I just saw something I never thought I’d see. Warning, it’s graphic and tragic beyond belief. It was a video of a man self-immolating as Oklahoma County sheriff's deputies tried to evict him and his wife. As I write this it’s still difficult to process what I witnessed. The man, Anthony Goulding, was 82 years old. He and his wife are being evicted from their home, and as the sheriff’s deputy approaches his room, you see him holding a can of gasoline and a lighter. Before she can stop him he pours gas on his body and the floor, flicks the lighter, and himself aflame.
There is so much systemic violence, but we're encouraged to ignore it and just look at the one dramatic moment -- the self immolation, the invasion, the beginning of the military operation...
Thank you for this poignant, timely piece and perspective. I'm reminded of Coretta Scott King's comments on the nature of violence, delivered during her speech at the Poor People's March of 1968. “In this society, violence against poor people and minority groups is routine. I remind you that starving a child is violence. Suppressing a culture is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her child is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical needs is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence. Even the lack of will power to help humanity is a sick and sinister form of violence.” https://jeffreynall.substack.com/p/from-fdr-to-coretta-scott-king-economic-a1d
This is so awful. There are so many steps that led to this, small escalations in the violence that I can’t believe. I simply cannot imagine being a landlord and evicting an elderly couple… or even being a landlord to begin with.
Thank you for pointing this out, and houseless people are the most impacted by our Capitalist system that has been floated into violence from the emphasis on the military industrial complex, which contributes to the violent world we brought into reality in the United States. For some reason, when people like this 82 year old man their lives are not considered "grievable" a word and an idea coined by Judith Butler in her discussion about "White Settler Colonization" and because of their economic and racial status as well. This is why people end up blaming poor people for being poor and not pulling themselves up with their own bootstraps, and make ends meet like they did. They don't consider age is an impossibility physically and mental to overcome illnesses that attack and other financial mishaps. As Patty Smith stated: "People have the Power" and it is true. We just have to learn how to speak up and not bow down to the critics when our opinions become controversial, whilst conservative fat-cats try to silence out voices! Standing up takes courage; standing up take guts, standing up takes fortitude, but if we do not like the world we live in, we must stand up to make the changes that will make the world better, if not in our lifetime, but in future generations. The elders in our Native American Community always believe that are the dreams and hope our ancestors had for us. As Crazy Horse stated, "Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again, and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness, and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again." But these words are more than words...they are a prophecy he foresaw when he fasted for 4 days and nights on his "Vision Quest" Humbleche. These people have come back to us and to this world to help. You are most definitely one of them. Thank you for your compassion and kindness.
This reminds me of a certain parent I know who would yell at their kid, and when the killed yelled back as defense, the parent would yell even harder, "How dare you talk back to me?!" without understanding the circumstance that led that kid to react that way. Or whenever any child acts out in the home or classroom. As you mention, we're trained to watch for the violence in the reaction, not the passive violence that leads up to it.
There are >15 million empty houses in the US and <1 million homeless people.
The accumulated wealth of humanity - those extracted resources and developed technologies not earned by anyone alive today, are well more than sufficient to provide everyone a decent quality of life without having to work for someone else.
Thank you for writing about this. I felt less alone while and after reading this and I really like that you are compassionate and very honest and realistic at the same time (if you know what I mean) thanks a lot 🫶🏻✨
It’s crazy that if you search why they were being evicted nobody writes about that. They only write about what he did and the trauma of the people who witnessed that. It’s telling that the ‘narrative’ of the media, as they like to call it as if everything’s a story not people’s lives, circles only around the ‘horrific’ aspect of the act and posts of the video as if it would be a Netflix show. This makes me feel sick to my stomach.
Probably a decade ago? I was in Hot Doug's in Chicago, and 2 girls were in line behind me. One had just come back from a semester in Berlin, and was explaining to squatters to her friend with great excitement. She'd seen the crack in capitalist ideology. The friend kept saying "But someone OWNS those buildings?" and the Berlin Girl kept saying "But they're keeping them empty! It's immoral. People need places to live ..." It was kind of glorious, and I hope Berlin Girl is still out there, radicalized.
Thank you for this. Thank you for bringing Anthony's story to me/us. Thank you for the effective reframe.
