On Wednesday afternoon at Laurelhurst Park, two women shared cigarettes and paintbrushes as they spread globs of acrylic paint over stretched canvas frames. Mama Zeigh, a woman in her mid 60s with a grey-flecked mohawk, worked on an octopus painting, while Alma Barrett, a younger woman with a small white dog, painted a vibrant sky. “This is how we find calm,” said Zeigh, who asked to be identified by her nickname. “We need something to.
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Cities Are Razing Homeless Encampments Despite Record Cold Weather and COVID
Activists with Services Not Sweeps place signs on their vehicles for a car blockade before Los Angeles City Bureau of Sanitation workers conduct a cleanup sweep of a homeless encampment during the COVID-19 pandemic on January 28, 2021, in Los Angeles, California.
Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
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The deadly spate of winter storms and frigid temperatures that swept across the country this week threw into relief the inhumane treatment of unhoused populations in the United States. In defiance of pandemic guidelines, city agencies and police across the country have refused to suspend the practice of demolishing encampments and driving out those who have sought to make shelter, potentially exposing vulnerable people to dangerous temperatures and worsening viral spread.
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