Editorials

 
By Eugene Sanford
Volunteer

Nearly four years ago, the People for Fairness Coalition got its start.

The group was founded by a few homeless individuals concerned about heat and hot water problems at one city shelter and the closing of another. They were frustrated by a feeling that they lacked a voice at the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) meetings.

During the summer of 2008, they joined together, selected a name, wrote a mission statement and set goals for campaigning to protect the housing rights of impoverished people.

And ever since PFFC has worked to promote an ongoing dialogue and discussion on the issues involving homelessness, housing, jobs, job training, low-income affordable housing, outreach, advocacy and peer mentoring.

A major mission for the group is to serve as an effective voice for the poor and homeless in city government. Members of PFFC have testified at hearings of the City Council Committee on Human Services, effectively speaking out against budget cuts that would impact homeless services. They have joined Save Our Safety Net rallies and marched on the Wilson Building. Very recently, PFFC members joined more than 250 people to attend the Housing for All rally at the Martin Luther King Library, where this writer read his poem titled “What HOME Means to Me.” He was presented with a first place prize for his work.

PFFC members also regularly attend and participate in meetings of larger groups and organizations including the ICH, the Coalition of Housing and Homeless Organizations and the Fair Budget Coalition.

Group members are also involved in the community. At the Occupy D.C. Protest Encampment, members of PFFC have lent assistance in serving meals and establishing connections with those involved. PFFC members have also joined with staffers at Miriam’s Kitchen to engage in a voter registration campaign, encouraging homeless people to fill out a voter registration card and vote for the candidate they feel could best help them to make the transition from the streets to stability. A total of 24 people have been registered, including eight from the recent voter registration campaign at the New York Avenue Shelter.

PFFC members have even expanded their spirit of empowerment by beginning additional groups. Members John McDermott and Paul Lee Taylor are now facilitating an advocacy group with the clients of Thrive D.C. in the Columbia Heights area. PFFC Director Robert Warren, and Eric Sheptock organize meetings for Shelter, Housing and Respectful Change (SHARC), an organization they founded at the Community for Creative Non-Violence shelter.

Director Robert Warren, together with Yolanda Bynum, John McDermott, Junior Almozard, O.B. Black, Eugene Sanford, Paul Lee Taylor, Richard Embden, Anthony Davis, Carlton Harris, Todd Wiggins, and other volunteers run our advocacy meetings and discussion formats at Miriam’s Kitchen, located at 2401 Virginia Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Meetings are held every Tuesday morning from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. All are welcome to attend.

You can look up PFFC on Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and Blogger.

Members of PFFC have grown as individuals since 2008 and we continue to grow.

 
By Bob Ballard
Volunteer

I have more or less been a full-time occupant of Freedom Plaza since Occupy D.C. started on Oct. 6, 2011. I drove my old RV from California to participate in the occupation because I believe that it is a global movement that will change the world. I lived in my RV for two years, and when I am not in a tent on Freedom Plaza, that is my home.

The aspect of the occupation that most interests me is the social structure. We created a community from scratch on the plaza, but before Occupiers showed up, there was already a community there: homeless folks. Some had been there for years. An interesting thing happened when the occupation arrived. The homeless folks were confronted with something they mostly didn’t want and didn’t understand. At times, some of them were quite upset about it, and understandably so. After all, they were there first, weren’t they?

As time passed, some homeless people decided to join our occupation community and agreed to follow the principles we set for the well-being of everyone. Those who joined transformed their lives in many ways. First, they had people who cared about them as we did for everyone in the community. Second, the opportunity to perform important tasks that kept the camp running inspired them; soon many were working extra hard at everything from food preparation to security patrol. Third, the homeless began to see themselves as valuable members of the community and they realized others saw them in this light as well. This is the point I would like to focus on.

I asked myself, why did taking on work assignments help people see themselves in a more positive way? Even more basically, why did the homeless even decide to join our community when they could eat and sleep at local shelters? I think the answer to both of these questions is one word: contribution. A chance to contribute to others is what makes all the difference. Contributing time, talent and labor to something you believe in is very empowering. It makes people feel they matter.

