All posts by A.J.

Homeless GoPro: Building Empathy Through Firsthand Perspective

About being poor, Books and Films, How we should treat each other

In recent browsing on the internet I came across a new sociological project starting up in San Francisco, “Homeless GoPro”. The purpose of the project is to help bring empathy and compassion back into human nature in society, including but not limited to situations dealing with the homeless. The Homeless GoPro project is led mainly by Kevin Fadler, an entrepreneur and sociologist, and Adam, a man who has been homeless on and off for the last 30 years. Through their documentary, the two hope to allow people to experience Homelessness and interactions on the street through the completely opposite perspective of what they’re used to. In the first video, “Birthday”, Adam is wearing the GoPro on his chest and attempting to sell “Street Sheet” newspapers. The videio opens with Adam explaining when he spent Christmas on the streets for the first time and how much it hurt. He doesn’t want to have to spend his birthday, which is the next day, on the streets. He tells people passing by that it is his birthday and he’s attempting to sell enough papers to buy himself a hotel room for tomorrow night. As people walk by, the majority either don’t look at Adam at all or, even worse, many people make a rather obvious attempt to look in the other direction and act as if they don’t hear him.

I had my birthday six days ago and cannot imagine having this experience. I was so happy to wake up and have breakfast in bed. Adam isn’t able to have either of these. I felt so much love and compassion from people who walked by and wished me a happy birthday. Adam was telling people about his birthday and they didn’t even respond. As I read the comments on the Yahoo article that feature this project, which I highly recommend you read for yourself, I constantly wanted to yell “F#@k Off” or “You don’t even F@$king know” to the people writing hateful and ill-informed comments. I even had to leave the room where my family was celebrating Easter just to get a breath of fresh air and calm down. How can people be so ignorant and give into so many stereotypes? This class has taught me so much, yet it has also led to so many moments of frustration with humanity.

This project offers a unique viewpoint on Homelessness and also opens the door to a whole new form of studying the world views and experiences of those on the street. While our class is ending, I definitely recommend keeping an eye on this project, as I believe it has great potential.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/homeless-gopro-offers-a-firsthand-perspective-of-those-living-on-the-streets-180947286.html;_ylt=AwrTWVU2U1RTc2gAOELQtDMD

 

http://www.homelessgopro.com/

People or Birds?

Hunger, People, Uncategorized

In the film Taylor’s Campaign (1998), the Santa Monica City Council is shown passing a city ordinance forbidding the passing out of food to homeless in local areas. I personally found myself in shock by this horrific and inhumane move by a government body whose purpose is to “serve the people”, not watch them starve out on the streets. A few days after watching the film I found myself sitting outside of the local Costco eating a few large hot dogs. As I have since I was a young boy, I began picking off pieces of the bun and tossing them to the seagulls, who are regular visistors at Costco benches across the country. As is the usual reaction to such actions, the manager came over and asked me to cease fire. This time, however, my mind went somewhere other than my usual rationalization that feeding the birds mean more birds would flock to the benches and negatively affect business. No, this time my mind went straight to the homeless in Santa Monica and that controversial city ordinance.

 

How demeaning must it be in the first place to have to beg for food? How dehumanizing must it be to have someone tell you that you’re not allowed to be fed in public? If a mother feeds her daughter in the park, no one will be arrested. If a dog owner gives his pet a treat while they’re on their morning walk downtown, no one will be arrested. If we are supposed to treat everyone line family, with love and respect, why are we not allowed to feed our brethren when they are starving right in front of us?

Does a Home Make You Trustworthy?

Homelessness, People

Rewind three days to last Saturday in Redlands, CA. It’s a sunny afternoon, a far contrast from the weather on a January day elsewhere in the country, as I pull up to the Chevron station on the edge of the downtown section of Redlands. I’m driving my hand-me-down Lincoln Town Car from my grandmother, which has been running on “low” gas for about a week now. One of my roommates, who had owed me over a hundred dollars towards the water bill, has just paid me back and I’m excited to be able to finally fill my tank; a task that will consume fifty of the sixty dollars that I am gleaming to have received.

I enter the station and joke with the nice woman behind the counter about how the high gas prices for the Town Car’s V8 engine cause me to “walk and save money on a gym membership”. As I walk back towards my shining, freshly washed car, a young woman of about 25 years of age approaches me to ask if I can spare a dollar fifty to help her buy a one-day bus pass to get her home to Yucaipa (the neighboring town). Immediately my mind flashes to the discussions we had just a few days prior in my “Hunger and Homelessness” class at the University of Redlands. We had discovered how the expense of a bus pass, which I used to reference as “just a dollar-fifty”, was an extreme financial burden on those whom were forced to take the bus due to poverty. I then asked the woman if she took the bus often in order to get to work and back home. She answered that she rode the bus everyday. Immediately, without a single hesitation, I handed her the $10 that I had left over from paying the attendant to fill my tank.

While I am embarrassed to admit it, I would not have made this same decision a few weeks ago. Yes, I would’ve have given the woman some money, but I most likely would have followed her or accompanied her in order to make sure that the money was going where she claimed it was meant to go. In fact, I had that very experience about two months ago at Union Station in downtown LA. Following this interaction with the woman at that gas station and noticing my change of reaction, I’ve come to reflect heavily on a question of ethics and trust: “Do we trust homeless/impoverished people less strictly because they don’t have a home/look poor?” When you donate money to the Girl Scouts selling you cookies outside Vons or let a friend borrow $10 for dinner, do you question if they will actually spend the money you give them wisely? How about with the homeless man asking for a dollar on the corner just to feed his family? How quickly does your mind jump to assuming that he will just go buy booze and drink the night away until he asks you for that same dollar tomorrow? I don’t know the answer, just food for thought, but I would love to hear your responses, as I wrestle with my own in my head.