Is There a Future?

When I wrote my last editorial, I had no idea that I might soon be terminated prematurely, not by the editorial staff of Street Sense, but by persons who wish to silence me for reasons that I stated in my last editorial for the paper.

I was compelled to return to my shelter because the program that kept me in protective custody would not fun a longer stay in a safe location. I came back to hear someone say, "I don't know if I want to be sleeping next to you. You're a marked man. People say you know stuff you ain't got no business knowing. I don't want to wake up in the afterlife to see how true that is."

Needless to say, I couldn't see such a remark as a welcoming statement. However, I had to get on with my life, so I let it slide for the moment. Since then, over and over, I have had to interact with the police because of threats against me. The people who prompted me to go into protective custody before made some threats. Those who apparently are less than thrilled with having a "marked man" around made other threats.

The frightening part is that I saw the truth of my last editorial proven again and again. Many times when I spoke to the police, they refused to take any action whatsoever on my behalf, even when the incidents involved violations of a civil protection oder issued by the DC Superior Court. In one case, the police actually advised the assailant to file for a protection order to counter the one I held.

Would these same incidents have taken place had the person filing the complaint was not homeless? I have reason to doubt that. True, the DC Police Department is a rather confusing organization, segmented into many divisions, and each division seems to act according to a different set of rules, but all the divisions seem to show a certain indifference or even revulsion toward dealing with the homeless.

Because homeless shelters are often populated with persons with problematic backgrounds often involving criminal activities and/or substance abuse problems, it is easy to understand that a call from a place in which such a population is in control might not generate a lot of sympathy. But at the same time, those persons residing in these shelters are also entitled to live safely, and ignoring these calls -- a problem from which I have suffered often -- is hardly acceptable.

No matter what the argument might be, a homeless person who calls for help is still a person in need. Calls made for invalid reasons cannot be excused, but ignoring a call without investigating the reason for calling cannot be excused, either.

Tonight I am not sure where I will sleep because I am afraid to return to my bed. I cannot know if I will not end up the victim in some war between factions at my shelter in which I have been labeled the enemy. As I have learned, trying to walk the straight and narrow, to obey the rules, and to avoid confrontation are not enough when living in a homeless shelter. It is a constant struggle for survival, and reporting any wrongdoing or disturbance endangers any person's survival.

In the event that you do not see my editorial next month, you will realize that I truly was in danger and that the DC Police did not see fit to render assistance to me. Maybe it is because of my ethnic background, my gender, my accent -- none of that matters when my only desire is to remain safe.

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Editor's note: Obviously I did survive!

Published in Street Sense, June 2004.

Homeless and Right-less

For some reason, the rights and lives of the homeless are valued less than the rights and lives of the rest of the population. Aside from the token laws regarding hypothermia shelter, homeless persons calling for help may be ignored or encounter blatant hostility. Somehow being homeless seems to be an unpardonable sin, because aside from women calling 911 claiming violence, cries for help from the homeless may well fall on deaf ears.

Let us assume for a moment that there are actually homeless persons who do not want to remain homeless, who want to be self-sustaining, and who want to think that they have a future other than living on welfare. Already this assumption goes far beyond what most people believe to be true.

Even the briefest bout of homelessness can become a reason for children to lose a father. Not too long ago, I recieved a warning from the Family Services Division of the Montgomery County Circuit Court in Maryland stating that if I revealed to my children tha I live in a shelter, my visitation rights would be terminated. If that were not enough, my ex-spouse filed a motion with the court petitioning to terminate my visitation rights because of my homeless status. After talking with numerous other fathers in the shelter, I concluded that my case is hardly unique; many of the fathers have been denied visitation rights solely because of their homeless status, and there is no legal remedy for this situation.

Discrimination is not limited to the family court system. One day as I waited to enter the office of The Arts and Education Center in the Federal City Shelter at 2nd and D Streets NW, I had the dubious honor of having a mentally ill woman hurl a cinderblock at me, screaming at me to leave. I immediately called 911 and was told a police unit would be dispatched to the scene. With a police station just two blocks away, I found it very hard to understand why a police officer did not show up or why the police did not bother to call me back to inform me no one would be providing assistance.

Perhaps it is because I called from that location that I was ignored, but I will never know. The only thing I could understand is that if I were a "normal" person, I should know not to walk by "that place" or deal with "those people," as I have heard others refer to the area and its inhabitants.

Even more outrageous was something that befell my friends and me recently when we faced severe threats to our safety and had to petition the DC Superior Court to issue protection orders. Because of the nature of the risk, the Crime Victims' Compensation Program offered to relocate us to a safe location temporarily while we sought a permanent safe location. We wasted no time in trying to find an alternative place to live through our core service agency, which was our only option.

During our stay in the "protective" location, however, we faced harassment and insults, claiming that we were "living off the system." Ultimately, the Crime Victims' Compensation Program rescinded its offer to us and forced us to leave the location, accusing us of false claims the management at the location had lodged against us. We were told we would not be moved to another location. In short, nobody cared what became of us. That became glaringly evident when we discovered that because of our absence -- even to ensure our safety -- we would have to leave the shelter for good! To date, nobody has seen fit to answer to any of the inconsistencies in this matter, and we still face an uncertain fate.

Sometimes the disregard for the lives of the homeless hits on less threatening but equally harmful levels. Most homeless persons do not have the means to retain counsel as their civil rights are repeatedly violated. The few organizations that do support the homeless are reluctant to assist with individual cases, even though such help is sorely needed.

In the end, if there is a system here, it clearly isn't working to help the homeless. Apparently, the lives of the homeless are expendable.

Published in Street Sense, May 2004.