The Symbolism of Tents

The most common tune across all of the nation's Occupy movement since it's inception on September 17th  has been the tearing down of tents by municipal police departments.   Time and time again, protesters have attempted to defend their tents and kitchens located in the middle of cities from being ripped apart and tossed into garbage trucks.  There are no tents allowed at Wall Street.  Boston had theirs torn away as did Seattle and, most recently, in a flurry of tear gas, Oakland.  The municipal response has been varied as to the reasons as why, with excuses ranging from being unable to observe activities in a public place to simply being unsightly and unsanitary.

As I have previously mentioned, I have walked down to check out my own city's Occupy.  The first thing that I was taken aback by was the appearance.  Set in a tree lined park, it nearly escaped my notice until I was nearly upon it.  There it was in its stark grotesqueness, as if the park itself had sprouted up a case of versicolored pimples.  Crowded in tightly together with clear pathways making a partial X through the encampment, it was muddy.  It was dirty.The kitchen of the protest was thrown together by a variety of donated items, all hodge podge and uncoordinated.  The library boasted a tiny little ramshackle bookcase.  Rain soaked cardboard signs were everywhere and garbage bags filled with donated coats and blankets were piled against a tree.  It was all so unsavory with the backdrop of my beautiful and pristine city with its shining skyscrapers and tree lined parks.   A definite visual blight upon the eye.


As I stood there amidst it all, I felt a deep somberness overcome me.  I had seen this image before but not inside a city and only from afar in pictures. What I was seeing within my beloved city of Portland was a tent city but not the tent cities of the Occupy protest.  What I was seeing were the tent cities that we don't see.  Outside of almost every major city in the United States is a tent city, an occupation that has been on going for the last several years since the collapse of the housing market.  What these Occupy protesters have done by placing their own versions of these tent cities outside of city halls and within financial districts is brought the truth and harsh reality of our economic crisis and extreme disparity front and center.

We have been blind to the real tent cities outside of our cities.  Occupy brought them home so we could be confronted with the harsh reality of tent city life on a daily basis, just like those who live involuntarily in similar cities outside. The tents are symbolic and are an expression of free speech.  It's just so subtle that it seems to have escaped the notice of so many who simply see the dirty and disgusting appearance of it.   The Supreme Court, however, has long acknowledged that free speech isn't limited to voice, the written word, signs, or, most recently included, money.  Speech also includes the symbolic--the subtle.

In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Supreme Court ruled that black armbands worn by students in protest of the Vietnam War were also to be considered free speech.  In Texas v. Johnson, the Supreme Court held that burning the US flag was free speech.   The distinguishing factor for each of these cases is that these things were both symbolic expressions of opinion and an alternative to vocalization.  This symbolic expression does not have to be beautiful or pleasing to the eye.  As Justice Brennan wrote in his opinion on Texas v. Johnson, "If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable."


With the tent cities within our cities, Justice Brennan's words hit home.  Yes, they are unsavory, disagreeable, distasteful, and unpleasant to behold but isn't truth frequently described as being ugly?  If the truth in this case were something pleasant to look upon, then why would the protesters even be protesting?  When reality is harsh, so is truth and all the ugliness it can bring through the symbolic illustration of it.  As I looked at a picture today of the protesters of Occupy Denver being covered by snow because tents have been forbidden, I worried deeply about their safety and health because winter is fast approaching.  Removing their tents, however, didn't simply put them in danger of exposure.  It put a gag on their voice and what the world must see--tent cities.

Note:  I still had the first image of a tent city on my monitor when my daughter came in the room and saw it.  She asked me, all wide eyed, "is that downtown?  is that Occupy?".  Made me kind of sad that I had to tell her no, that's a real tent city.  From the mouths of babes though, even a 9 year old caught the symbolism and import.