New book Voices From the Street pulls no punches when it comes to experiencing homelessness in downtown Portland.
DISARMINGLY CHI-CHI, GIVEN THE SUBJECT OF THE BOOK:Armory patron reads Sisters’ book as Randy Leonard gives a speech…

“Listening, for many people, many of whom are my friends, is simply not speaking. But listening is actually an active, very physically draining process,” said City Commissioner Randy Leonard, introducing the book tonight at the Armory in the Pearl. “This book should help us all to listen.”

Listening to, or rather, reading the book, is indeed a challenge. Chapter four, on interactions between homeless people and law enforcement, contains one or two pretty disturbing accounts. A homeless woman called Rita says:

And he said, ‘Get out o the car,’ so I got out of the car and he said, ‘Get over to the curb,’ and I tried to walk past and I said, ‘Why are you being so rude?’ and he said, ‘Get over to the curb.’ So I walked past him and he grabbed my shoulder, really rough and this was a big man. He stood at least nine inches taller than me and probably one hundred pounds heavier and he grabbed my shoulder and I flinched, it was just kind of automatic, so he took me, he grabbed both my arms and twisted them behind my back and broke them both.

Then a guy called Rick, who claims the cops planted two crack pipes on him, says this:

They said, ‘You can go to prison or you can get out of downtown for good.’ I said, ‘You guys can’t do this to me.’ They twisted my arms until I agreed in pain to leave downtown for good, and then took me off to detox. When I was released in the morning not knowing how to survive anywhere but downtown having been homeless nowhere else but downtown, I returned and kind of laid low for a while but anger built up inside of me because of that threat. I did not deserve it. I had been here almost a year and had never caused any problems for the police, so I could not understand the reason for that kind of threat, threatening me with prison, and it really angered me. That is really when I lost my respect for the police.

The book is $21 and includes chapters on “circumstances that lead to homelessness,” “dangers and violence in street life,” “barriers to finding work,” “mental health issues,” and “solutions.”