Who are YOU?

In October, donating acupuncture in the Mission district of San Francisco I learned about “Homes Not Jails” and met some amazing people.

In response to World Homeless Day - on October 10^th, 2012 a group of about 50 people gathered in Dolores Park in order to march to the Castro and temporarily enter a vacant building. The rally began at 5pm and according to Shadow, a woman I interviewed, there were 3-4 times as many cops as there were protestors. The cops “escorted” the protestors to the vacant building. Police in full riot gear remained outside the building while about 20 protestors went inside. An hour later the police stormed the building and arrested the people inside. Shadow entered the building shortly before the police did. She was on the second floor when they poured in. For the past year Shadow has been a part of the Occupy movement, first in Little Rock Arkansas, then in NY and now in SF – where she has only lived since August. A strong and beautiful 28 year old woman, Shadow does suffer from PTSD due to the NY Occupy riots. So when the cops entered the building she panicked and tried desperately to escape. But there was nowhere to go and she fell from the second floor breaking both of her feet. I treated Shadow in her wheelchair. Her feet had not healed, she could walk. Other parts of her body ache as well.

When most middle class people think about the homeless they have a particular picture in their minds. Hippies, drug addicts, people with mental disorders… and other negative beliefs. Yet that’s not always the case. There are lots of people who were just like you and me that tried to live the American dream. They went to college, got jobs or careers, cars and houses… and then the recession hit and those same people lost their jobs and got evicted from their homes due to foreclosures.

Shadow, the 28 year old homeless woman I met that day is not one of those people either but she is a graduate from Brown University with her BA in Asian History. And after being released from jail and living in a city she only moved to a couple of months ago Shadow is overwhelmed by the kindness that others have bestowed upon her. She was invited to live with people she barely knew.

There are ways to make a difference and there are ways to “give back”. If you can’t do what Shadow is doing than donate! If you can’t donate your time, donate your money. If you can’t donate your money, donate your time. Go to rally’s, write letters, make phone calls, blog, tweet, post youtube videos, volunteer. Do something to make a difference. If you don’t but wish you could, you’re part of the problem not the solution. If you don’t “have the time” that’s an excuse. I don’t have the time. I work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week but I MAKE the time, otherwise I have no right complaining about how I think things “should be”.

I also spoke to Bruce that day, a man involved in the 10/10/12 protest who was pushed down onto the floor by the police with a knee stuck into his back. He has a good sense of humor about it and calls it “his police knee massage”. But it’s not humorous because Bruce was still suffering from back pain 3 weeks later. Graham, another activist, received a concussion as he was pushed forcibly up against a wall by officers. And I was told about yet another man who had his head “bashed in” and was then interrogated in the hospital while he was practically incoherent. Shadow and others were denied pain medication while in the hospital and she ended up in isolation “wailing on the floor” from excruciating pain. Police brutality is nothing new but it will never be “right” and it will forever piss me off. These people were not armed, this was not a riot. These were peaceful protestors trying to make a difference in this crazy world. And they were severely punished. Arrested and held for 30 hours with a bail set at $325,000. While rookie cops take home $75,000 per year in salaries.

Homes Not Jails, which formed in 1992 advocates the use of abandoned and vacant buildings in SF to house the homeless. There are currently more than 35,000 unused houses in SF, a city with some of the highest rents in the country. Shadow told me this is because if a house is vacant for a long period of time the owner can get more money when he sells it than he could if someone is living there/renting – due to rent control I’m assuming. Having that many vacancies drives the rent up in SF in other newly rented units. There is also something called the Ellis Act which entitles building owners to evict all their tenants and take up to 5 years (after evictions) to renovate their buildings so they can then rent the previously rent controlled apartments at higher prices.

But since there are more than 35,000 vacant dwellings in SF and 10,000 homeless people here, you do the math. Personally this makes me very angry. I know a couple (the Corns) in LA who live in a house that takes up 3 city blocks in Beverly Hills and there are 2 people living there. This kind of decadence makes me ill. And then you look at Bea Johnson who downsized her living situation for her family of 4 and currently lives a lifestyle of zerowaste. I understand that such fluctuation and personal will are what makes “the world go round” but really if there are a million Bea Johnson’s and a million wasteful Corns they will only cancel each other out and no real progress forward will ever be made. Not until the Bea Johnson’s of the world outnumber the Corns 2 to 1 will change occur. Are you a Bea or a Shadow or are you a Corn? Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution?