Picture the Homeless

by Michael Williams

During the winter of 2004 the NYPD were threatening the homeless hanging inside the SONY Wonder building with arrests if they did not go into shelters or drop in centers for the winter. I Michael Williams was one of those people that were harassed by the NYPD during this time.

Sony Wonder has an atrium for people to hang out in and play video games. On one cold day in December, the NYPD decided to come into the Sony building and harass the homeless that were in the atrium until they decided to get on the train. The police went around asking all the homeless people if they wanted to go into a shelter; and if they didn’t that they would go to jail. When the police got to me they decided to try something different; but I was just as smart as they were, if not smarter. They asked me if I wanted to go into a shelter. I said, "Yes, only if the shelters or drop in centers do not have rapists and killers in them; and I can walk around not having to worry if my stuff is going to get stolen from me."

The cops could not make any promises, so I told them, "No. I dodn’t want to go into any shelters or drop in centers because of those facts."

The cops told me that I was telling a story and tried to cuff me. I refused to get cuffed and told the cops that I was making a point about what happens in shelters and drop in centers; and that they had no right to even try to arrest me. So they left me alone; and they left everyone else in Sony Wonder alone.