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Ideology does count. What is the common thread running through our nation’s current war on terror (see Iraq) and the efforts of a neighborhood (see Oregon Street) to rid itself of undesirables? An ideology drummed into us from those that write the script and produce the show says that our problems stem from evil people (see others) that look and act different, that don’t follow the rules, and that act contrary to our standards. These evil doers should be controlled or eliminated by force or violence. This ideology is the basic tool, used by the directors of this show to contain and control popular discontent during periods of severe public service cutbacks while increasing spending for the military, the police, and the prison system. The current administration used the 9/11 tragedy to round up a posse and go take out a dictator they did not like and who stood on some prime real estate. We need to do something to protect our homeland we were told. Get the evil doers. It’s simple and direct, black and white, American as apple pie. Don’t be detracted by complexity and nuance. It just enables the evil doers. We went along because we were hysterical. Now we are more than a little embarrassed and confused by a very complex Iraqi intervention. It doesn’t work in Iraq and it won’t work in Berkeley. 

The same dynamic can be seen working right here at home. Our lives, our families, and our homes are under attack by people who look and act different and who don’t follow the rules. To get rid of this scourge we are told to form neighborhood groups (see posse) and to work closely with the police and the courts, two well-funded institutions these days. If this would curtail drug activity in our neighborhoods then, as Paul Rauber says, “I think we’d all be pretty damn happy.” Not all of us would be happy, Paul. For starters the many relatives and friends of Lenora Moore would have even fewer resources to work with. Are they all drug dealers? Or is it guilt by association? I suspect the ripple effect would be widespread. Possibly even more folks would be forced into illegal activities to avoid abject poverty. Many would go to poorer and less organized neighborhoods to ply their trade. I know a neighborhood in West Oakland where they could feel at home. If only the folks on Oregon Street could put up a gate to keep out the undesirables from filtering back in. How do we tell the good ones from the evil ones? This is a policy that works successfully in Blackhawk.  

It is shameful that otherwise good-hearted and energetic people are forced to organize against poor people with little or no resources to maintain a decent quality of life. We must come up with a better ideology or script. Let’s fantasize for a minute, shall we? We can imagine that we are all in the same cramped boat. The boat has a leak and is sinking slowly. What do we do? Do we turn on each other and throw the weakest out of the boat to raise the boat or do we work together to fix the leak? We are trapped by circumstances to treat each other as fellow human beings deserving of respect, courtesy, and compassion. We don’t throw people overboard for breaking the rules. We deal with the problems with compassion. We form a network of informal social connections with each other to monitor and modify personal behavior and to direct resources to problems. This is how compassionate people deal with each other. This is how a neighborhood could become a community, not just a collection of properties.  

We are all just a few paychecks and emergencies away from being flat broke. We could organize to get more resources into our neighborhoods (not just a police presence). We must organize and work together for more and better affordable education, health care, recreational opportunities and good-paying jobs that would provide the improved options denied to people who resort to illegal activities to survive. This would raise the boat for everyone. This fight would be very difficult because the folks who write the script and create the ideology of individualism, privatization, and militarism would and do fight us at every level. This would be the good fight. I think we’d all be pretty damned happy if that was successful. 

Bill Hamilton is a Berkeley resident. 

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