“What do our lives mean to y’all?”
A Conversation With Joseph, One of Our Neighbors Living Outside & Navigating Systemic Housing Barriers/Brutality from Law Enforcement in the East Phillips Neighborhood
What happened?
Joseph and other residents who had been staying in the median of Cedar Avenue under the Hiawatha bridge were suddenly evicted by several MPD officers on June 18, 2026. Joseph can’t walk, so after pushing his wheelchair through oncoming traffic to get away from the cops, we stopped to chat for a while about housing, solutions, and the importance of stability for people living outside in the neighborhood. Some of that conversation is included here. Joseph consented to being recorded for an interview and wanted his name shared alongside his perspective.
“[Having somewhere to stay] would make it a lot more stable, well for me. I don’t know about anyone else. It would give me a better opportunity to obtain things that I need.”
Do you feel like it was better when there was a place for people to have their tents at least?
“Yeah! Because you had, um, you had a place that you could call your home, now you have nothing. Just an empty space.”
I’ve heard about people who, like, would go work a job and come back and all their stuff would be thrown away.
“Yeah! Yeah, It’ll be gone, right. Just like one lady, she went to wash clothes, and she come back and all her stuff was gone. And they [contractors/cops] did it and then wanna laugh. They throw our stuff away, wanna laugh. Like it’s funny, you know? Cuz we’re nothing to them. It makes you feel like you’re nothing.”
Yeah. And you are something! You’re a beautiful human. You’re kind and sweet and caring, and smart.
“I try, and it’s just like the more you try, the harder it becomes to even feel human. And you use the substances to take away the pain. They think that you get high to just—no, it takes away the pain. Like these doctors don’t even care about us.
“This is sad. And it’s hard. At night it’s like, where do you lay down at? Well, with me I can’t(lay down). What do you even, what do you… And they don’t care.”
And you’re worth love and care.
“Yeah! And it’s like what do you do? You know? Do we
❤️ 64 likes | 💬 1 comments