Based on my work with homeless people over the last five years and my experience at the occupation, I believe that what our society needs are opportunities for people to contribute to something in which they believe. Sure, there are plenty of places where people can volunteer, and that works for many. However, when you are down on your luck and have nothing left to believe in, it is sometimes hard to find something that inspires you. This is why I believe we need to work on creating opportunities for contribution that really involve people, that inspire them to be part of something bigger than themselves. The Occupy movement has become that opportunity for many homeless folks here in D.C. and across the nation.

The Occupy movement created these opportunities through the formation of a community. Because these communities were formed in public parks, we chose to live on the ground much like the homeless people who were there before us. Thus, the movement adopted some aspects of a homeless lifestyle. What is the difference between sleeping in a park as a homeless person and sleeping there as part of the Occupy movement? In a word: context.

The people participating in the movement chose to sleep in the park based on a commitment to address some social, environmental and/or economic injustice. The Occupiers used the act of sleeping in the park to make a statement, forward an agenda and call attention to their cause. Conversely, the homeless people living in the parks did not have other good choices or a purpose in being there except to sleep or rest. Thus the same experience, sleeping outside in a park, had a powerful purpose and context for the Occupiers that did not exist for the homeless.

Circumstances derive their meaning through the context in which we place them. Thus, identical circumstances can have vastly different meanings depending on the context in which we see them. The Occupiers saw sleeping in the park as a powerful statement of their beliefs. The homeless viewed the same circumstance as survival. Both interpretations are valid, and nothing is wrong with any interpretation that one wishes to attach to a circumstance. However, some interpretations are empowering while others are not. It is easy to feel like a victim of circumstance, but that is just one interpretation. For example, a heavy rain during a parade could be considered a disaster by the organizer, while a farmer a few miles away suffering drought would be overjoyed. The rain is the same, but the contexts differ.

Many times, we cannot quickly change the circumstances of our reality, but we can easily change our interpretation of those circumstances by choosing powerful context. Since each of us creates the context we use to interpret our circumstances, all of us can interpret our experiences in a way that empowers us and makes our lives a little bit easier and lot more enjoyable.

Bob Ballard is the founder and executive director of the Hearts Of Fire Project (www.HeartsOfFireProject.org), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization committed to empowering homeless people. He is also an award-winning singer/songwriter and composer (www.BobBallardMusic.com). Bob lives in his 1991 Winnebago and travels around the country making public appearances, writing, leading workshops and performing music.

Contact email: heartsoffire@ureach.com or bob@bobballardmusic.com

 
By Nikki Conyers
Volunteer

It took jurors less than three hours on Jan. 17 to convict 47-year-old Avery Christopher Bradford of raping two women in Athens, Ga. Bradford was found guilty on all charges: two counts of rape and aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated sodomy and one count of aggravated sexual battery. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, though his sentence date has not been announced.

The victims were two homeless women living in Clarke County, Ga. who courageously stepped forward to report the crimes to the police. In spite of their situation, the women believed they had a right to justice.

Law enforcement officials said that Bradford raped the women because they were easy targets, given their homelessness.

“These women were beaten and raped because they were homeless and vulnerable, and they were vulnerable because they were addicted to crack cocaine,” Assistant District Attorney Jon Forwood said in his address to the jury.

“They are counting on you and the law to find him guilty as charged,” he added.
As Bradford’s arrest and trial prove, any victim can have an active voice in society. Moreover, being homeless should never stop an individual from speaking out when he or she experiences injustice. Often, those pushed to the lower rungs of society are cruelly mistreated and expected to keep silent. Thankfully, there are those, like Bradford’s victims, who step forward and take their perpetrators to task. Women faced with homelessness can and do speak out when wronged, and justice can be served.

Individuals forced into a state of homelessness, and/or who are experiencing addictions, can be (and tragically, often are) victims of rape and other mistreatment given the dangers of their situation. Indeed, Bradford’s victims and all women experiencing homelessness should be treated with dignity and respect. Although the outcome of the trial is still pending, here at Street Sense we are pleased to know that justice will almost certainly be served for the two women in Athens.

At Street Sense, we have a special opportunity for women during Women of Street Sense to share their life stories. WSS meetings are held every third Wednesday of the month to encourage women to voice their perspectives on society. We remind women and individuals that their unique experience in Washington, D.C., is important. These meetings address women’s health, safety, well-being and other issues pertinent to living in a state of homelessness. Our next WSS meeting, about the powers of poetry, will be Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.

