WHY LIBERATE LIBMAN MATTERS - A LETTER REGARDING TENT CITY, LAKEWOOD, NJ

This is what happens to the disenfranchised in Ocean County - a community was demolished and folks belongings were destroyed.  Please stand behind Tent City.org

Dear Friends:
“We don’t want to make it easy for people to be homeless.”
That is the precise reasoning behind Lakewood’s anti-homelessness ordinance – the ordinance that former Tent City resident Alex Libman was protesting when he was arrested.

When Alex Libman was evicted from the now-defunct Tent City a short time ago, he stood his ground, stating that he had the right to remain on so-called public property. He posed no threat to his house-dwelling neighbors; his lifestyle never imposed any burden on taxpayers; he was happy to live in a tent. His only real “crime” was residing in a community where government assistance and Section 8 housing are monopolized by a single, separatist group, leaving veterans, people of color, and others living in poverty literally out in the cold. The otherwise-homeless residents of Tent City had their dwellings bulldozed, their few belongings discarded, their community dispersed and scattered.
In fact, barely two hours after Alex was taken into police custody, Lakewood Township ensured that his tent was demolished and his return to Tent City thereby prevented.
With no shelter in Ocean County and now the homeless being jailed, we cannot idly sit by and allow evil to prevail while good people do nothing.
Therefore, we ask you to please come out on Tuesday, July 1, 2014 in front of Ocean County Courthouse to rally against Ordinance 3-26 and the criminalization of homelessness in Lakewood and beyond.
Many thanks for all your love, prayers, and support - see you all tomorrow!
Blessings,
Lisa F.