Homeless-Joes shuffles down Pearl Street
55These are the forgotten people, the under-protected, the under-educated, the under-clothed, the under-fed.
---Edward R. Murrow, “Harvest of Shame.” 1960
Joe shuffles down Pearl Street, muttering to himself as he walks. He pushes a shopping cart that is piled high with his treasures. A dirty blanket drags the ground as he makes his way towards Klutho Park. Two young boys laugh and yell at Joe as they ride by him on their bikes. “Hey Joe, you still have the same S.U.V.?” The local white boys think it’s funny that they call the homeless peoples carts S.U.V. They use it as just another jab at the homeless; to them it means Springfield Utility Vehicles.
In 1901 most of downtown Jacksonville Florida burned to the ground in the “Great Fire.” The wealthy citizens moved just a few blocks away and Springfield was born and is now on the National Register as a historic district. The blocks of Springfield are laid out grid like with the named streets running north and south and numbered streets going east and west. There are alley ways that are arranged in an “H” pattern my most of the blocks. Oak trees line the streets and there are still parts of town with original brick pavers on the road and a few old hitching posts left standing.
Most of the houses are made of wood frames and are considered architecturally to be vernacular structures but there are many 19th century revival style houses that include
Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Stick style. Most of the houses have large porches on the first and second floors.
You can always hear construction sounds in Springfield, the whirring of the chain saws and the pounding of the hammers as the neighborhood is being
“revitalized.” Many of the once magnificent have been abandoned and are boarded up, waiting to be sold to the next developer or the person that loves old homes and wants to restore it themselves.
Joe is only 47 years old but looks like he is in his 80’s. His hair is dirty, tangled and fully gray. His beard is long and looks much the same, unkempt and uncombed. The wrinkles on his face are deep. His skin is dark like a Columbian coffee and his eyes are as dark as coal. When he walks, he drags his right leg. He fell off a roof 10 years ago doing a day job but with no health insurance, he didn’t go to the hospital and his leg healed badly. A bone still slightly protrudes from his knee cap. He drinks everyday, for the pain he says.
Other residential neighborhoods experienced a resurgence of construction during the 1920’s but Springfield did not and the “boom” missed the town. The zoning laws were changed and the wealthy moved to other parts of town. (My Great-Grandmother was one of them) Springfield then became home to many of the African Americans in downtown Jacksonville. Eventually, as in many places in the south, this neighborhood became just another ghetto. The circle of poverty continued, houses were neglected and then decayed and collapsed upon themselves. The people needed to eat
first, survival was more important than fixing a leaky roof. Eventually gang activity and violence became a part of Springfield.
Joe owned a house in Springfield, he isn’t sure how long ago that was but he does know he owned it and that he had a wife and family. When he wasn’t able to provide for them, they left him and he started to drink. When he couldn’t pay his mortgage, he drank more. The day jobs that he took just didn’t pay enough.
How does a person become homeless in America? We are the land of the rich and the free. We are the “richest” country in the world. Barbara Ehrenreich, a well known author, wrote “Nickel and Dimed,” which became a New York Times bestseller. The book chronicled her spending months trying to work and live on minimum wage. She found that she could not. She spoke in her book about the “disappearing poor.” She quotes an article by Jim Fallows about the blindness of the affluent” “As public schools and other public services deteriorate, those who can afford to do so send their children to private schools and spend their off hours in private spaces-health clubs for example, instead of the local park. They don’t ride on public buses and subways. They withdraw from mixed neighborhoods into distant suburbs, gated communities or guarded apartment towers. They shop in stores that are in line with the prevailing “market segmentation” are designed to appeal to the affluent alone.” (Ehrenreich, Barbara. “Nickel and Dimed. Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 2001)
Joe sleeps in the park most night on a bench unless the police run him off. When Jacksonville hosted the Super Bowl a few years ago, the police rounded up most
of the homeless and put them in jail during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. National news networks were filming in Springfield and showing all the “revitalization” and beautiful homes being restored. They never captured on film the homeless that used to be sleeping in the parks or the abandoned houses simply because the city was able to keep them out of sight for a short time. Joe just shrugs when I mention that it just doesn’t seem fair or right. He said “I’s used to being invisible to folks and I’s like it that way now maam.”
The shopping cart sits still now as Joe lies on the bench to take a nap. I sit in this newly restored park and marvel at the beauty. The trees are filled with Spanish moss that overhangs the water edge. It reminds me of the “Old South” my mother used to talk about. I wonder if the old south is much different than the new south. I try to see what is in Joe’s cart. I see little pieces of twine, wood, cardboard, plastic cups and dirty clothes. I can also see a crumpled up and wrinkled picture of a young man and his family. They look like the average American family. I wonder if it was Joe’s family but I won’t ask him even if he wakes up while I’m still here. As I rise to leave, I slip a $20 under the top blanket. Everyone here says “Don’t give them money; they just buy booze or drugs.” I don’t know what Joe will buy with the money, I leave it there anyway.
