Taylor’s Campaign is a film we watched in class that spoke on a homeless man’s campaign for City Council in Santa Monica in the early 1990’s. His story portrayed through the film showed the trials and tribulations that he went through as well as many other stories of the homeless people he interacted with. One of the most interesting concepts to wrap map my head around was about the two black women and the other people that followed them around. They set up their belongings as if the side of the street was their actual home. This contrasts the perception of homeless people living in a box or in a tent. Also, the bonds that all the homeless people had for one another was so strong and exemplified what they were willing to do for each other. Additionally, one woman in the film describe three types of homeless people: those who want to be homeless, those whose addiction leads them to homelessness, and those who are stuck and trying to get out. It is so confusing to me that many people are so close minded to the first and third types of homeless people. In the film, there were many reactions to the fact there were organizations who were trying to give to the homeless in Santa Monica. All the people they interviewed were negative and made it seem like we should rid the Earth of homeless people because they “don’t deserve to live.” When in fact there is much that homeless people do to positively impact the cities they are in. Since most of them collect recyclables, they help keep the streets clean. In addition, homeless people are also a type of security for businesses and establishments to keep criminals away.
It is people like Taylor who help create change and develop new perspective on society. Unfortunately, the town of Santa Monica was unable to reap the benefits of his experience and life story as he was not elected. Santa Monica has laws in place that prohibit giving food to the homeless and have increased its enforcement since the 1990’s. This film opened up my viewpoint to many facets of homelessness and lead me to lose a bit of hope in humanity.
I agree with your comment at the end of your blog about how it is people like Taylor who help to change things in our society that are wrong. Although, Taylor went on to lose the election, his voice on homelessness was heard. It only takes one person to make a difference and after watching this film Taylor’s voice definitely changed my perspective on homeless people, especially in Santa Monica.
I agree that seeing these struggles of homeless people made me lose a little hope in humanity. The worst part of that movie was hearing the tourist talk about how the sight of people handing out food to the homeless was horrible and that Santa Monica needs to remove it for the sake of its tourists was appalling. But after volunteering at The Blessing Center, hope has definitely been restored. You see people with so much hostility and negativity towards homeless people everyday which is not right. But seeing how many people truly do care about the homeless while I was volunteering was a great feeling.