Chat Transcript: Homeless Advocate Ted Hayes
Aug. 15 -- As the Democratic National Committee convenes this week in Los Angeles to nominate Al Gore for president, a different sort of convention will be gathering nearby. The Los Angeles National Homeless Convention has invited thousands of homeless activists from around the country to participate in a counter-convention designed to bring national attention to issues like poverty, homelessness and housing.
The convention is the brainchild of organizer Ted Hayes, homeless advocate and senior director of Dome Village. Last night, when a protest outside the Staples Center turned ugly, Hayes was struck in the chest with a beanbag fired by police. He was taken by ambulance to nearby California Hospital Medical Center, where he was hospitalized overnight.
What role do protests and alternative conventions play in the political process? How can they achieve their goal of raising awareness and compassion without their cause being undermined by violence? Ted Hayes, homeless advocate and senior director of Dome Village, joined us today in a chat.
Moderator at 8:02pm ET
Welcome, Ted Hayes.
Ted Hayes at 8:03pm ET
I would like to state that the National Homeless Convention is not a protest, but it is a city-sanctioned official convention. It's a demonstration of solutions. That's what the National Homeless Convention is.
Moderator at 8:03pm ET
You were hospitalized last night after being present when a protest turned violent. What exactly happened?
Ted Hayes at 8:03pm ET
I'm not sure where it all started, but I do know that I was shot by law enforcement in the chest. I was the first to be shot, and then shortly after that, other people were also shot and hit with plastic bullets and pellets and so forth.
Moderator at 8:04pm ET
What's your impression of the way the police handled the situation?
Ted Hayes at 8:07pm ET
The fact that I was shot, and the way things were handled after I was shot, show some pretty out-of-control attitudes. But it actually started off with the vandals and the so-called anarchists, whose philosophy and strategy is to provoke law enforcement to leave their disciplined lines and react and do things that are ugly, such as use tear gas, rubber bullets, bean bags, batons, et cetera. That is their intent.
I'm learning from these so-called demonstrators and anarchists that it is not their intention to correct America, but basically to destroy this country. They are not getting the message of corporate greed to America, but rather are taking pleasure in the fact that they are having demonstrations and that they are shutting down traffic; that they are getting on the news, and the sound bites, and the photo ops, and the shots of the police arresting them.
And if you listen, you'll hear them shouting, "Woo woo woo," you know...you'll never hear exactly what it is that the corporations are doing to the poor people of the world, to the environment of the earth. But what you see is this melee, and they are taking great pleasure in that.
Moderator at 8:07pm ET
Were any homeless people among those injured last night?
Ted Hayes at 8:07pm ET
Yes, there was a lady here from Rhode Island, she's a homeless advocate here...a couple of volunteers...I don't think any of the other homeless people were hurt.
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