“It was one of the most violent disturbances in American history, and it happened right here. San Francisco. Sanctuary District A, .”
“That's only a few days from now.”
DS9’s Bell Riots
Plenty of people have been posting on their blogs, podcasts, and social media about the Bell Riots, a fictional early-21st event in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Here are some worth checking out:
- Women at Warp episode 198: The Bell Riots Are Sooner Than You Think.
- Forgetting How to Care: The Very Real Possibility that DS9’s Past Tense is our Near-Future (continuation/extension), by guinevere liberty nell.
- NJC+ SF Film Club: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3 Episodes 11 and 12: “Past Tense”, by njudah@sfba.social.
While there are many terrible aspects of the American society depicted in the show (and, indeed, in real American society today), the pair of episodes focus on the callous treatment of the unhoused and of the mentally ill. They were herded up and placed into giant, open-air Sanctuary Districts.
The rest of society could act like they didn’t even exist—out of sight, out of mind.
“And once they were out of sight, what then? I mean, look at this man. There's no need for that man to live like that. With the right medication, he could lead a full and normal life.”
“Maybe in our time.”
“Not just in our time. There are any number of effective treatments for schizophrenia, even in this day and age. They could cure that man now, today, if they gave a damn.”
“It's not that they don't give a damn, Doctor. It's that they've given up. The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with.”
“That only makes things worse. Causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible, but causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care? That's really hard to understand.”
Some have noted that the modern-day Republican Party’s policies would lead to the kind of dystopia depicted in the show, and they’re not wrong. But it’s not just the Republicans! Being fucking terrible to unhoused people has clear bipartisan consensus these days. Take Gavin Newsom (D), the current Governor of California. He’s gleefully boasting on social media about his recent executive order that mandates cruel sweeps of homeless encampments all up and down the Golden State.
[T]here is no way around it: [Newsom’s executive] order means that more people will lose possessions like dentures, ID cards, and family keepsakes. These seizures and removals are traumatic and destabilizing for people who may already be suffering from mental health conditions. They only worsen homelessness in the long run, and they will almost certainly sweep unhoused people into the jaws of the criminal justice system. [… T]he end result of this order will be more unhoused people in jail.
— Gavin Newsom Is Creating a Disaster for Unhoused People, in The Nation
Mayors across the state—lead by San Francisco’s London Breed (D)—are more than happy to go along with this. See SF community groups protest escalated homeless encampment sweeps.
Fuck absolutely everything about this. Fuck any politician—no matter the party—going along with this or enabling it. Unhoused people are our neighbors, our family, our community. The precarity of modern American society means so many ordinary people are one missed paycheck away from eviction. People don’t want to have the consequences of our system shoved down their eyeballs, so they support policies like this that sweep things under the rug in an incredibly cruel and inhumane way. I’m livid. You should be, too.
Those episodes were a cautionary tale, not a fucking instruction manual.
“You know, Commander, having seen a little of the 21st century, there is one thing I don't understand: how could they have let things get so bad?”
“That's a good question. I wish I had an answer.”