This morning I got up at a time that is foreign to me 6:30am and I say that because I haven’t been a morning person since I was a teenager. The purpose was to take a drive to downtown and take the streets that go under the city to look for homeless people and homeless I did find.
I proudly worked for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless back in 1996 and enjoyed every moment I was there and met great people as well. Before this job I had never gone down to Lower Wacker but always heard about how people lived under there. Wacker is a snake of a street and is the only street in Chicago that has addresses that represent every direction without it ever cutting off. Wacker was an amazing effort by Chicagoans in 1926 and if it wasn’t built that area of down town might not look as tall.
Lower Wacker is now a way to cut through downtown traffic, where trucks unload their deliveries, and home to many homeless people. I didn’t see as many people down there this morning but I know at night it becomes a lot more obvious of how many people actually live down there. As I drove around I spotted several people still sleeping in their boxes or simple on the sidewalk under an air vent from one of the buildings that releases the buildings warm air. The city has obviously moved a lot of people out of the way by placing high wrought iron fencing around dock areas and such.
I took a turn into what seemed an alley and once I got to the end of it all that sat there was a police car with no one in it. I turned around and realized I had not noticed the two men sleeping on the sidewalk they look to be in their mid to late 40’s African American men keeping warm as best they could. Then the thought hit me ‘how did I drive past them and not notice them?’ Is it because somewhere in my mind I expect to see people of color sleeping on the sidewalk? What was it about them that I didn’t notice? Or what does it say about me that I drove past two human beings and didn’t notice their despair. As I drove past them again one of them stood up to look at me and I smiled and acknowledged his existence.
There’s tens of thousands of homeless people in the city of Chicago and it doesn’t necessarily mean that they live on the street because if you’re on a different couch every so often at different friends’ houses you are homeless. What is it in our society that we think it is OK for someone to not have shelter of their own? I know some people will say that they have seen well abled body people begging for money so they don’t see what the obstacle in their lives is. When we have those types of thoughts we are not considering the fact that we all do not receive the same respect, opportunities, and education across the board. It’s not saying that a certain group has be treated in a special way or anything but simply if we all live on this land we should ALL receive the same opportunities as the next person.
How do we reach some of the people that have been neglected in our society? Some of us take on social service jobs and attack the issue from there. Others become lawyers and/or law enforcement and feel that might be the best way to approach it. Some work with their churches to fill in the gap where possible and all of it is valid we just need to learn how to function as a whole rather than competing against each other.
I continued to drive along different parts of Lower Wacker looking for people and as I kept seeing people I realized that many of them had a look of determination on their faces. I’m curious what it is they are determined about, is it to stay alive? Is it to show they are not scared? Is it the image of the Almighty Creator God Himself letting me know that they are His people? I’d like to think it is the latter…
So what do we do then?
Basic needs are the first priority because without that there is no amount of motivational speaking that will fill the void of an empty stomach! It is a violent act to not feed someone that is hungry. It is a violent act to ignore people that are in need of shelter. It is violent because in a time of desperation people will do whatever it takes to meet their needs. Many years ago I was in downtown eating at a Bar and Grill when we see a homeless person hitting the window trying to get some one’s attention. As we look up to see what is going on the homeless man backs away from the window and throws a brick at it. Thankfully it didn’t go through but the man stood there and someone at our table went out to see how he could help him. The homeless man said that he would wait for the police because he knew he would end up at Cook County jail and most likely spend the winter there. When asked if that’s what he wanted the man said yes because he was tired of being told that there wasn’t any more room at the shelters.
How can we plan hosting global events in the City of Chicago when people are not being feed or sheltered? There’s always money to fix the sidewalk in front of a local politicians house and there’s always money to spend on special pet projects in an Alderman’s Ward but there is never enough money for schools, teachers, parks, shelters, or a soup kitchen. Why do we turn our backs to those in need close to us? But run to the need of many outside of our land? I’m not saying we shouldn’t help other countries but it is a bit difficult to convince people that it’s better to send hundreds of millions of dollars overseas than to use on its own people…or is it?
Hate, violence, anger, racism, and many other isms need to be addressed directly so that as a society we can move forward until then we have to keep trying as hard as we can!
Peace/AMOR
Gerardo
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