Nikki Conyers is the WSS Special Events Coordinator.

 
By Jeffrey McNeil
Vendor

The saying goes, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” However, the Republican Party has tried for decades to fuse the two. This alliance of capitalists, neo-cons and Christian evangelicals make strange bedfellows, but they have common agendas: creating unregulated free markets, spreading democracy around the globe, limiting the role of government, and restoring Christianity. This years Republican primary is a case history of the struggle to hold these interests together.

Ronald Reagan began this strategy by speaking about a “morning in America”, spinning stories about welfare queens in Cadillacs and mourning the breakdown of the family. This would change, he promised, if you gave up your union membership, went to church and turned to capitalism.

Preaching this good news throughout the Deep South and the Rust Belt, with the aid of neo-cons and Wall Street, Reagan built a doctrine of Jesus and capitalism that manipulated evangelicals and white blue-collar workers into becoming Reagan Democrats.

Once in office, he crushed air traffic controllers for wanting better working conditions and his economic policies ushered in an era of corporate greed. Republicans still spin the myth of the Reagan legacy. On Election Day, working class citizens still wave the American flag willfully voting their jobs away and praying that Jesus will provide.

The Republican Party splintered after Reagan left office. While George H.W. Bush tried his best to keep the unholy alliance alive, his decision to raise taxes on the wealthy infuriated the party. The cultural conservatives joined Pat Robertson. Blue-collar workers sided with Pat Buchanan, and Wall Street supported Ross Perot. This friction helped elect Bill Clinton.

Clinton’s terms further fractured the unholy alliance. Despite an economic boom, a budget surplus and the record number of Americans at work, the Republicans kept trying to get rid of Clinton. While numerous scandals and an impeachment attempt were unable to get him out of office, Clinton’s lifestyle did reunite the pro-business wing and cultural conservatives as they pursued the White House in 2000.

George W. Bush’s message of compassionate conservatism resonated with all parts of the Axis of Evil. Preaching Jesus while executing people in Texas, he helped his friends by deregulating the market and destroying the EPA. W.’s actions not only united his base it united the rest of America–by pissing it off. While Americans wanted revenge for 9/11, his administration was secretly dismantling civil liberties.

The anti-war sentiment of the American people along with the financial crisis of 2008 again fragmented the Republican Party leading to the election of President Obama. While many Americans were jubilant, Republicans were again united by the common purpose of obstructing the administration. Donald Trump raised fears that he would redistribute wealth by letting tax cuts expire, right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck tapped into racial fears by calling him a Muslim.

With a message of Jesus and job creation, in 2010, this unholy alliance of businessman and Evangelicals took control of the House of Representatives in a rout. Right-wingers claimed the end of the Democratic Party was imminent as the Tea Party, evangelicals, greedy capitalists and the rest of the Republican tent rallied around the flagpole.

As we move into the 2012 election, we will see if the unholy alliance of evangelicals and greedy capitalists will be able to overtake the White House again or if their tenuous relationship will disintegrate splitting the party and sealing reelection for President Obama.

 
By Adrienne Harris
Volunteer

2^nd & D.  That’s how most people who have stayed there refer to the John L. Young Women’s Shelter. It’s one of those places you occasionally hear about when someone is trying to build up her street rep.  However, I don’t know whether the “harshness” of the place is all that impressive. D.C.’s resources surpass anything available in the surrounding area, yet the need exceeds anything this city can provide. John L. Young is often the starting point for those facing homelessness in DC. Perhaps it’s the easiest shelter to get into. Nevertheless, doing so is a chore.

The first hurdle is not to become disheartened while waiting in line. Even if you arrive  one hour before the doors open, that hour can easily seem like three.  This is where you start classifying everyone around you. This one never talks; this one only talks to herself; this one usually just scowls, but if she does say anything, it’s usually at the top of her voice; this one glares at you; this one’s exchanges are more in the nature of performances…

If you took your time, you’d probably come up with ten different groupings, maybe more. Don’t get me wrong; if you took the time to listen, I’m sure each person would tell  a unique story. But let’s be real: your situation is too much to deal with at the moment.  Not too many people are stupid enough to go there. Or, perhaps I should say that not too many who will eventually get out of there are stupid enough to go there. For those determined to “fix,” or at least improve their situation, focusing on their problem is definitely the order of the day.