How many people are homeless? Is to really possible to compute the numbers as they can change daily? Some homelessness is temporary; some people live most of their lives on the streets. The National Coalition for the Homeless state that the
numbers are hard estimate as they can be defined by problems of definition and methodologies. There are many estimates on the homeless populations but most are outdated and the challenges mentioned above made predictions nearly impossible. A study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty stated that in any given year there will be approximately 3.5 million people homeless, with 1.35 of them children. This study was done in 2004 and the homeless population has only increased. The percentage living in poverty did drop after President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society anti-poverty programs of the 1960’s but has steadily increased again.
Miss Jackie, 52 and her boyfriend Donnie, 45 have been together for 16 years. The last 8 years they have slept under the Fuller Warren Bridge in Jacksonville most nights and spend their days with their dog Blackie in Memorial Park. Donnie picks up “day jobs” when he can but says they only pay him minimum wage and deduct transportation to and from the job so that after 8 hours of work, he brings home $36.00. Miss Jackie can’t work; she is not mentally well and has been raped on the streets while Donnie was doing odd jobs to earn them money. I ask why they don’t go to social services or shelters but say they can’t because of Blackie. Miss Jackie told me a nice lady brings her food for Blackie most weeks. I asked them to tell me their “typical” day. They replied that they sleep under the bridge with many other homeless people and one of them has to try to keep watch over their things or they will be stolen. When the sun rises, they walk to Memorial Park, a beautiful park on the St. Johns River with $ 2 million condominiums across the street. Miss Jackie goes into Publix, the grocery store and gets the free coffee they have in the front of the store, then takes it to the Starbucks next door and sits outside at the tables there as she sips her coffee. She says sitting there with the Starbucks customers makes her feel human. They then spend the rest of the day in the park visiting friends and listening to their radio. A local Judge gives them batteries for the radio and sometimes he brings Donnie mystery books to read. Miss Jackie doesn’t read, she doesn’t know how. At the end of the day, they gather their blankets and belongings and walk back to the bridge. Everyday they have to hope the police don’t kick them out from under the bridge. I left them with 8 cans of dog food, the big soft blanket I keep in my car for my Giant Schnauzer and $50.00. Miss Jackie cried and when she cried, I cried.
The NCH Fact Sheet #14 published June 2006 states that 40% of the homeless are veterans. (National Coalition for the Homeless, retrieved on July 11, 2009 at http://www.nationalhomeless.org)
I first met Jimmy Jones in March 2006. I did not really care about homelessness and it did not register to me that it was a global challenge. Jimmy and the rest of my new homeless friends changed my mind and the reasons are clear. They too are people. But, back to how I learned about Jimmy. I kept thinking there was a hurt or drugged man lying in the street and when he didn’t respond to me, I called the local police who came and took him away. I later found out they just dropped him off 2 blocks down the road. I saw Jimmy again at the end of April when I left Vermont to celebrate my youngest daughter’s graduation from F.S.U. with her Masters Degree in Social Work. We were having a big celebration with lots of friends and family. I saw Jimmy across the street from my house and walked over and sat by him. Everyone was in the backyard or inside so I could disappear without being noticed. I asked him if he was hungry, he said yes. I brought him a full plate of food and he devoured it in about 2 minutes. I noticed that his hands were all bloody and cut at the palms. He drank the 2 bottles of water that I gave him, then wobbled to his knees and urinated next to where I was sitting. I tried to ask him questions but I couldn’t understand much he said. After a few minutes of chattering, he began to crawl on his hands down the street. After calling people all over the town for information, I found that Jimmy was a Vietnam Veteran that had part of his tongue cut out when he was tortured and had mental, emotional and substance abuse issues. While there are two programs for homeless veterans administered by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, the Domiciliary Care for Homeless Vet and the Health Care for Homeless Veterans programs, I wondered if Jimmy was just another who “fell through the cracks.” A real concern today when examining the number of Veterans that are living on the streets is a question that I struggle with daily. More and more soldiers are living through devastating brain injuries that they are receiving from Improvised Explosive Devices fighting the war in Iraq. These people would have died in earlier wars. In trying to envision what the Veteran homeless population might look like 20-30 years down the road is troubling. If the programs that are in place today are not working now, as evidenced by Jimmy Jones, what will change as the number of brain injured veterans end up on the streets?
