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| Mayor Sam Adams, nailing his interview. |
I had the opportunity a couple weeks ago to interview Mayor Sam Adams. The interview itself went very smoothly – he's a well-practiced public speaker and gave me magnificent sound bytes that will be easy to incorporate into my video. As a supporter of SR, his responses were no surprise, and I walked away knowing I had a solid interview on hand. The more intriguing part of the day occurred while sitting with Street Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer in Sam Adam's office at Portland City Hall waiting to interview him. I had interviewed Israel before, but, because the mayor was late, he had time to give me more detailed accounts of his experience at SR and involvement in the lives of homeless and low-income Portlanders. He knows the hotspots for drug deals and gang-related fights in Portland because he and his vendors have seen and dealt with them. His job with Street Roots is to help the people help themselves. Vendors' work schedules are in their own hands. (They buy a paper for 25 cents, sell it for $1, keep 75 cents when it's sold.) Thus, he has watched many vendors change their lives through their work; but he also sees the ones who don't. It's painful watching women or children, abandoned by parents and not yet old enough to work, turn to prostitution, drug dealing, and sex trafficking for money. Israel showed me a copy of a pamphlet the Health Department puts out once a month called the Portland Bad Date Line. It gives detailed descriptions of men that women should avoid when working on the streets. Some steal their money and mistreat women while others are HIV positive. Headlines include "Fake Texas Accent", "Poser Cop" and "Powder Blue Mercedes". There is a hotline and e-mail at the bottom where a woman can call (anonymously if she wishes) and report any foul play. A woman most likely is not a prostitute by choice; she falls into this work due to her situation and lack of support, self-respect, and trust. Although gruesome, this underground publication may end up saving her life. The fact that it exists both disgusts and relieves me. Knowing that SR employs mainly men also worries me. Where are the women? Living and working on the streets is particularly dangerous for them, even at Street Roots. If it's difficult for men to get out of their situations, how hard is it for women?
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| Outside of the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp in Portland. |
I got a glimpse of street life beyond SR when, later that week, I toured a homeless camp on the corner of NW 4th and Burnside. I'd driven past it many times this summer, but never quite understood what it was. Driving by, all one can see is a row of colorful doors with slogans painted on the side lining the street. Besides a slight glance into the opening visible from the street, the inside of the camp is very private. The owners of an empty lot decided to open it up to the homeless of Portland last year as a place for them to stay (more info here: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/10/homeless_camp_in_downtown_port.html). Although it has raised much protest from city officials who have found several ways this establishment breaks the law, the camp still exists. At first, I was a little nervous to enter the camp, especially with a camera. But Israel explained that I was with Street Roots and everything was fine. One woman came up to me and asked me if I wanted to interview her, so I did. Another man offered to give me a tour of the entire camp. I've never had interviews fall so easily into my lap. The man showed me a cluster of giant tents: one for men, one for women, and the other for couples. In the back, there were lines of smaller tents where individuals could bring their own supplies and camp alone. Outhouses are replaced three times a week, and food donations are stored in a sheltered pantry along with cooking supplies for campers to help themselves. There are even a couple old but functioning computers. I think it's fascinating how this establishment seems to work so smoothly. No, it's not the ideal place to live, but the fact that people can ban together to create a place where people of all backgrounds and trying lives can live together so easily is something to consider.