Anyway… if your courage holds up, and you actually get to the point of entering the building, the first thing you’ll have to do is open your bags or your luggage. Everything is searched… Scissors? – gone… Razors? – gone… Nail polish? – gone.

How smoothly this process goes depends on 1) the attitudes of those being submitted to this search and 2) the level of hostility coming from security personnel. I was lucky. During my stay, security was pretty good. (Nice people.)

Okay… assuming the most optimistic outcome  (for the newcomer, anyway): one of the regulars missed the curfew, so, you have yourself a bed (probably an upper bunk). – For those who’ll have to try again tomorrow, Union Station’s bathrooms are fairly easy to access. – Relief overtakes you to the point of getting giddy or emotional, depending on your level of exhaustion.

Now the paperwork begins. After about what feels like an hour of giving a stranger way too many details about your recent life right there at the front desk (you are sitting, so you don’t quite feel like you’re yelling your business from a mountain top), you are given verbal and written information, a bed number, and sent on your way.

The dorm is basically a warehouse-sized room filled with steel bunks. Once you’ve found your bunk ( a challenge in itself), you prep your bed with the linen that’s been deposited on your mat, and do your best to make yourself at home, all the while stealing glances at your new neighbors.

You will also see a  table a few feet away where dinner is served, a few long tables to eat at, and a television with a few folding chairs around it.  The bathrooms are to the left.

With any luck, there will  be a male staff member around. Let me be clear: I’m as much a feminist as you can get without screaming or carrying a poster around, but from personal experience, I’ve found that one sensible man is worth five stern women as far as maintaining some form of order is concerned.

If you don’t need to go to the restroom, you’ll make your way to the serving table if dinner has begun. Seconds are served only after everyone has had a chance to eat.

By this time, a couple of scenes have unfolded. Perhaps the social worker, or even the facility director, has had to emerge from her office to handle the situation. I’ve received social services in the D.C. area for about 18 months. Wanda, who worked in that office when I was at 2nd & D, was the best social worker I’ve seen during all that time.

Her job seemed impossible. But she pulled  it off admirably. I never heard negative words in reference to her, an accomplishment that to my knowledge has yet to be duplicated. She actually LISTENED, and displayed  a decent amount of understanding without getting emotional. She made it a point never to allow herself to get friendly and chatty with clients, and she remained impartial. Remarkable.

I could go on, but since I must keep this to 1,000 words, I’ll limit it to this: You will find yourself in the center of a few dramas, regardless of your disposition. You might find your background and ethnic group has more to do with it than anything else. While receiving social services in DC, you’ll find that the African-American culture is the mainstream society in which you’ll have to function, or at least deal with. I’ve received more than a couple of threats, and have been referred to as a “white devil.” How well-trained a facility’s staff members are and what their sentiments are will determine how skillful you will have to be to respond to the situation.

As all this might suggest, I do not recommend John L. Young to anyone. Yet I still carry John L. Young’s number in my coin purse.

Adrienne Harris is a student at University of the District of Columbia. She stayed at John L. Young Shelter a year ago when she was homeless. She now has housing. 

  
By David Rubin
Vendor

When I think about the fundamental differences among German, Chinese and U.S. laws, it seems crystal clear that there is a new need to redefine freedom and happiness.

Take the differences between German law and U.S. law regarding contracts, especially between landlords and tenants.
Where in the U.S., contract agreements are required to be expressly stated between the two parties concerned, in German law, the government’s judiciary branch spells out those contracts and there are fewer complications in housing matters. The end result is homelessness in the U.S. because housing issues are not under full government control.

Chinese law speaks of virtues and ethics as main pillars of the nation’s legal system, more important than personal wishes and individual lives. Thus, it becomes irrelevant what one desires in life or whether one is individually successful, so long as one is virtuous. Poverty as a way of life has never been so acceptable as it is in the U.S.

The English law has resolved my immigration case, yet I cannot find employment or housing.
I believe the U.S. can learn from the Chinese and German legal systems. I say it would be the end of homelessness and poverty, and not a return to British imperialism.

 
By Anna Katharine Thomas
Editorial Intern

People always say “it seems like yesterday…”

Well, this time I guess it is my turn. It does seem like yesterday that I embarked upon my first train ride to Metro Center. After walking in the wrong direction for a few blocks, I turned around and finally arrived at the back door of the Church of the Epiphany. My fellow Street Sense intern, Hannah Morgan, let me in.

I walked up two flights of stairs oblivious that one day in my near future Allen Hoorn would soon force me and Randy Meza, another intern, to carry an unnatural number of old newspapers back down to the recycling bin. I had arrived at the Street Sense office.

I couldn’t believe my internship was about to start. I had been waiting for this day since I interviewed with editor Mary Otto, and here I am now at the close of it all, saying goodbye. It has been a wonderful experience. I’ve enjoyed everything, from my first day when I was immediately sent out to cover a story, to writing notes at vendor meetings until my hand cramped.

Do you want to know a secret? This is really a fun place to work. You have to have tough skin as an intern though, because you have been hired so that Allen can pick on you and give Mary and Eric a break.

My favorite part of writing stories for Street Sense were the days when I was sent out to find faces and voices that represented what my story was about. Sometimes I think journalists, and even readers, can get bogged down in discussing numbers and forget that the millions of people mentioned in an article are people, and they have a voice. Making that voice heard was the best part of my job.

Being an intern at Street Sense has had its ups and downs. I don’t think I am allowed in Bank of America again thanks to the enormous amount of change I brought in to deposit for the newspaper. I was however, able to build connections with people from wonderful organizations around Washington that are working to help the homeless.

I know I will come back one day. As this semester has proved, no earthquake, hurricane, or terrorist threat will stop me.

By Jeffery McNeil
Vendor

President Obama’s poll numbers are in the mid 40s. Discontent with government is high, and we have nine percent unemployment. Under any other circumstances, there would be no reason to re-elect the incumbent.

However, the 2012 presidential race is unprecedented. Despite Citizens United, the rise of the Tea Party and overall apathy toward the president, Obama has found an ace in the hole. The Republican primary has turned into America’s

While this may be the greatest television programming since “American Idol,” one of these clowns can be sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom. That person will also be in charge of our nukes, which is no laughing matter.

Republican operatives like the Koch Brothers and their well-financed PACs have tried very hard to oust Obama, only to turn their party into an alternative to Comedy Central. The lineup of challengers to face Obama in the general election has turned the president into a formidable candidate. This is sort of reminiscent of Muhammad Ali and his Bum-of-the-Month Club, where he squared off with such superstars as the Quarry brothers, Chuck “the Bayonne Bleeder” Wepner, Randall “Tex” Cobb and George Chuvalo. This strategy worked for Ali until he ran into a lucky haymaker from Ken Norton.

While Ali’s career was extended by fighting tomato cans and stiffs, the president may win a second term fighting against the lineup of, shall we say, unimpressive Republicans. Say hello to Bum-of-the-Month Club II: Herman (Big Daddy) Cain, Rick (Bush Lite) Perry, Newt (Breakfast at Tiffany’s) Gingrich and Mitt (Flipper) Romney. Obama’s strategy to win is simple: lay on the ropes while the Republican candidates make dopes of themselves, each taking wide swings at the president only to leave bruised, bloodied and battered. If the debates got any sloppier, the highlights would be shown on ESPN.

Despite all the hype for the Obama-Romney showdown, the undercard is far more entertaining. Whether it’s Rick Perry and Social Security, Herman Cain and foreign policy or Jack Abramoff alleging that Newt Gingrich is corrupt, America can’t change the channel. We can’t wait to see who is going to bite off someone’s ear next. These debates might soon end up on pay-per-view.

This verbal jousting has been exciting, with numerous knockdowns and low-blows being delivered. Remember, though, that this is only the preliminary. We have to stay tuned for the main event. We don’t really know which Bum-of-the-Month member will be tapped to enter the big ring. Romney could yet emerge victorious. However, even after saying no, no, a thousand times no, Sarah Palin just might come out of hiding and jump in at the last minute. For all we know, Michele Bachmann could be training for a return to the big time. Or maybe, just maybe, Dan Quayle will rejoin the fray and compete with Donald Trump to see who becomes the Great Right Hope.