A while ago, I told a friend of mine that I would rather sentence Ken Lay (of Enron fame) to death before any number of convicted murderers. (I should point out that I'm opposed to the death penalty.) He was shocked, because Ken Lay didn't commit a "violent" crime. But he did - he ruined thousands of lives, and I'm sure more than one of those lives were ended as a result.
I love the compassion and insight in your post. America is not known for taking preventive action. I mean, there are smaller orgs that try, but as a society, America doesn't pre-address well-being, physical health, homelessness, job security, home security, or much of anything. It leaves people despondent.
The "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it" mentality is useless. Cross it now, before it floods! People are too shortsighted — or maybe refuse — to see how nipping things in the bud helps everyone, and save funds in the long run (since spending is politicians' concern.) Our obsession with money trumps humanity. Can't pay rent? Evict. Why not take 0.0001% of our massive war chest to create a fund that provides a grace period where you pay what you can.
There is NO safety net, and that should be a frightening thing for all of us.
I think unfortunately we're going to be seeing a lot more of these situations in the next 10-15 years at least. Maybe not quite as extreme, but possibly. There's getting ready to be unfortunately an extreme to learning curve done by some party as the boomer generation ages and with the housing crisis being what it is but with people living longer than ever before many many people are going to find themselves in very limited situations they might be very desperate to avoid. My grandmother (1919-2010) was fortunate that she had moved back to California in the 70's and as she reached retirement age she was in a state that had a fairly large supply (at that time) of subsidized housing for seniors. In general there has been more of this specific housing and assistance than most others. Since she'd never owned a home she didn't have to deal with the stress of letting go of an owned house she wanted to stay in. As she aged and needed to be closer to family that was available to help (she had 4 children but only one daughter, my mom, who was here in Louisville by this time- it's almost always daughters expected to be available for this more labor intensive caregiver needs). I flew out to pack up her stuff into a U-haul, drop her off at the airport and then drove her stuff from Sacramento to Louisville. We tried a few different arrangements but she ended up getting another subsidized senior apartment in southern Indiana. I was an adult but not married, childless etc so I was fine with taking on almost all of the responsibility for doctors appointments, groceries, etc. This is not going to be the case (actually it already isn't the case for my parents). Their house is paid for but it's in desperate need of updating, organization, safety additions for both my mother due to arthritis and my stepdad is in a motorized or manual wheelchair and will be most likely in one the rest of his life. My mom takes care of him but I don't believe she truly can take proper care of him at her age. However they are both adults, with sound enough minds (legally at least) and there's no discussing these issues with them. I've had to make a decision to keep myself somewhat distanced from the situation because they don't want my input but they will run me until I'm exhausted on fairly ridiculous superfluous stuff. Of course I'm the only child still in town. They are far from the only people their age who have alienated their adult children unfortunately and this dynamic is going to make things harder as well. The subsidized housing that was enough for the Greatest generation has not been kept up with or increased enough for their children. In many cases because those children as adults didn't want to fund those programs as much as they should. The nursing homes that were frequently iffy for their parents have been cannibalized by Private Equity owners and had staffing cut to the bare minimum. What PE didn't decimate the pandemic certainly made more acute. People like to complain about nursing homes but the people who are under the mistaken belief that they're going to avoid them because they've saved enough for private assisted living facilities are going to find out how important regulations actually are as well as nursing staff. They'll also discover their money is not going to last as long as they might have anticipated. If I had been holding it together and taking care of my partner at age 82 and was getting ready to possibly be separated from them, or have to go into Medicaid beds at a nursing home in Oklahoma I would be considering rash decisions myself. I'm sure he was terrified and feeling like he'd failed his wife. Murder/suicides in situations like this are not uncommon and I think we're going to see an increase in these also.
First-time reader, just subbed. Heart, mind, and eloquence: you have them all.
This story nails why I (an American) chose, when I retired at 61 last summer, to spend that retirement in small-town China. Eggs are $1.10/dozen, cars are unnecessary, food is fresh and cheap, no crime, a polite and cheerful local population, and polite--near-invisible, in fact--police. Sadly, America seems beyond redemption now.
There is so much systemic violence, but we're encouraged to ignore it and just look at the one dramatic moment -- the self immolation, the invasion, the beginning of the military operation...
