Preach.

The police came and cleared away the homeless people + people doing illicit business (and all their stuff) across the street from the thrift store yesterday.

One guy, a Black man, ran into the store to get away. A cop came looking for him.

Pointing to a Black man in the back of the store, the cop said to Michael, a white volunteer,

"That’s the guy.”

"No!” Michael said, “he’s one of the best employees.”

It was Mr Furniture.

Pointing to another man, the cop said, "What about him?"

Michael said, "That's our executive director!"

It was Big Boss.

_________
I didn't know that'd happened till I saw Michael in the parking lot at the end of the day.

Earlier, after the camp had been cleared in the middle of the afternoon, Big Boss had called me into his office and asked me what I thought about what'd happened.
(He's rarely sought my advice like this before--usually I volunteer it, whether he wants it or not...)

He was entirely calm, as he usually is. "I know you have an opinion," he said.

I was hesitant for some reason.
"Hm. How can I put this biblically...?" I said, since we often talk in those terms.

"No, just as yourself," he said.

"Well, what do you think?" I said.

"I asked you first. How do you see it?" he said.

"I see failure," I said.
"Failure of imagination ever since this started.
I don't mean any one person in this instance failed, but it was generations of trauma that led to it getting this bad. And [in biblical terms], I see generations of 'sin': failure to love one another and care for our brother.

"Now, because it got so bad, so dangerous, I'm glad they're gone. But I feel grief at our failure as humans."

Big Boss always says I'm a preacher, and I was full on.
After I went away, I wondered if I'd been too... much.
But when I heard how the cops had treated Mr Furniture and Big Boss, I stand by what I said:

This gets a big fat F.