Community Liberation Podcast Episode 1: How Capitalism Displaces Us: Unhoused Encampment Sweeps and More
May 25, 2025
Ty from People's Programs, an Oakland organizer who runs meal, mobile health, and donation projects and brings a New African socialist perspective. The conversation covers aggressive encampment sweeps, how services adapt with mobile outreach, links between capitalism, climate, and incarceration, and strategies for sustaining local revolutionary organizing.
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Supreme Court Ruling Amplified Existing Sweeps
- The Grants Pass v. Johnson decision lets cities punish sleeping in public even when no shelter exists.
- This legal change accelerated already-existing sweep policies rather than creating them out of nowhere.
Jarring Rapid Clearance Of Longstanding Encampment
- Kip and Sylvia described the September 2024 Oakland sweep that displaced 30–40 residents at MLK Jr Way and 23rd.
- Kip said the encampment had existed for five to six years and the city removed it in one to two days, leaving no one behind.
Organizers Found No One After Sweep
- Kip described searching the swept area with People's Programs volunteers and finding no displaced residents.
- He called the absence heartbreaking after years of building relationships there.
