By Jake Sexton, Axis of Justice
It was late in 2001, I was listening to a talk radio show, and I was outraged.
The guests on the show were explaining a new law passed by the nearby town of Santa Monica, and how it would essentially make it illegal to give free food to hungry people.
This was horrifying and insulting. Some of the most compassionate people in the entire city were about to be criminalized for helping out some of the most vulnerable. And the lawmakers had come up with some flimsy cover story about how this new law was actually to protect the health of the homeless. What bullshit. The law was scheduled to go into effect soon, at the start of the new year.
As the interview continued, I memorized the name of one of the interviewees from the show, and managed to locate her organization through some determined googling. Then a quick email: “how can we help?”
A small coalition was coming together on this issue, mostly groups that were already feeding the hunger in the area: Hand to Hand, HOPE (Helping Other People Eat), Food Not Bombs Venice, and the National Lawyers Guild (an organization of lawyers who represent progressive activists). While I had some ideas about how to take on this unjust law, these activists were on the front line, and it seemed smartest to follow their lead (organizing doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch and do everything yourself).
So how were we going to get rid of this evil law? There was one obvious tactic: shame. This was the sort of law that your average person would find disgusting. So publicizing the existence of this law, and pointing out who was to blame (the Santa Monica city council and local merchants), seemed like a good way to embarrass them and cause them to choose between voiding the law or getting hurt politically.
So we decided on civil disobedience. We would break this new law in public, try to draw as much attention to it as possible, and dare the city to arrest us for giving free food to hungry people. If they did arrest us, this would be an opportunity for more media attention and more possibilities to point out the immoral nature of this law. If they didn’t arrest us, it just weakened the law, making it less relevant. (Some of our group found one additional tactic as well. They planned to challenge this law in court, and found a way to make it a free speech issue. They put stickers with political slogans on lollipops that they would pass out to people. And if the police arrested them for passing these out, it was now a violation of their right to free speech, or at least they could make that argument in court). After our civil disobedience, we would march down Third Street Promenade, and then hold a press conference explaining what we’d done, and why we opposed this law.
We at Axis of Justice were mainly able to help on the publicity front. Tom and Serj are big rock stars, and we were able to get a number of local media outlets, as well as music news reporters (like from MTV) to cover the story (funny story: one of the local news reporters showed up wearing a shirt, tie and sport coat, but jeans and tennis shoes. He knew that the camera would only shoot him from the waist up, so he didn’t bother wearing a full suit).
It all went off smoothly. We gave out sack lunches, cups of water, and anti-war lollipops to dozens of homeless people at a park just one block away from the Promenade. Reporters interviewed people, shot footage and took pictures. Then we all grabbed picket signs (my favorite slogan: “Everyone has the right to eat”), marched loudly through the Promenade, and then told a large group of reporters what was going on. No one was arrested, and we got a lot of good press coverage to shame these powerful people who deserved a good dose of it.
For the most part, it was a very successful event. The city of Santa Monica had hoped to slide this law through quietly. Now it was front and center news, and now they had to explain why they supported a cruel policy aimed at forcing homeless people to go hungry or leave town. The city announced that they would hold off from enforcing the law for several months. In the end, we did not get the law overturned, but we sent a message to the city officials: if you try to enforce this law, we will raise hell. And the city understood this message, and have turned a blind eye to the “criminals” who feed the hungry.
Axis of Justice is a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and Serj Tankian. Its purpose is to bring together musicians, fans
of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. 
My first trip to San Francisco in the late 90’s introduced me to the world of the homeless in a personal way. Since then, I have felt a strong conviction to defend their ‘humanity’ when others seem to shun, ignore, or belittle these people. I think what you did is commendable and strong. Someone has to stand up, speak out, and do something. This reminds me, that I need to get more involved. Thank you.
~Joy
Inspiring story and really clever tactic. The most important factor is to get all this people together who bother about such human rights violations and with the guts to go for civil disobedience. It is amazing the amount of repressive laws that start working without much complain, just because everyone is too busy with their own problems to actually organize or participate in collective actions. As it happened here, they dont always finish with violence and/or detentions.
Social and viral media are also effective means to bring a lot of attention very quick and can put to shame these outrageous local government initiatives at a global level. (Global shame they deserve!)
Thanks for the inspiration!
The fact that anyone would even consider criminalizing people who give of themselves to help those in need is downright sickening. I have heard the statement made that homeless folks simply need to get a job and stop exploiting the system. I find that both ignorant and irresponsible. It is the system that exploits the people.
I commend your efforts and applaud your success. It is just mind blowing that it wasn’t overturned.
Good job. I recently moved to Santa Monica. I didn’t know about the ban on feeding the homeless. That’s just inhuman. There needs to be a sustained shaming campaign to fight this.
This law is a joke I would never follow such a law and give my support in keeping feeding every hungrey mouth in need of food!
this kind of law is (for lack of a better term) bullshit to the extreme. being put in jail for being compassionate is the same for being arrested for having free choice (a right that we americans have the right to, as per a little document called the United States Constitution).