park and has seen the twin brothers assault others. "I can spot those guys from across the park," he told detectives.

By August, detectives distributed a wanted flier to all Portland police precincts, seeking the arrest of the Johnson brothers.

Months passed. It wasn't until Nov. 16 that patrol officers found the twins at Colonel Summers Park, arrested them and took them into custody on warrants stemming from the July beating and stabbing.

By then, investigators said, the twins had struck again.

In fact, a day earlier, police learned, the Johnsons had attacked a homeless woman who stood up for herself and others at the park. Witnesses told police the twins threw her down a steep staircase on the north edge of the park at Southeast 18th Avenue, off Belmont Street. She was found near the park's gazebo the next day by police making routine checks. The officers found she had a warrant on a minor park violation. They drove her to jail but soon realized she had suffered a recent injury and called an ambulance to take her to a hospital.

The woman sustained a serious head injury, including bleeding in her brain, and was in the intensive care unit at OHSU Hospital for about 10 days, Warren said. "She's fortunate to be alive," Warren said.

Another man who witnessed the woman's assault tried to intervene, police said. That's when at least one of the brothers turned on him. The man suffered facial fractures, a broken left wrist and a cut to his forehead.

"None of these victims would be spoiling for a fight, especially against people who are younger and stronger than they are," Warren said. "It's pretty offensive."

A 35-year-old man who lives on the streets and identified himself only as Jack said he's seen the Johnson brothers in the city for several years. He described James Johnson as the more violent of the two. His brother, Michael, whom friends described as a few minutes older than James, always seemed to come to his aid. "One starts it, and the other one backs him up," Jack said. The twins are each described as 5 feet 7 and 215 pounds, according to jail records.

When interviewed by officers, James Johnson denied any involvement in the July 19 beating. "I never beat up anybody," he told police, "and I never stabbed anyone."

James Lee Johnson has faced serious charges in the past, including a 1995 weapons conviction, a 1998 restraining order in an alcohol-induced domestic violence assault, and a 2004 harassment conviction after police say he spit on an officer. In 2004, court records show, James Johnson was ordered to complete counseling for domestic violence and anger management.

-- Maxine Bernstein; maxinebernstein@news.oregonian.com