The streets are dangerous to live and the homeless live with fear. A large number of the women have been abused and raped. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida in May of 2006, there were a string of 3 homeless men beaten in a single night. The attacks were carried out by teenagers with bats and paintball guns. They said when they were arrested they went looking for the homeless to beat “just for the sport and fun of it.” (Crime & Punishment, Retrieved on July 11, 2009 at http;//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/print/1/displaymode/1098.) One of the homeless men was 45- year old Norris Gaynor, he was sleeping on a park bench and the boys smashed in his head with their bats. They beat him so badly; he died hours later at a local hospital. The Homeless Coalition has documented 386 attacks over the last 6 years, 156 people died in those attacks.
How does one actually define poverty and what are the causes of it? David Shipler, in his book “The Working Poor,” states that
“As a culture, the United States is not quite sure about the causes of poverty, and is therefore uncertain about the solutions. The American myth still supposes that any individual from the humblest origins can climb to well-being.” (Shipler, Peter. The Working Poor. First Vintage Books Edition, January 2005)
There is no doubt that most writers on the subject of poverty all struggle with different definitions and numbers. When you turn on the television there are pictures of the poor, usually after something catastrophic has happened, houses that have burned down, and of course, our own United States tragedies, Katrina. The underlying causes that are always mentioned are inadequate wages, the lack of affordable housing, and the lack of heath care. One additional underlying cause is rarely mentioned. How many people really care? The wealthy have a different prospective of the definition of poverty than the ones that live in poverty. The rich might think that they are really “cutting back” if they don’t take that second vacation this year or Billy doesn’t get the newest cell phone or I-pod. Our nation has become a place of the “haves” and the “have nots,” and the “haves” are winning all of the daily battles.
Some of the politicians now seem to listening to the issues and challenges of poverty. The following is a reprint of a brief article concerning poverty and two Congressmen who tried to live on food stamps that was published in U.S.A. Today.
“Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) are among a handful of congresscritters participating in an experiment in which they must subsist on standard US food stamp rations for one week.
The shocking conclusion, so far? $21 worth of stamps a week doesn't add up to much, and it's "almost impossible" to maintain a healthy diet for $1 a meal (huh, wonder why America's poor suffer obesity in such great numbers?).
Both lawmakers are blogging about the experience: McGovern here, Ryan here. Snip from Ryan's latest post:
My biggest concern today is running out of food before the end of the week.
One loaf of bread doesn’t make as many sandwiches as you’d think, and I’m running through my cottage cheese pretty fast as well.
The budgeting was hard enough, rationing what I do have will present another challenge.”
Ok, great for television and quick sound bites but what will either do to start to make the changes necessary. After their “experiment,” they got to go home to their families and sit at a dinner table and I would guess the meal they ate was more than $1. But, it was a start, people have to talk and feel before action begins.
Jeremy Seabrook writes that “in the rich world, the poor have become invisible. The spaces they occupy remain uncolonized by the rich. Poor people have only walk on parts in the great drama of progress narrated by the selective imagery of global communications conglomerates. The poor make an appearance in international news programs mainly as scarecrows or as a stimulus to charity.” (Seabrook, Peter. “The No-Nonsense Guide to World Poverty.” New Internationalist Publications, 2003.) However, there are signs of hope. As fuel prices are rising, some mayors and Governors are starting to talk about the issue of poverty again. Yes, I thought Katrina would stay on the front pages for longer than it did but the issue of poverty does seem to be making a comeback into the American conscious. With a rise in the national poverty rate this decade, more groups are joining force to search for solutions. ( Nasser, Haya. “After years as “dirty word,” poverty a campaign issue again. U.S.A. Today. May 21, 2007.) John Edwards made poverty his major issue in his 2008 Presidential run.
I walk up the 5 to 6 blocks to the house that I purchased in this old historic neighborhood 7 years ago. Most houses on my street have been lovingly restored but a couple remains boarded up, I wonder what happened to the people. I think of the “culture” in homelessness and the ways that they interact with each other. They do have their own set of rules, some rules that society can’t possibly understand, they have customs in their daily lives, and it seems that it is these small customs, or rituals that help them make it through their long days. I think of Miss Jackie sitting at Starbucks sipping coffee just to “feel human.”
I would not have seen Joe if we had not moved here. He would have remained invisible to me also. I would not have seen extreme poverty if we had not moved here. That too would have remained just slightly out of my range of vision. Living here has changed me. As I walk through the front door of my house, I know I have a refrigerator of food and plenty of clothes in my closet. I have 4 or 5 televisions scattered throughout the house and I have every appliance a person could need or want. When I flick a switch the lights come on. When I turn the handle on the sinks, water comes out. It’s a hot day so to make sure I don’t feel uncomfortable I turn the air conditioner up. As I feed my dog’s specialty dog foods, I think of Joe again. I think of Jimmy and Miss Jackie and Donny. These days I feel uncomfortable. But that’s ok, being uncomfortable makes me think and thinking usually leads to action.
