Homeless people and their supporters camp out under American flags as a statement on homelessness. August 1989
The Lower East Side has a long history of liberal, and at times radical, movements that have attracted artists, intellectuals, anarchists, activists, squatters, immigrants, and even political exiles. Many in the community, unlike other more passive communities facing gentrification, stood up and worked together with the homeless to defend housing rights and human rights, as well as their own lifestyles.