Get your popcorn ready and don’t walk away from the TV. You might miss something you won’t forget.

At Jeffery

By Frosty Bibbee
Vendor

I have been homeless for a short period of time, just three months. I’ve met some good people and some very strange people. I tried staying in a men’s shelter but I don’t deal well with a lot of people in a small enclosed area. Having to go through a metal detector, put my bags through an x-ray machine, and getting patted down by the special police just to get a hot meal and a place to sleep was not exactly working for me.

So I started hanging out in one of the local parks and sleeping outside, where I am to this day. While there, I met a group of younger homeless people and a young lady. She adopted me as a grandfather type. She gave me a blanket and showed me a couple of places to crash for the night. Besides, I had always assumed there was safety in numbers.

One place was a park when it wasn’t raining. Another was a building on the back steps that was covered and sheltered from the wind. This was great but the only drawback is being woken up between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. every day. By whom you may ask? None other than Homeland Security, yelling rudely for us to get up and get moving. They say it is for our own safety, so off we trudge, every morning, into the cold, windy, wet and not-so-safe streets of Washington, D.C.

I’ve been mugged and had all my clothes stolen, yet I survived. The Army taught me well. Why didn’t I call the police? Not having a cell phone was the primary reason, and besides, why would they pay attention to a homeless veteran. I think all the homeless people living on the street should be given a cell phone with only 911 installed so we can call for help. Also, they could give each of us a Louisville Slugger baseball bat for our safety and security.

Homeland Security doesn’t bother with the homeless.

Because we don’t have a home!

By Jeffery McNeil
Vendor

James Madison warned of the dangers of the factions and special interests that would subvert democracy in his Federalist Papers. He was no big fan of partisan politics in general, or of using money and power to influence elections. This same sentiment is often what spawns third party movements.  Those movements are nothing new. They are as American as the flag waving on the flagpole outside the White House. There have been both good third-party movements, like the labor movement and the civil rights, and bad movements like the Tea Party and the Ku Klux Klan. But whether you sympathize or disagree with their cause, third parties can have an impact on society.

The approval rating of Congress is at 9 percent, the Republican Party is to the right of planet Zoltron, and disappointment with Obama is pretty high. It is no accident that people are protesting in the streets. They are red-hot with anger at the establishment and its inability to understand the discontent of everyday  Americans. That, combined with the callous attitudes of the super wealthy, has brought our country to the brink. When you go to an Occupy Wall Street rally and see the type of people who are out there protesting, it changes your mind about the Occupy movement. It includes laid-off workers, college students, the middle class, and people who are living in actual poverty.

Many people that I talked to in the D.C. occupations feel that the game is rigged against them, both on Wall Street and on K Street. They feel like we live in an upside down system where those who steal get rewarded and those who have been robbed are punished. It astounds and baffles many that Wall Street executives sent the world economy into a tailspin and still walked away with millions (if not billions). Meanwhile, a homeowner can miss one mortgage payment and get tossed out on the street. When Wall Street gets in a jam, they can go to that golden goose called Capitol Hill and ask for a handout courtesy of the American taxpayer.

The protests show how upside down our country is right now. An Iraq war veteran protesting for a job gets knocked unconscious with a tear gas container by the Oakland police. But those who ran our country into a ditch got new Ferraris, and still have their million-dollar homes and meals at fancy restaurants, all paid for with taxpayer money.

I spoke recently at the “Enough is Enough” rally here in DC. The people I met there were not left-wing revolutionaries by any means. They were regular old Republicans and Democrats. But they are becoming the new left—as in, those who have been “left out” of the what they were told was the American Dream. They are looking for moderate leaders who are willing to compromise and solve problems. They find it infuriating that not one Republican believes you should increase taxes on the rich, and no Democrats who are willing to talk about the need to reform elements of our government programs.

They were not looking for a hand out. They were just asking their representatives in Congress to look out for them. They are sick of the bickering and partisanship in Washington, and they want solutions, not excuses. Average Americans keep getting poorer. We need a leader who has the cajones to tell his corporate buddies that the handouts are over. The time is ripe for a third party that is looking out for regular Americans.