D.C. cleared scores of homeless from McPherson Square. Then kept evicting them.
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By the time two white Priuses branded with D.C. flags pulled up to the curb outside her tent, Sharon K. Brown had already finished her first cigarette and asked God for a miracle.
She lit another as District officials ambled onto the lawn where her tent was pitched. Then Brown began to pace. Underfoot, she could feel the uneven blades of grass she had started to trim with a pair of store-bought scissors. She had stopped when, the day before, she’d been told she had 24 hours to move.
“Come on, Heavenly Daddy, come on,” she prayed as the men approached. “I need your help.”
“Ma’am, would you like to be connected with services?” asked one. “We can help with that.”
Behind him, a D.C. police officer climbed out of his cruiser.
“I don’t need that. I just need y’all to leave me alone or help me move and tell me where I can go. I mean,” she paused. “What do you want me to do?”
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