Eastside Mutual Aid, mayoral candidate Articia Bomer stand in solidarity for Detroit's homeless in Hart Plaza rally

By Ashanti Lee Seabron

(DETROIT) On Monday, progressive movement Eastside Mutal Aid and Detroit mayoral candidate Articia Bomer held a rally in the city's Hart Plaza to stand against Detroit's recent decision to disperse the homeless encampment that resides in the plaza.

The rally was organized last week after Detroit revealed its plans to clear out people living in the homeless encampment in downtown's Hart Plaza. The move was initiated by the city in order to begin a $2.9 million renovation project in the area.

EMA planned their rally for 7 a.m. Monday morning, as the city announced that it would begin dispersing the homeless encampment at 8 a.m. By the time 7 a.m. rolled around, however, the homeless encampment had already been broken up.

Nevertheless, EMA still held its rally in the plaza and group co-founders Mason Macomb and Jewan Price spoke to supporters about their cause.

Price said that the group's strength is held in their size, and that the city can't silence all of them.

"There is strength in numbers, the more we stand together, they can't silence us all," Price said. "If the people of Detroit stand together, that's what it's all about."

Macomb stressed the importance of letting city political leaders know about EMA's cause, and being persistent in doing so.

"We should be calling [city political leaders] every day," Macomb said. "Please call today, please call tomorrow and the day after and the day after until our houseless folks of Hart Plaza and Detroit are taken care of."

Also in attendance at Monday's Hart Plaza rally was Detroit mayoral candidate Articia Bomer.

In comments given exclusively to News Break, Bomer, who's running as a Republican in Detroit's upcoming mayoral race, not only discussed her plans to help Detroit's homeless, but also shared her own experiences and frustrations that she faced while being homeless herself in the past.

"As [Detroit's] mayoral candidate, I will invest and make sure that our city budget and funding goes towards the houseless people," Bomer said. "[Homelessness] is a trauma that you don't want to experience. When I think of an eviction letter, or my bill getting shut off, it's like PTSD. It's PTSD to think about when I was in the shelter, that they only provided 90 days [for homeless people to get their own place], that's not enough time for anybody. Some people have been living on the street for a year, so how are you going to go 90 days to find a place?"

Bomer also took time to speak to EMA supporters, and called out Detroit political leaders for their absence at Monday's rally.

"When I first saw this was happening last week, I made it my mission...to get up extra early so I could head down here to protect our houseless community," she said. "The reason why I'm a mayoral candidate is because this city is run improperly...we have to get funding to help our inner communities...where's our Mayor at? Where are the other mayoral candidates at?"

Detroit's mayoral primary is on Aug 3.

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