“SafeGround Sacramento” and Rhetorics of Substantive Citizenship

Abstract

Critical perspectives on oppositional struggles and community-building often privilege questions about how such communities might more effectively intervene in public deliberation. That is, how a particular case for enfranchisement or new legal protections might be advocated more successfully. However, less attention has been paid to how marginalized communities (re)assert their right to be recognized and participate in such forums. In other words, how such communities gain recognition as legitimate political actors and find spaces in which to exert political influence. Evans (2008) described this as the act of asserting “substantive” citizenship. This analysis examined the rhetorical strategies employed by the movement organization “SafeGround Sacramento,” a group of homeless activists and allies in Sacramento, CA, for what they can teach cultural studies scholars and rhetorical theorists about the strategies through which “substantive citizenship” is lobbied for and (re)secured by marginalized communities. In doing so, it suggests potential strategies with which other marginalized political communities might reintegrate their voices and bodies within democratic spaces of citizenship.