Thank you for this poignant, timely piece and perspective. I'm reminded of Coretta Scott King's comments on the nature of violence, delivered during her speech at the Poor People's March of 1968. “In this society, violence against poor people and minority groups is routine. I remind you that starving a child is violence. Suppressing a culture is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her child is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical needs is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence. Even the lack of will power to help humanity is a sick and sinister form of violence.” https://jeffreynall.substack.com/p/from-fdr-to-coretta-scott-king-economic-a1d
This is so awful. There are so many steps that led to this, small escalations in the violence that I can’t believe. I simply cannot imagine being a landlord and evicting an elderly couple… or even being a landlord to begin with.
Thank you for pointing this out, and houseless people are the most impacted by our Capitalist system that has been floated into violence from the emphasis on the military industrial complex, which contributes to the violent world we brought into reality in the United States. For some reason, when people like this 82 year old man their lives are not considered "grievable" a word and an idea coined by Judith Butler in her discussion about "White Settler Colonization" and because of their economic and racial status as well. This is why people end up blaming poor people for being poor and not pulling themselves up with their own bootstraps, and make ends meet like they did. They don't consider age is an impossibility physically and mental to overcome illnesses that attack and other financial mishaps. As Patty Smith stated: "People have the Power" and it is true. We just have to learn how to speak up and not bow down to the critics when our opinions become controversial, whilst conservative fat-cats try to silence out voices! Standing up takes courage; standing up take guts, standing up takes fortitude, but if we do not like the world we live in, we must stand up to make the changes that will make the world better, if not in our lifetime, but in future generations. The elders in our Native American Community always believe that are the dreams and hope our ancestors had for us. As Crazy Horse stated, "Upon suffering beyond suffering: the Red Nation shall rise again, and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness, and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again." But these words are more than words...they are a prophecy he foresaw when he fasted for 4 days and nights on his "Vision Quest" Humbleche. These people have come back to us and to this world to help. You are most definitely one of them. Thank you for your compassion and kindness.
This reminds me of a certain parent I know who would yell at their kid, and when the killed yelled back as defense, the parent would yell even harder, "How dare you talk back to me?!" without understanding the circumstance that led that kid to react that way. Or whenever any child acts out in the home or classroom. As you mention, we're trained to watch for the violence in the reaction, not the passive violence that leads up to it.
There are >15 million empty houses in the US and <1 million homeless people.
The accumulated wealth of humanity - those extracted resources and developed technologies not earned by anyone alive today, are well more than sufficient to provide everyone a decent quality of life without having to work for someone else.
The scarcity is entirely artificial.
Thank you for writing about this. I felt less alone while and after reading this and I really like that you are compassionate and very honest and realistic at the same time (if you know what I mean) thanks a lot 🫶🏻✨
It’s crazy that if you search why they were being evicted nobody writes about that. They only write about what he did and the trauma of the people who witnessed that. It’s telling that the ‘narrative’ of the media, as they like to call it as if everything’s a story not people’s lives, circles only around the ‘horrific’ aspect of the act and posts of the video as if it would be a Netflix show. This makes me feel sick to my stomach.
May Anthony rest in peace. 🙏
Awesomely put.
Probably a decade ago? I was in Hot Doug's in Chicago, and 2 girls were in line behind me. One had just come back from a semester in Berlin, and was explaining to squatters to her friend with great excitement. She'd seen the crack in capitalist ideology. The friend kept saying "But someone OWNS those buildings?" and the Berlin Girl kept saying "But they're keeping them empty! It's immoral. People need places to live ..." It was kind of glorious, and I hope Berlin Girl is still out there, radicalized.
Thank you for this. Thank you for bringing Anthony's story to me/us. Thank you for the effective reframe.
A while ago, I told a friend of mine that I would rather sentence Ken Lay (of Enron fame) to death before any number of convicted murderers. (I should point out that I'm opposed to the death penalty.) He was shocked, because Ken Lay didn't commit a "violent" crime. But he did - he ruined thousands of lives, and I'm sure more than one of those lives were ended as a result.
I love the compassion and insight in your post. America is not known for taking preventive action. I mean, there are smaller orgs that try, but as a society, America doesn't pre-address well-being, physical health, homelessness, job security, home security, or much of anything. It leaves people despondent.
