For starters, we celebrated a homeless clients birthday at our meal service last night. We also had Touch one Productions visit and perform a poetry show. The homeless were really drawn to the performance, as was I and the other volunteers. James, the birthday gentleman, had a smile on his face from ear to ear. It was so awesome to see him light up that way.
And while the lightheartedness of the meal service was uplifting, the rawness of taking to the streets was lurking in the background. As we walked up 9th St towards North Tryon, something seemed off. While it is true that in colder weather the homeless are harder to find, the visual perception was that their presence was nonexistent in the Queen City. However, I am not that easily fooled. I may be naive about a lot of things, but I simply do not believe that any one agency has gone to great lengths to resolve the homeless crisis.
Instead, I fear and know in my heart that great measures are being taken to conceal the homeless population, especially with the DNC right around the corner. And, as we rounded the corner on North Tryon St., we noticed something rather odd -- none of the homeless were present on the left hand side of the street. It was as if they were being "pushed" to the right hand side.
As we reached the First United Methodist Church, one of our regular homeless clients told me that it was the last night they were allowed to bundle up and sleep on the stairs. I instantly became angered. I asked him who said that and he said, "the police." I told him that I would do the best that I could to let them stay there, and the worst part of that encounter was that our homeless client was so submissive. They are used to feeling like they are marginalized from society, and thus, they feel politically powerless to stand up for themselves. They may be politically powerless, but I am not and I know that the tactics used by CMPD are wrong.
Housing, in itself, is a basic human right. Here is an article that I wrote a while back about it: Housing: A Basic Human Right. If anything, they should be harassing lawmakers and our entire justice system, not vice versa. I will get to the bottom of this, I will. "What's right isn't always popular, and what's popular isn't always right." Albert Einstein
