Hello. My name is Padien Haviland. My friend and a dear member of our community had an attempt made on their life by a random, well to do attacker on August 29th at 1:20 am in front of the Nickelodeon Theater in Portland, Maine.

They are recovering, but they and their family have been out of work now for over ten days; the family taking shifts sleeping to care for them.

The city and its systems have done little to support this family as of yet. They are scared, possibly permanently injured, and desperately need our support.

We are raising funds to generally support their recovery, their family while they support them and to hire a lawyer to support their claim that the city, the police and the hospital assumed this victim was unhoused and treated this case differently because of that assumption meaning that their sovereignty and the nature of the attack was such that it could be ignored. Not that this should have made a difference anyway, but we all know that it does.

Lots more to say, as the story becomes more public, but we want to emphasize that THE ATTACKER IS STILL AT LARGE AND THE VICTIM AND THEIR FAMILY FEAR FOR THEIR SAFTEY. If you know this individual or think you have details about who or where they are, do NOT share them with anyone.

I’ve attached links to instagram reels and posts with more details about the story. Please know that the victim is stable but is disabled and this attack has inflamed that disability in a way that has made it very difficult for them and their family to survive.

I beg you for your help.

The victim and I see this as an opportunity to change. The systems that Portland employs to “deal with” the unhoused population within its boarders disenfranchises and minimizes them. Those systems are built on the subjectivity of the whole of this community. These individuals are at risk, sometimes mentally ill and without support. The drugs available are dirtier than they’ve ever been. Too many of us see them and think, “oh, that could never happen to me. They are the way they are because they are less than/lazy/addicted to drugs etc.” to be fair, part of this sentiment is mostly true. It probably couldn’t happen to most of us. Not because we all don’t suffer from mental illness at times, or because we don’t suffer from addiction or abuse. Simply, we have privilege. That privilege comes in many forms; wealth, family, able-bodies, security, whiteness, straightness, support.

We must develop a greater sense of compassion for all of our community and that starts with self compassion. Let it emanate out from you to this victim and their family.

we thank you for your support.