The "Let's cross that bridge when we come to it" mentality is useless. Cross it now, before it floods! People are too shortsighted — or maybe refuse — to see how nipping things in the bud helps everyone, and save funds in the long run (since spending is politicians' concern.) Our obsession with money trumps humanity. Can't pay rent? Evict. Why not take 0.0001% of our massive war chest to create a fund that provides a grace period where you pay what you can.
There is NO safety net, and that should be a frightening thing for all of us.
I just came across this poem, which of course instantly reminded me of your article.
What They Did Yesterday Afternoon
BY WARSAN SHIRE
they set my aunts house on fire
i cried the way women on tv do
folding at the middle
like a five pound note.
i called the boy who use to love me
tried to ‘okay’ my voice
i said hello
he said warsan, what’s wrong, what’s happened?
i’ve been praying,
and these are what my prayers look like;
dear god
i come from two countries
one is thirsty
the other is on fire
both need water.
later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.
Lunch debt?? I didn’t even realize that was a thing. Ghastly!
I think unfortunately we're going to be seeing a lot more of these situations in the next 10-15 years at least. Maybe not quite as extreme, but possibly. There's getting ready to be unfortunately an extreme to learning curve done by some party as the boomer generation ages and with the housing crisis being what it is but with people living longer than ever before many many people are going to find themselves in very limited situations they might be very desperate to avoid. My grandmother (1919-2010) was fortunate that she had moved back to California in the 70's and as she reached retirement age she was in a state that had a fairly large supply (at that time) of subsidized housing for seniors. In general there has been more of this specific housing and assistance than most others. Since she'd never owned a home she didn't have to deal with the stress of letting go of an owned house she wanted to stay in. As she aged and needed to be closer to family that was available to help (she had 4 children but only one daughter, my mom, who was here in Louisville by this time- it's almost always daughters expected to be available for this more labor intensive caregiver needs). I flew out to pack up her stuff into a U-haul, drop her off at the airport and then drove her stuff from Sacramento to Louisville. We tried a few different arrangements but she ended up getting another subsidized senior apartment in southern Indiana. I was an adult but not married, childless etc so I was fine with taking on almost all of the responsibility for doctors appointments, groceries, etc. This is not going to be the case (actually it already isn't the case for my parents). Their house is paid for but it's in desperate need of updating, organization, safety additions for both my mother due to arthritis and my stepdad is in a motorized or manual wheelchair and will be most likely in one the rest of his life. My mom takes care of him but I don't believe she truly can take proper care of him at her age. However they are both adults, with sound enough minds (legally at least) and there's no discussing these issues with them. I've had to make a decision to keep myself somewhat distanced from the situation because they don't want my input but they will run me until I'm exhausted on fairly ridiculous superfluous stuff. Of course I'm the only child still in town. They are far from the only people their age who have alienated their adult children unfortunately and this dynamic is going to make things harder as well. The subsidized housing that was enough for the Greatest generation has not been kept up with or increased enough for their children. In many cases because those children as adults didn't want to fund those programs as much as they should. The nursing homes that were frequently iffy for their parents have been cannibalized by Private Equity owners and had staffing cut to the bare minimum. What PE didn't decimate the pandemic certainly made more acute. People like to complain about nursing homes but the people who are under the mistaken belief that they're going to avoid them because they've saved enough for private assisted living facilities are going to find out how important regulations actually are as well as nursing staff. They'll also discover their money is not going to last as long as they might have anticipated. If I had been holding it together and taking care of my partner at age 82 and was getting ready to possibly be separated from them, or have to go into Medicaid beds at a nursing home in Oklahoma I would be considering rash decisions myself. I'm sure he was terrified and feeling like he'd failed his wife. Murder/suicides in situations like this are not uncommon and I think we're going to see an increase in these also.
First-time reader, just subbed. Heart, mind, and eloquence: you have them all.
This story nails why I (an American) chose, when I retired at 61 last summer, to spend that retirement in small-town China. Eggs are $1.10/dozen, cars are unnecessary, food is fresh and cheap, no crime, a polite and cheerful local population, and polite--near-invisible, in fact--police. Sadly, America seems beyond redemption now.