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Before you read actual story dated 8/31/06 (below), read this year old story from WSJ online. No editorial needed you read, you decide.
 

By TED HAYES
Wall Street Journal Editorial

American blacks who are affiliated with the Republican Party are vigorously vilified by Democrats, especially black Democrats. Uncle Tom, sell-out, Oreo — the list of slurs is long.
But it is not only insults. I am the founder and director of a unique, progressive homeless facility in downtown Los Angeles, known as the Dome Village. Yet the 35 men, women and children and their pets who call the Dome Village home are being “evicted” from privately owned property after 12-and-a-half years — apparently on account of my political beliefs and activities. You see, though I am a leading homeless activist, I am also a conservative Republican and a strong supporter of President Bush.

Here’s how the situation played out. Recently, I was invited to address a local Republican Women’s Club; my landlord read an article in the local paper reporting on the event. Soon after, I received a notice raising the Dome Village rent from $2,500 a month to $18,330.

Shocked, I inquired as to the seriousness of the change and the property owner blurted out that the cause of our “eviction” was “because you are Republican.”
He said that as a Democrat, he was tired of helping me and the Dome Village. In other words, let the homeless be damned.
And people think the Democrats are the party of compassion and tolerance. Private property should be protected, of course, and I have no intention of causing any trouble for this property owner as we part ways. Whatever he does with his valuable land — it is only a few blocks from the Staples Center — is no concern of mine, and I will not go to court.
Still, I cannot help but be saddened by the whole business. When I founded the Dome Village 12 years ago, we had an understanding that he could ask for his property back at any time for any reason, and I would say “absolutely” without hesitation. Still, his reason was prejudice against Republicans.
We see this across the country. Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland and a Republican candidate for the Senate, has been crudely denigrated on racial grounds. A prominent leftist Web site, for instance, depicted him as “Sambo,” among other aspersions. When Condoleezza Rice was nominated as Secretary of State, she faced similar treatment: editorial cartoons depicting her as a racial caricature, personalities calling her “Aunt Jemima” on liberal talk radio, and so forth. Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell and other black conservatives regularly face similar smears.

These conservatives are attacked not because of the validity or judicious consideration of their views but because those views are supposedly heterodox for American blacks. Yet it is my opinion that many black people in the U.S. are politically and philosophically conservative — and many are in fact actually closeted Republicans, fearful of persecution by friends, business associates, society clubs, school mates and even churches.

It is time for American blacks to have a conversation about the phenomenon of Democrats persecuting black Republicans. Why is this happening? What is it that the Democrats don’t want black folks to understand about Republicans? What is it that the Democrats don’t want black folks to know about Democrats? And how is it that we have come to this point — after having endured so much — where we have ourselves curtailed the freedom of political expression through the threat of retaliatory consequences?

Mr. Hayes is a homeless activist in Los Angeles

Now read current story

 LA Domes for Homeless to Be Sold Online
Aug 31 3:03 PM US/Eastern
  
By ANDREW GLAZER
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES

       
A community of squat, futuristic domes once billed as a utopian refuge from life on the streets is itself facing homelessness.
The silvery, igloo-like fiberglass structures, packed tightly on a downtown lot, are being sold online to the highest bidder.
Such is the unceremonious end to Dome Village _ activist Ted Hayes’ model of a self-governed, self-sufficient community for the homeless. Since its founding in 1993, the village has been visited by celebrities but has gone largely unnoticed by thousands of commuters buzzing past on the freeway nearby.
Hayes said a big rent increase _ from $2,500 to $18,330 per month _ is forcing the village from its site near the downtown Staples Center. The partnership that owns the land said the increase reflects soaring downtown property values.
Residents were saddened by the decision to sell. They must leave by October.
“We have such a family here,” said Graham Foster, 51, a former nightclub manager who arrived three years ago after living several months in a battered motor home. “Closing down is almost like an explosion.”
When Dome Village was founded 13 years ago, Hayes envisioned a cooperative of 30 homeless working and living together, and counseling each other through tough times.
About 450 people have occupied the village over the years, living in the domes and using community kitchen, laundry and bathroom facilities on the site. Families and singles alike planted gardens, paid $70 a month in rent and divided chores on the 1.25-acre lot, which was once choked with weeds that grew neck-high through cracks in the asphalt.
Proceeds from the eBay auction will help replicate the village elsewhere in Los Angeles, Hayes said. In the meantime, families have been placed in shelters across the city.
Bids started at $3,000 per structure. The domes can be broken down to fit into the back of a pickup truck.
Hayes, a Republican, blamed politics for the village’s demise. He said Democratic landlords raised the rent two days after he appeared at a meeting of a Bel Air Republican women’s club. A lawyer for the landlords denied politics were at play.
“It’s just not financially viable for us to allow them to remain there,” attorney Mike Sidley said.
About 90,000 people _ including 10,000 children _ are homeless in Los Angeles County on any given night, according to estimates by the homeless services authority.
Dome Village was built with the help of a $250,000 grant from the Los Angeles-based oil company Atlantic Richfield. It was seen as an innovative approach to downtown’s intractable homeless problem. Over the years, Prince Edward of England, Denzel Washington and the Beastie Boys visited the site, according to the online advertisement.
Brushes with celebrity did not immediately translate into bids. As of Thursday afternoon, no one had made an offer on any of the 14 domes for sale.

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 7:58 pm and is filed under Society, Angry Liberals, Liberal hypocrisy, We Hate Bush.
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