Encampment evictions are trauma: "They threw everything out. They threw my clothes out."

"I wonder if there’s an opportunity, at least, for education about showing some grace," said outreach worker Megan Smith to PVD Mayor Smiley.

Megan Smith is an outreach worker with the House of Hope CDC. She has also taught at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. On Wednesday around noon, during a meeting between Providence Mayor Brett Smiley and the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP) at Mathewson Street Methodist Church, Smith confronted the Mayor with an interview she had conducted with an unnamed woman who had been experiencing homelessness in the City.

The woman and others had been camping in the Locust Grove Cemetery for some time. One day, unannounced and in the rain, Providence Parks and Recreation staff arrived with Providence Police Officers, trash trucks, and something resembling a bulldozer. Unhoused people were ordered to leave immediately and given no time to retrieve their possessions. As Smith recorded in her short interview:

“They threw everything out. They threw my clothes out. I had two suitcases they threw out. They threw my shoes out. I have no shoes. I have... I'm wearing my slippers right now. They threw everything out. Everything. They threw everything out, everything out. And I was crying. You what I mean? Because that's all I own. They threw everything, I mean everything.”

Megan Smith speaking with Providence Mayor Brett Smiley:

Megan Smith: Very shortly after our last meeting, when the communication was that individuals in camps in the City would be given 30 days in advance of a 48-day notice, at least two instances came to our attention of people being immediately vacated. One was in the cemetery off of Elwood Avenue. They were moved by the Parks and Recs staff.¹

I’m aware that we did receive some of those notices for 30 days subsequent to that. However, given the two instances that follow our last conversation, I do not yet have confidence that that will be the standard practice going forward.

Mayor Smiley: With respect to the cemetery. Cemeteries [follow] the same rules as all the parks, which are the parks close at night and every night there’s no camping in public parks. The parks close at nine o’clock every night... Two cemeteries are run by the Parks Department, Locust Grove on the South Side and the North Burial Ground on North Main Street. That’s Parks Department property. They follow the Parks Department rules. That’s why, at least in those two instances, those 30-day notices were not given.

Megan Smith: The person had been established [in the graveyard] for some time. If you’re interested, I have a recording of her describing what happened. She’s given me permission to share it with this group, and she was shown no grace.

She wasn’t even given the time to walk back in to get her possessions before they were removed. I cannot see the situation being so urgent that they could not have given her significant notice to collect her possessions.

I recognize the policy about [closing at] 9:00 p.m., but it’s enforced sporadically. She had no expectations that that was coming for her on that particular day.

I wonder if there’s an opportunity, at least, for education about showing some grace.

Mayor Smiley: Well, it sounds like there absolutely is some opportunity to reeducate parks department staff. Even enforcing the rules with a strict 9:00 p.m. closure doesn’t mean that somebody shouldn’t be given courtesy and, as you say, grace and dignity to have a chance to pack their belongings. I’m sorry that that is the experience at Locust Grove, and if you share the recording with us, we can use that as an opportunity to talk to the Parks and Rec.

Here’s the audio of Megan’s interview, followed by a transcription:

Megan Smith: Okay, so it’s just recording on here…

Woman: I was in the cemetery, and Park Enforcement came with the cops and woke me up. It was raining that day. It was pouring. I had a lot of stuff there. They came through. I could only take whatever I wanted because I was by myself. They were in my stuff. They took everything out. Everything. I had a lot of shit. I had a lot of stuff. Excuse my language, but I had a lot of stuff there. They threw everything out. They threw my clothes out. I had two suitcases they threw out. They threw my shoes out. I have no shoes. I have... I’m wearing my slippers right now. They threw everything out. Everything. They threw everything out, everything out. And I was crying. You what I mean? Because that’s all I own. They threw everything, I mean everything.

Megan Smith: Do you mind saying just generally where you were when this all went down?

Woman: I was in the cemetery. I was in the Locust Grove Graveyard on Elmwood Ave. They took everything. Threw everything, everything, everything, everything. The only thing I took was my tent. My suitcase, my suitcase of food, my dog food. Then I took my ice cooler with my stuff in it, my junk stuff. I had a junk bag. That’s all I could save. I couldn’t take anything else in my coat. And I took my teddy bear. I took everything out, and they threw it out. I had a lot of stuff there. I had a lot of stuff there at home. They threw everything out. Everything out, everything out. There was other people there too that were staying there and whoever than take, they threw everything home. They threw everything out.

It’s crazy. They threw everything out. Everything I ever own. Now, I have to start from the bottom. Start from the bottom. I have to get all my clothes back. Those were the only clothes I had. The one that was in the shopping cart are the only clothes I had, and I was supposed to take it to wash. They took all that. They threw all that out, threw everything out. Everything out. They didn’t give me no time. They didn’t give me no time to take stuff. Didn’t give me no time. I had to do two trips to go back and get my tent and everything. And they didn’t give me no time to get whatever else I needed. As soon as I took my tent out, they went right there and started throwing everything out.

Megan Smith: Did they give you any warning that they were going to come in like that?

Woman: No. No. They gave no warning at all. They gave no warning, nothing. They just came. They just showed up. They woke me up out of my sleep. With the cops. They threw everything. They didn’t give me no time. As soon as I took my tent out of there, they went right there, and they threw everything. They didn’t give me a chance to go back to see if I could get anything else I needed. No chance like that. As soon as they took my tent out of there, they just went there and just threw everything out.

Megan Smith: Threw it in a dumpster.

Woman: They threw it in a truck or something. There was three, four. There was at least five trucks over there. Trucks... And there was a bulldozer. It was like a bulldozer. They had one them there too. Everything out everything.

They threw everything on. Give me no chance to go back and get whatever I had. It was crazy. Now I start on the bottom. I don't have no clothes. I don't have no shoes. I got slippers on. I have no shoes. I have no clothes. I don’t know what the hell to do. I don’t know what the hell to do now. My boyfriend wasn’t there. My boyfriend was in jail. I told them I was by myself to give me some time. They wouldn’t give me no time. They wouldn't give me no time. They just do whatever they want, do whatever they want.

Megan Smith: I'm going to stop this.

1. The other incident Megan Smith refers to here has been edited but can be accessed here in a fuller piece about Mayor Smiley’s meeting with RIHAP.