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| Inside of the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp. |
When contemplating homelessness, I think one of the most important things to remember is this: Not all homeless people are the same. The homeless population is as diverse as any other. Each person is an individual with his or her own story. There are some who get along, some who don't; some who make terrible decisions, some who have just found themselves in an unfortunate situation and want to turn it around. It upsets me to hear the generalization "homeless people are just lazy." The best response to that comment I heard during my interviews was from Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury. She said, "I'm lazy and I'm not homeless." Although this was meant to be a joke, I think there's some truth in it. I am lazy. Not all the time, but sometimes. Everyone is. There are some homeless people who are lazy, some who aren't. As is the case in any population. The real causes of homelessness lie in larger issues: lack of health care access (remember, not everyone has health care benefits through their work), disabilities (and when you are suddenly diagnosed with cancer and have to sell your house to pay the bills, where might you end up?), domestic abuse (and coincidentally many women victims end up with children whom they cannot afford to support without reliance upon the man), substance abuse (everyone makes mistakes; that doesn't mean they don't deserve a second chance), etc. According to the Medical Examiner Review of Deaths among People Experiencing Homelessness in Multnomah County in 2011, 10 of the 47 people who died on the streets died from health-related causes included diabetes and heart disease. Twenty-one people died of intoxication, and 7 of trauma. The highest percentage of these deaths occurred in the 50-59 age group (30 percent). This would be the group most affected by work-related injuries and least likely to start a new life for themselves, which was the case with many of the vendors I interviewed. "Just getting a job" is easier said than done, especially when it involves combating one or multiple of these major setbacks.
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| Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury in her interview. |
Again, the reason why I believe Street Roots is such a great step forward for these people is that it not only provides them with a means of making money, but it gives them a support system. Think about your own life: how far would you have gotten without your parents, your friends, professors, teachers, church groups? You can't learn about life or be successful without some sort of foundation. The SR office provides a structured, non-threatening place for vendors to come indoors, make friends, have coffee, and feel accepted into a community, provided they don't abuse it. In this environment, amazing things can happen. Yes, there are people who get turned away for starting fights, getting involved in drug deals, and basically breaking their contract with the paper. But for many, it is a place that changes lives. Israel told me about a man who came in looking for work. He was a white supremacist and had a tattoo of a swastika. At first, Israel was nervous about taking him on because there were several African Americans working in the office. However, the man gradually overcame his preconceptions and became close friends with one African American vendor.
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| Bruce, a Street Roots vendor I interviewed. |
Last Friday, I had the chance to attend a Street Roots bi-weekly meeting and see all of the vendors and staff together in one place for the first time. I understood what Israel had told me about the SR environment, but I finally had the chance to see it. And honestly, it made me very happy to watch. Before the meeting started, the vendors (mostly male) stood outside chatting, drinking coffee, and smoking. Some of them asked me what my camera was for, so I told them about my pursuit of a major in journalism. Several of them told me to stick with it and create something great. I smiled and told them thank you. I think they liked giving me advice.
The meeting functioned like a classroom. Vendors sat at tables and lined the walls. They all listened intently as announcements were made and the new paper was revealed. Then, the discussion opened up to include the vendors, each of them taking turns and raising their hand when they had something to say. I sensed no tension or uneasiness. Afterwards, they worked together to unload the papers from the truck outside and lined up to buy their copies to sell. I never realized just how organized SR is, but now that I see it, it makes sense. It has to be well-planned in order to accommodate so many different people.
One man walked up to me and started talking about the paper. I asked him where he sells, and he said he usually works by Portland State University. Then, he looked straight at me and told me he was involved in a robbery there. I wasn't entirely sure if he meant that he himself robbed something, or if he was robbed while he sold papers, but I just nodded and said "oh". I guess I've learned to be much more passive since working with Street Roots. Things that would normally phase me don't. I accept whatever they tell me, whether or not I think it's true or abnormal, because for them it's very true, and very normal. I stood in a room with a variety of people, some of whom have been to prison, dealt drugs, taken drugs, experienced life on the streets, etc. What can I do besides accept it? This is part of their pasts. I have to move past this and get to know them for who they are now. That is what Street Roots is all about.
There is so much more I can say, but there's also so much more I need to know. Homeless life is no longer foreign to me, but it will always be mysterious because I have not experienced it myself. After the work I have done with Street Roots, I'm inspired to expand my knowledge on the subject. Wherever I travel, the homeless will not appear invisible to me. In the United States, homelessness is considered a "problem", but I think it has become accepted more as a way of life. There are local solutions being implemented, as I have discovered in my interviews with Sam Adams and Commissioner Nick Fish, but on a national level, people with the power to bring about change on a larger scale have not yet done so. Thus, until our society acknowledges it as a legitimate "problem" capable of being solved or at least drastically reduced, it will remain a way of life.
